The bridge has fallen.

Dental bridges are one of three options to replace missing teeth along with dental implants and dentures. Compared with dental implants, a dental bridge is not the best option and not a cheap option either, because it needs to trim down adjacent teeth and makes flossing very difficult. However they feel as comfortable as dental implants. And everyone knows dentures are the least comfortable but cheapest option.

One of the disadvantages of dental bridges is the dentist has to trim down adjacent teeth (abutments) to prepare for a dental bridge. When a dental bridge fails, one of common reasons is fracture of abutments, which leads to extraction in most cases. For dental implants, they do not affect any adjacent teeth in most cases when they fail.

In this case, we can clearly see what's happening when a dental bridge failed. One of the abutments had root canal treatment and post done before and ended up with root fracture. Unfortunately the tooth couldn't be saved but luckily the other abutment still could be restored by a new crown even though a surgical crown lengthening procedure had to be done.

To replace other two missing teeth, dental implants as the best option were chosen. Because we're planning implants in the future, a guided tissue regeneration called ridge preservation was performed right after extraction to minimize bone resorption, which is the most common reason to require bone grafting for dental implants.

A small suckdown denture was made for cosmetic reason, also to avoid adjacent teeth moving around and keep the space. Two implants were placed and showed successful osteointegration 3 months after. Then two implant supported crowns were inserted, which were made locally in Melbourne.

The overall result was really satisfying. Both the patient and the dentist were really happy.