Dental reconstruction
Dental prostheses
When a tooth has been extracted or devitalized, it must be replaced or consolidated. A tooth that is too fragile could break in the short or medium term and then have to be extracted. A dental crown is a fixed dental prosthesis made of ceramic in the same shade as your other teeth. Crowns allow for the aesthetic and solid restoration of severely decayed or fractured teeth, teeth with endodontic treatment or large defective fillings, but can also be placed on an implant.
On the other hand, the extraction of one tooth causes an imbalance of the entire occlusion:
- Adjacent teeth tilt:
The antagonistic teeth migrate into the space created by the extraction, which interferes with chewing movements and in the long term will lead to deterioration of the jaw joint.
- Chewing will be much less effective on the side where a tooth is missing so that chewing will become unilateral with consequences for the joint.
- If several posterior teeth are extracted, chewing will be done with the front teeth of the mouth: the incisors that are not resistant to the forces of chewing will gradually tilt, causing the chin to advance and the vertical dimension of the bite to decrease, which will age the physiognomy.
- It also causes the teeth surrounding the extraction site to move, which will predispose to bruxism (abnormal forces on the teeth).
- Tooth misalignment will promote the development of periodontics (a disease that destroys the tissues supporting the teeth).
- Finally, aesthetically, the absence of one or more teeth is a sign of aging.
The dentists at the Lancy Dental Centre replace it with a bridge, which can be of 2 types:
- Ceramo-metal: a gold framework (metal part) and on top of it is made the aesthetic ceramic part (tooth colour).
- Ceramic-ceramic: the entire crown or bridge is made of ceramic (no more metal, aesthetic and biocompatible)
Metal-ceramic bridge replacing a molar tooth between two abutment teeth
Metal-ceramic bridge in the mouth (same colour as the teeth)
Ceramic-ceramic crown (metal-free)
As an alternative to the fixed prosthesis, the dentist can also make a partial or total removable prosthesis. There are two types of removable prosthesis:
- The removable partial denture is held in place by hooks that grip onto the neighboring teeth. They can replace several missing teeth.
- The total prosthesis or denture that replaces all the teeth. While the advantage of removable prostheses is their cost, they have disadvantages: they are mobile, bulky, and often difficult for patients to accept. Finally, when a tooth has been broken or poses an aesthetic problem (colour, shape, position, etc.) the Lancy Dental Centre Dentists can perform aesthetic operations such as veneers or whitening.