Not too long ago, getting a dental bridge meant that you would have to secure a metal ring around one or two teeth and create a fake crown to fit the gap where the missing tooth used to be. These crowns tended to be permanent, with no way of hiding the fact that there was metal around one or two of the neighboring teeth. Two major advancements have occurred since that first type of bridge, and you may prefer one of them to the traditional bridge. 

The Removable Bridge

Remove a bridge? Yes, now it is very possible to pop your dental bridge in and out of your mouth. People like this option for those times when they do not want people to see the connecting metal rings that hold a bridge in place. It also allows you the opportunity to brush the empty gums under the area where the fake crown sits, thus keeping this gum tissue healthy and free of food particles. You could not really do that with the old traditional bridge that was permanently affixed in place. Still, it does tend to show off a missing tooth space when you do not want to wear the bridge.

The Implant Bridge

Most recently, dental implants have afforded both dentists and cosmetic dentists the opportunity to get more creative with restorative dental measures. One of those creations is the implant bridge. It is an exciting new option that people really like because it replaces anywhere from one to three missing teeth in a row, all without having to install any sort of metal rings around other teeth or crowning a tooth to hold the bridge in place.

To insert this sort of bridge, the dentist creates the implants needed to secure the bridge. The bridge is an implant crown or set of crowns formed together without any separation between the fake teeth. The implant screws allow you to pop the bridge in and out or make the bridge permanently secure (similar to having implants anyway). The choice to make it removable or permanently stable is up to you, but a lot of people like the fact that they can pop out this type of bridge, let it soak in a denture cleaning cup overnight, and snap it back in place in the morning. The best part is that absolutely no one can tell that this is a bridge at all because there are zero telltale signs.