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Dental Bridge Anxiety

C

csnow1

Junior member
Joined
May 10, 2020
Messages
2
Location
United States
Hello,

I was born without one of lateral incisors and have always had anxiety and insecurities over it. Throughout my childhood I had the gap while wearing braces, and eventually got a Maryland bridge until that was replaced 4 years ago with a fixed, permanent bridge. The bridge has been great and I have had no issues with it until recently. Randomly I woke up last Sunday feeling like something wasn’t right. I was able to get into a dentist 2 days later (I’ve moved a lot so I don’t see the dentist that originally created the bridge). During my cleaning and looking at x-rays there appears to be no issues, my teeth and gums look healthy, and there is no visible crack. The dentist didn’t want to wiggle it if it made me feel uncomfortable, but felt there were no major issues while looking at it and my bite. I also wear a Nightguard every night but he suggested I replace it.

My question for the group is am I creating anxiety out of nothing, or should I be concerned there is something wrong? My symptoms are feeling of air around the false too, feeling of pressure on the bridge, especially when pressure is put on by my tongue or mouth, and just overall sensitivity but no pain. I feel most at ease when I wake up in the morning after wearing my bridge all night. This has been severely impacting me as I won’t eat as much and I have been clenching my jaw even more. The dentist said it doesn’t need replaced but I just don’t know what to do and hate feeling this way ☹️.
 
:welcome:
csnow1

Welcome to DFC , your concerns are valid and and important and very real to you as its affecting you . I know most dentists want to put you to ease ,give you answers and help get you on track dentally in a kind compassionate way. No matter what kind of concern or question.

Have you considered a second opinion? maybe just to give yourself a peace of mind. you could have different experience, thoughts, ways they treat patients . so while one may be more conservative the another may not be. One may explore and dig around for your answer more than others.

I hope you can get a peace and answer as to what it is.
 
Argh, typed out a reply and the server had a moment and lost it!

Is this a classic Maryland, 1 wing and 1 false tooth? These are designed to "fail safe" in other words, if anything goes wrong with it, it'll just drop out.

Chances are your bite has moved slightly and you're experiencing some extra pressure on different areas of the bridge than you were used to. Did the dentist check this for you when you went there?
 
Hello - I’ve now had a traditional fixed bridge for 4 years, but somehow the Maryland bridge I had lasted over 9 years! I suspect it could be a bite issue as I do have slight TMJ and wear a night guard every night. He did check my bite and I’m not biting directly into the bridge. I know my bite isn’t great but having had braces for over 7 years as a kid I really don’t want to go through that again, but I also don’t want to have to replace a bridge every 5 years because of my bite either. I do want to have other cosmetic dental work done to make my smile and teeth match but he suggested I wait since the bridge appears to be in fine condition, which I did appreciate since it is all costly.
 
Sorry, misread your original post!

There's likely to be some kind of excursive motion you make when you're clenching/grinding that's making a heavy contact on the bridge someplace. It'll be easy to fix but hard to find!
 
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