WHAT IS MARYLAND BRIDGE?

In recent years, with the development of adhesive agents in dentistry and the importance of the concept of preservation, treatments with minimal loss of tooth tissue have come to the fore. For this reason, today, especially in the treatment of short edentulous gaps, bridges prepared without abrasion of the teeth adjacent to the gap are called ‘Maryland Bridge’ or ‘Winged Bridge’.

IN WHICH CASES ARE MARYLAND BRIDGES APPLIED?

We prefer Maryland bridges mostly for missing teeth in the anterior regions. It is applied as temporary bridges prepared without damaging the teeth in order to eliminate toothless gaps, especially during the fusion with bone after implant applications, and as a protective fixed prosthesis in cases where implant application is not suitable.

HOW ARE MARYLAND BRIDGES APPLIED?

In some cases, we can prepare Maryland bridges, which we will apply temporarily, directly in the mouth by using fiber supports.

However, we usually take measurements and produce them from various materials such as metal-supported porcelain, zirconium, glass ceramic in technician laboratories and complete our treatment by bonding them to the teeth without any abrasion on the teeth.

WHAT DO WE AIM FOR IN TREATMENT WITH MARYLAND BRIDGE APPLICATIONS?

We aim to solve toothlessness temporarily or permanently by using only bonding agents without any abrasion on the teeth.

The question of why such a protective application is not always applied may come to mind. The most important advantage of Maryland bridges is that they do not cause material loss in the teeth. However, since their retention is not as strong as other bridge treatments, their strength is insufficient, especially in areas where chewing force is intense. Therefore, it is a type of prosthesis that is generally preferred in the treatment of short edentulous areas.

HOW SHOULD MARYLAND BRIDGES BE CARED FOR?

As with our normal teeth, we need to brush the areas where our prostheses are located in the same way after each meal. Since the bonding areas of Maryland bridges do not allow the passage of traditional dental floss, special dental flosses and mouthwashes should be used to clean the area under the bridges in the toothless area. We should be careful not to break hard-shelled nuts such as walnuts and hazelnuts, which can also damage our real teeth, with our dentures.