Dental prosthetics is a dental specialisation that deals with the restoration of dental crowns and the replacement, by non-invasive means, of the teeth lost due to caries, periodontal disease (also known as periodontitis) or from various dental trauma.
In our office you will be informed and directed toward correct prosthetic treatment only when it is necessary, depending on your case
When the tooth shows a cavity large enough or has suffered an injury that resulted in a fracture of the crown, so that restoring the tooth with a filling would compromise the resistance (predisposition to tooth fracture), the dentist resorts to “dressing” it with a crown.
Thus it will be necessary to perform the filling, then the tooth will be polished (“filed”) and a print will be taken and used by the dental technician in moulding a plaster model that required for the crowns. Since the tooth will be polished and will look unsightly, until receiving the crown a temporary crown will be made in office, in the same session, which will successfully hide the fact that dental treatment is underway. It will be provisionally cemented (fixed) and easily removed during the next treatment session.
When the tooth crown destruction is extremely high, we prefer anchoring in the canal of the tooth using a prefabricated fibreglass pivot, or in more serious cases, a cast metal pivot fabricated by the dental technician.
When teeth are missing, depending to their number, the location edentulous spaces (without teeth) and implantation of the existing teeth (how mobile they are) three types of prosthesis can be used:
Bridges or “dental works” are used to restore a tooth or several missing teeth, when neighbouring teeth do exist, limiting the edentulous space. This process takes the same amount of time as for dental crowns: adjacent teeth will be polished (may require nerve removal), a print will be made and will a temporary work will be performed afterwards, which will be used until the final work will be done in the dental technician lab.
Dental crowns and bridges are made of various materials, their choice being made by you, naturally with the help of the specialist who will advise you on the best options.
The possible options are: metal works, partly physiognomic metal-ceramics (metal crown, but the part visible in smile is physiognomic ceramic (porcelain) plated in tooth colour), total physiognomic metal-ceramics (metal cap entirely wrapped in ceramics), entirely ceramic works and ceramic works on zirconium oxide support.
Zirconium oxide started being used in dentistry in the 90s, bringing a number of improvements, from aesthetic to functional ones. It is a very durable material, which mimics the natural appearance of the tooth, and it has quickly become popular.
The advantages of zirconium oxide:
- it is a perfectly biocompatible material, does not cause any allergic reaction of the human body;
- the microbial plaque has a very low affinity to its surface;
- works on zirconium oxide support are easy and the tolerance is quickly developed becoming imperceptible very shortly after application;
- natural looks. When placed near a natural tooth, it is nearly impossible to tell the difference between the crown and the natural tooth due to its translucent structure;
- durability. It is an extremely accurate prosthetic piece, obtained by computerized milling, so its adaptation to the gum is superior to other technologies’. The gingival problems encountered with other prosthetic solutions are thus eliminated completely with the dental crown on zirconium oxide support.
Dentures:
Partial Dentures: are used as therapy when there are enough remaining teeth or the existing ones do not have a favourable location for making a dental bridge.
Dentures are removable, being anchored by the remaining teeth in the mouth by means of claps, but can be removed for cleaning by the patient.
There are two types of partial dentures: acrylic partial denture (made from an acrylic resin and wire claps) and skeletal prosthesis (made of metal, base and claps, cast in the laboratory, and acrylic resin).
The type of denture to be used will be decided together with a specialist.
Removable total dentures: they are indicated in situations where there are no teeth at all, or if those who are there cannot be used for proper realization of partial dentures.
It is very important to replace missing teeth because, besides the aesthetic aspect and impaired function of mastication, the lack of even a single tooth can lead to damage to antagonist or neighbouring teeth through their migration and the emergence of traumatic dental contact for both the dental tissues in the proximity which can lead to further loss of teeth and, at the joint level, (temporomandibular joint of the jaw), which can lead to joint or muscle pain.
It is also indicated to start the treatment as soon as possible, because as time goes by, the disease will worsen, further complicating the treatment plan.