What?
- When a tooth is absent and need to be replaced by using the neighbouring teeth as anchors.
When?
- Where the adjacent teeth are at both sides of the gap and would benefit from crowns
Advantages
- Conventional treatment with good predictable results
Disadvantages
- Sometimes requires considerable reduction of the teeth resulting in pulp death which would require root canal therapy
- More difficult to keep clean and free of gum infection or tooth decay
- Failure can result in loss of supporting structures, eg. Anchor-teeth.
- When there are no adjacent teeth at both sides of the gap.