Missing teeth can change the way you bite, chew, speak, and feel about your smile. At DPI Dental, Dr. Paul Ilan provides custom fixed dental bridges for Howard Beach patients who want a non-removable way to replace one or more missing teeth.
A dental bridge is a fixed restoration used to replace one or more missing teeth. Rather than being removable like a traditional denture, the bridge is secured in place and spans the space where teeth are missing.
A traditional bridge typically uses neighboring teeth as support, while other bridge designs may use a different support structure. The replacement tooth or teeth are designed to restore the visible space and help re-establish function.
A dental bridge is not the same thing as a dental implant. Implants are placed into the jawbone, while a traditional fixed bridge is supported by adjacent teeth.
Replacing a missing tooth is not only about appearance. A well-planned bridge can help restore function and maintain the relationship between the teeth around the open space.
The right bridge design depends on the location of the missing tooth or teeth, the condition of the supporting teeth, your bite, and your overall oral health.
A traditional bridge commonly uses teeth on both sides of the missing space as support for the replacement tooth or teeth.
Ask About Traditional Bridges →A cantilever bridge uses support from one side of the missing space. Whether it is appropriate depends heavily on bite forces and tooth position.
Ask About Cantilever Bridges →A resin-bonded bridge uses bonded wings or retainers attached to neighboring teeth and may be considered in selected situations.
Ask About Resin-Bonded Bridges →These treatments can all replace missing teeth, but they differ in how they are supported, whether they are removable, and how much treatment is involved.
A bridge is fixed in place and commonly supported by neighboring teeth. It can replace one or more missing teeth without being removed for daily cleaning.
Ask About Dental Bridges →Dental implants are surgically placed into the jawbone and can support individual crowns or larger restorations. Candidacy depends on oral health and bone support.
Explore Dental Implants →Traditional dentures are removable and may replace several teeth or an entire arch. They are a different solution from a fixed dental bridge.
Explore Dentures →Understanding the process can make restorative treatment feel more manageable. Your exact sequence may vary depending on your teeth, bridge design, and treatment needs.
We examine the missing-tooth area, evaluate the surrounding teeth and bite, and use dental imaging when appropriate to plan treatment.
For a traditional bridge, the supporting teeth are prepared so they can support the final restoration.
Detailed impressions or digital scans help guide the fit, bite, shape, and appearance of the custom bridge.
When the bridge is ready, we check the fit, bite, shape, and comfort before securing the restoration in place.
We review cleaning techniques and follow-up care so you know how to maintain the bridge and the supporting teeth.
Dr. Paul Ilan brings more than 20 years of experience in restorative and cosmetic dentistry. Treatment planning is based on your oral health, missing-tooth pattern, bite, appearance, and long-term restorative needs.
We also understand that some patients feel anxious about restorative treatment. Our goal is to explain each step clearly, answer questions before treatment begins, and keep communication open throughout the process.
A missing-tooth treatment plan may involve more than one restorative service depending on the condition of the surrounding teeth and your long-term goals.
Common questions about bridge longevity, bridge types, cleaning, chewing, and how bridges differ from crowns.
These internal links give patients a clear next step when comparing tooth-replacement and restorative options.
Learn more about our Howard Beach office before requesting your restorative dentistry consultation.
If you are missing one or more teeth, schedule a consultation at DPI Dental in Howard Beach, NY. We can evaluate the space, surrounding teeth, bite, and restorative options and help you determine whether a fixed dental bridge is appropriate for your needs.
Complete the form below to request your dental bridge consultation with DPI Dental.
DPI Dental
We firmly believe that the internet should be available and accessible to anyone, and are committed to providing a website that is accessible to the widest possible audience, regardless of circumstance and ability.
To fulfill this, we aim to adhere as strictly as possible to the World Wide Web Consortium’s (W3C) Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.1 (WCAG 2.1) at the AA level. These guidelines explain how to make web content accessible to people with a wide array of disabilities. Complying with those guidelines helps us ensure that the website is accessible to all people: blind people, people with motor impairments, visual impairment, cognitive disabilities, and more.
This website utilizes various technologies that are meant to make it as accessible as possible at all times. We utilize an accessibility interface that allows persons with specific disabilities to adjust the website’s UI (user interface) and design it to their personal needs.
Additionally, the website utilizes an AI-based application that runs in the background and optimizes its accessibility level constantly. This application remediates the website’s HTML, adapts Its functionality and behavior for screen-readers used by the blind users, and for keyboard functions used by individuals with motor impairments.
If you’ve found a malfunction or have ideas for improvement, we’ll be happy to hear from you. You can reach out to the website’s operators by using the following email
Our website implements the ARIA attributes (Accessible Rich Internet Applications) technique, alongside various different behavioral changes, to ensure blind users visiting with screen-readers are able to read, comprehend, and enjoy the website’s functions. As soon as a user with a screen-reader enters your site, they immediately receive a prompt to enter the Screen-Reader Profile so they can browse and operate your site effectively. Here’s how our website covers some of the most important screen-reader requirements, alongside console screenshots of code examples:
Screen-reader optimization: we run a background process that learns the website’s components from top to bottom, to ensure ongoing compliance even when updating the website. In this process, we provide screen-readers with meaningful data using the ARIA set of attributes. For example, we provide accurate form labels; descriptions for actionable icons (social media icons, search icons, cart icons, etc.); validation guidance for form inputs; element roles such as buttons, menus, modal dialogues (popups), and others. Additionally, the background process scans all the website’s images and provides an accurate and meaningful image-object-recognition-based description as an ALT (alternate text) tag for images that are not described. It will also extract texts that are embedded within the image, using an OCR (optical character recognition) technology. To turn on screen-reader adjustments at any time, users need only to press the Alt+1 keyboard combination. Screen-reader users also get automatic announcements to turn the Screen-reader mode on as soon as they enter the website.
These adjustments are compatible with all popular screen readers, including JAWS and NVDA.
Keyboard navigation optimization: The background process also adjusts the website’s HTML, and adds various behaviors using JavaScript code to make the website operable by the keyboard. This includes the ability to navigate the website using the Tab and Shift+Tab keys, operate dropdowns with the arrow keys, close them with Esc, trigger buttons and links using the Enter key, navigate between radio and checkbox elements using the arrow keys, and fill them in with the Spacebar or Enter key.Additionally, keyboard users will find quick-navigation and content-skip menus, available at any time by clicking Alt+1, or as the first elements of the site while navigating with the keyboard. The background process also handles triggered popups by moving the keyboard focus towards them as soon as they appear, and not allow the focus drift outside it.
Users can also use shortcuts such as “M” (menus), “H” (headings), “F” (forms), “B” (buttons), and “G” (graphics) to jump to specific elements.
We aim to support the widest array of browsers and assistive technologies as possible, so our users can choose the best fitting tools for them, with as few limitations as possible. Therefore, we have worked very hard to be able to support all major systems that comprise over 95% of the user market share including Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Apple Safari, Opera and Microsoft Edge, JAWS and NVDA (screen readers).
Despite our very best efforts to allow anybody to adjust the website to their needs. There may still be pages or sections that are not fully accessible, are in the process of becoming accessible, or are lacking an adequate technological solution to make them accessible. Still, we are continually improving our accessibility, adding, updating and improving its options and features, and developing and adopting new technologies. All this is meant to reach the optimal level of accessibility, following technological advancements. For any assistance, please reach out to