Treatment

Dental bridges

A run of joined crowns that carries a replacement tooth across a gap, held by the teeth on either side. It is fixed, it is quick, and it costs you something the implant does not: the two teeth that carry it.

Visits: Two
In Istanbul: 4–6 days
Fixed: Not removable
Lifespan: 10–15 years

What it is

A bridge spans a gap. The teeth on either side are crowned, a false tooth is joined between them, and the whole run is cemented as one piece — so it is fixed in the mouth and cleaned around rather than taken out at night.

The trade is in those two teeth. To carry the span they have to be prepared, and if they were untouched before, healthy enamel is being removed to solve a problem somewhere else. Where the neighbours are already crowned or heavily filled the trade barely costs anything; where they are perfect, an implant is usually the better answer, because it replaces the missing tooth without asking anything of the ones beside it.

Ask what the bridge costs the teeth holding it up. If the answer is nothing, it is a good bridge; if the answer is two healthy teeth, ask about an implant first.
Prof. Dr. Coşkun Yıldız

Which one you need

Traditional bridge
A crown either side and a false tooth between them. The common one, and the one with the trade above.
A gap with a sound tooth on each side
Implant-supported bridge
Carried by implants rather than by your own teeth, so the neighbours are left alone and the bone under the gap keeps being loaded. Longer and more involved; usually the better long-term answer.
Several teeth missing in a row
Maryland bridge
The false tooth is held by thin wings bonded to the backs of the neighbours, so almost nothing is removed from them. Conservative, and not for a heavy bite.
A single front tooth
Cantilever bridge
Supported from one end. Used where there is no choice, and kept away from the teeth that take the most load.
A gap with a tooth on one side only

What happens to you

Two visits, and a wait at home in between

Before you fly
A plan and a price
Photographs and any X-ray you have. You are told which kind of bridge applies — or that an implant is the better answer — before a flight is booked.
Day 1
Preparation
The supporting teeth are shaped under local anaesthetic and the whole span is scanned digitally, so the bridge is designed against your real bite rather than an average one.
Day 1
A temporary bridge
Fitted the same day. You leave with the gap closed and eat on it, carefully, for the few days the real one takes.
Days 2–5
The laboratory
Built, layered and glazed in our own laboratory in the building.
Day 5–6
Fitting
Tried in, adjusted on the bite, and cemented. You are shown how to clean under the false tooth before you leave, because that is where a bridge is won or lost.

Before you fly
A plan and a price
Photographs and any X-ray you have. You are told which kind of bridge applies — or that an implant is the better answer — before a flight is booked.
Day 1
Preparation
The supporting teeth are shaped under local anaesthetic and the whole span is scanned digitally, so the bridge is designed against your real bite rather than an average one.
Day 1
A temporary bridge
Fitted the same day. You leave with the gap closed and eat on it, carefully, for the few days the real one takes.
Days 2–5
The laboratory
Built, layered and glazed in our own laboratory in the building.
Day 5–6
Fitting
Tried in, adjusted on the bite, and cemented. You are shown how to clean under the false tooth before you leave, because that is where a bridge is won or lost.

Before you fly
A plan and a price
Photographs and any X-ray you have. You are told which kind of bridge applies — or that an implant is the better answer — before a flight is booked.
Day 1
Preparation
The supporting teeth are shaped under local anaesthetic and the whole span is scanned digitally, so the bridge is designed against your real bite rather than an average one.
Day 1
A temporary bridge
Fitted the same day. You leave with the gap closed and eat on it, carefully, for the few days the real one takes.
Days 2–5
The laboratory
Built, layered and glazed in our own laboratory in the building.
Day 5–6
Fitting
Tried in, adjusted on the bite, and cemented. You are shown how to clean under the false tooth before you leave, because that is where a bridge is won or lost.

Before you fly
A plan and a price
Photographs and any X-ray you have. You are told which kind of bridge applies — or that an implant is the better answer — before a flight is booked.
Day 1
Preparation
The supporting teeth are shaped under local anaesthetic and the whole span is scanned digitally, so the bridge is designed against your real bite rather than an average one.
Day 1
A temporary bridge
Fitted the same day. You leave with the gap closed and eat on it, carefully, for the few days the real one takes.
Days 2–5
The laboratory
Built, layered and glazed in our own laboratory in the building.
Day 5–6
Fitting
Tried in, adjusted on the bite, and cemented. You are shown how to clean under the false tooth before you leave, because that is where a bridge is won or lost.

Questions

Bridge or implant?

An implant replaces the root as well as the tooth: nothing is done to the neighbours and the bone under the gap keeps being loaded. A bridge is faster, needs no surgery and no healing months, and is the sensible choice when the teeth either side need crowning anyway or when the bone will not take an implant.

How do I clean under it?

With a floss threader or an interdental brush, under the false tooth, every day. A bridge cannot be flossed the ordinary way and the space beneath it is exactly where trouble starts.

Does the bone still shrink?

Yes. A conventional bridge sits over the gap without loading the bone under it, so the ridge slowly recedes — which is the argument for the implant-supported version.

How long does it last?

Ten to fifteen years typically. What ends it is usually decay in one of the supporting teeth rather than the bridge itself breaking.

Can it be done in one trip?

A conventional or Maryland bridge, yes — four to six days. An implant-supported bridge takes two trips, with the healing months at home in between.

Patients

The people who already came

Six of our patients, filmed at the clinic and talking about their own treatment. They are the clinic’s patients rather than any one procedure’s — what each of them had is in the film.