A quick overview of a Bridge seat appointment at Heidi Sprowls DDS

At your bridge seat appointment, you can expect us to remove your temporary bridge, 90% of patients do not need local for this, if you think you need to be numb let us know. After the temporary is off, we will clean any cement up, place the final bridge, we may need make adjustments to the bite and/or contacts (outside of the mouth), we will take an x-ray to confirm the bridge fit. If the fit, bite, and contacts look good, we will cement the bridge. With tooth colored bridges we will use a light to set the cement up immediately, with gold bridges the cement takes about 30 minutes to set up.

Time expected for the appointment:

Seat One bridge: 1 hour - 1 1/2 hours

Seat Two bridges: 1 1/2 hours- 2 hours

Seat Multiple bridges: Call office for a more accurate timeframe

What to expect after we seat a Bridge:

Numbness: In the rare case you needed local, it may take a couple of hours to wear off. Try not to eat while numb.

Irritated Gums: If your gums are irritated, swish salt water rinse (8 oz. of warm water with a teaspoon of salt).

Sensitivity: You may experience some temporary sensitivity to pressure and hot and cold foods and drinks, but this should be quick sensitivity.

Gold bridge: Give 30 minutes before eating or drinking anything

Things to let us know about:

Does your bite feel off? We may ask you to come in to check the crowns alignment and make adjustments if needed.

Pain waking you up or coming out of the blue? Let us know this is not normal.

Key steps during a seat bridge appointment:

Our team will remove temporary.

We will clean up temporary cement.

Check bite and contacts of final bridge.

Take an x-ray of final bridge.

Cement final bridge (if everything looks sealed on x-ray).