Decay under bridge

[Sameer]

Hello

I have a dental bridge which recently became loose and my dentist told me that there is decay under my bridge. He said that the decay is very deep and one of the bridge teeth will need root canal treatment to save it.

I would like to know if the bridge can be saved when the tooth is root canal treated? The bridge cost me a lot of money about four years ago and I would hate to lose it now. Is there anything that can be done to save the bridge and do root canal treatment as well?

[Dr Vahid Motahar]

Hi,

Thank you for your question.

Sorry to hear that you have got decay under your bridge. But this does happen and whether it is possible to save the bridge depends on several factors. One is that how much decay is there. If substantial then bridge has to be removed to make it possible for good access to the tooth and effectively remove the decay. Remember even if the decay is small and possible to restore without destroying the bridge, then one can never be 100% sure that all the decay is removed as access and assessment is limited.

The other possibility is to remove the bridge without destroying it. There are some instruments that can be used but they risky in terms that they can cause irreparable damage to the tooth itself. So if one is prepared to accept the risk then is a possibility. The root canal can be done through the bridge without much complication and the only issue is the access to decay to ensure all decay is removed after root canal treatment and the best way to ensure this is bridge removal. Now the decision is yours!!