Dr. Hall,
I had an Encore bridge done in 2012 and the tooth has now come off the bridge, but the back of the bridge is still attached to the gum and the other two teeth. Can the tooth be re-attached to the bridge and where can I go in CA ,or a nearby state, to have it done and at what cost since my insurance has been used already this year? It is a top tooth next to the front teeth.
– Dori from California
Dori,
The Encore bridge is tricky to do in the first place, and repairing it is even trickier. You can’t just do the bonding over again. The dentist has to thoroughly clean off all the old bonding material. Then the surface of the porcelain tooth has to be re-etched so that it will bond to the luting composite. This requires either having hydrofluoric acid, or what is called a micro-etcher, which is a mini sand blaster to treat the surface of the porcelain, or both. Cleaning off the surface of the resin framework is not as critical and that could just be scraped clean. If the porcelain is properly prepared, it should adhere to the framework. Though I wouldn’t expect it to last as long as the original. You got three years out of the first installation–I would expect less than that this time. So I’d start saving up to have a dental implant placed as a long-term solution.
(I then recommended an expert cosmetic dentist in her area. I’m not going to mention the dentist here, as it would make Dori personally identifiable. But I’m confident that the dentists I list here would have the expertise needed to do this repair.)
Dr. Hall
Note – I wrote a post about 3 1/2 years ago about the lifespan of a Maryland bridge where I included some comments about the lifespan of an Encore bridge.
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About David A. Hall
Dr. David A. Hall was one of the first 40 accredited cosmetic dentists in the world. He practiced cosmetic dentistry in Iowa, and in 1990 earned his accreditation with the American Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry. He is now president of Infinity Dental Web, a company in Mesa, Arizona that does advanced internet marketing for dentists.
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