Bridge Work - Maryland (acid etch) Bridge

These intra oral dental photos show the placement of a Maryland bridge to replace a missing lateral incisor. The upper left ‘before’ picture shows the left central incisor and canine with the left lateral incisor missing. This type of bridge is held in place by the adhesion of a metal wing retainer to the palatal (back) surface of the abutment canine tooth. This treatment procedure would entail a minimum of two dental surgery visits. At the first visit, any required tooth reduction is performed on the abutment tooth. In this case the palatal (back) aspect of the tooth is reduced to provide space for the metal wing retainer, so that the patient’s occlusion is not affected. The next step is to take impressions of the upper and lower dental arches. From these, the dental laboratory can fabricate the Maryland bridge as seen in the top right dental photo. The second dental surgery visit, would entail attaching the Maryland bridge to the canine retainer tooth as seen in the lower left intra oral photo. The lower right intra oral photo, shows the final cosmetic result.