Decayed bridge

[Donna]

Hi

I have a dental bridge which I have had in my mouth for over 15 years at least and recently the tooth holding the bridge has become very sensitive and I am worried that there may be decay underneath my bridge and perhaps even now infection developing because the pain seems to be getting worst.

Could you tell me if my tooth has decay and infection, what sort of treatment will my dental bridge need? Is it possible that I may lose my bridge? If I do lose my bridge, what are my options at that point?

Any treatment that I have would have been done under IV sedation, so if you could give me an idea about the cost of sedation that would be very good.

[Dr Mohsen J. Esfahani]

We need to assess your tooth first. If the bridge tooth is decayed but not infected, it may be possible to remove the decay but you will probably need a new bridge.

If the tooth is infected but not decayed, it may be possible to save the bridge and do root canal treatment through the bridge abutment.

If the bridge is decayed and infected, you will probably need root canal treatment and a new bridge or denture or implant or accept a gap.

However its worth saying that root filled teeth are not great bridge abutments and it maybe better to root fill the tooth and crown it and replace the gap with a denture/implant or accept a gap.

Specialist anaethetist IV sedation costs £240 per hour, the other costs of treatment is detailed on our fees section.