38 Suntree Place

Melbourne, Florida 32940

Cosmetic Dentistry in Melbourne, Florida

Specializing in Excellent Care

Our mission is to provide exceptional, personalized dental care in a warm environment that feels like home. We treat every patient like family, building lifelong relationships founded on trust, comfort, and genuine compassion.

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Dental Crowns & Bridges

Replacing a missing tooth or teeth can often be accomplished with a fixed bridge. A fixed bridge requires neighboring teeth to support a cementable dental restoration designed to include a fake tooth. Instead of leaving an extraction site, a fake tooth called a pontic can be supported by crowning neighboring teeth called abutments. This fixed dental prosthesis is fabricated as one structure with supporting teeth and fake teeth connected together. Before dental implants, this was our only fixed option for replacement. Fixed dental bridges serve and function much like natural teeth with one major exception. Flossing is this dental restoration requires a floss threader or other floss aid to complete.

All of your teeth play an important role in speaking, chewing, and maintaining the proper alignment of other teeth. Fortunately, there are options for repairing severely damaged teeth and correcting tooth loss. Dental crowns and bridges are two of the most common ways to repair or replace damaged or missing teeth.

Key Benefits of Dental Crowns & Bridges

Restore or repair severely damaged or vulnerable teeth
Replace missing teeth
Offer support to misshapen teeth or badly broken teeth
Look completely natural
Fix “smile” and functional chewing problems
Prevent shifting of remaining natural teeth
Help support facial contours

What are the Capabilities of Dental Crowns and Bridges?

Many dental problems can be corrected using these techniques. The modern material used for these repairs is typically zirconia which is a metal that is made to match your teeth and can handle chewing forces without breaking. Where accidental damage has resulted in lost teeth, or where teeth have broken away through excessive wear or due to old fillings failing, dental crowns or bridges can be used as a long-term solution.

Many people have intermittent sharp pain from filled or damaged back teeth, which is usually due to hairline cracks in the chewing part of the tooth. Placing crowns on these teeth relieves the sharp pain experienced while chewing and restores full dental function. In front teeth, older fillings can both weaken the teeth and cause “appearance” problems due to staining or chipping. Esthetic zirconia crowns and bridges are suitable in cases where porcelain veneers are not. In teeth with root canal fillings which were hollowed out in the center and then filled, crowns can prevent future breakage.

Dental Crown Process

Traditional Crowns

For a traditional dental crown, Drs. Fowler or Pulsipher first numbs the area, then carefully reshapes the tooth like a platform to make space for the crown. They take digital scans of the prepared tooth and send it to our dental lab, where your custom crown is made. While you wait for your permanent crown, they provide a temporary crown to protect your tooth. When your permanent crown is complete, they remove the temporary and cement the final restoration in place, carefully checking the fit and trim or smooth any rough edges.

Same-Day Crowns

Same-day crowns can be made from digital scans using specialized software to design the crown. The design is then sent to our in-house milling machine, which carves the crown from a solid block of ceramic and matches its color to your remaining teeth. Once it’s ready, we bond it to the tooth so you can leave with a permanent restoration that day, without a temporary crown or a second visit.

Dental Bridge Process

There are two types of dental bridges available, depending on your individual needs and the number of teeth missing. Fixed bridges and removable bridges are both excellent options for replacing two or more missing teeth.

Fixed Bridge

Drs. Fowler or Pulsipher begins by taking impressions of the mouth and sending them to our dental lab. The artificial teeth are created and fused between two crowns at either end. We then attach the fixed bridge in place over the gap where teeth are missing by bonding the crowns to the natural teeth on either side. This type of bridge can only be removed by a dentist. The process typically requires two or three appointments.

Removable Bridge (Partial Denture)

A removable bridge, sometimes called a partial denture, is designed differently. Instead of being cemented in, it clips onto nearby teeth with small metal or plastic attachments, allowing you to remove it for cleaning and sleeping. It is a more flexible and affordable option, especially for people who may not be ready for a fixed bridge or dental implants. As with a fixed bridge, a removable bridge usually requires more than one appointment.