poor fitting bridge

[kim446]

is it common practice to grind down your reall teeth so a bridge fits better?

[Jerome Tsang, DDS]

It depends on how much they need to grind.  Ideally you don't want to adjust the opposite tooth.  It depends on your bite and whether or not there was sufficient room for a bridge to begin with.  Some people have shorter teeth than others and that makes it more difficult to do a bridge on.  Again, this is due to sufficient room to place the porcelain for strength.

[kim446]

The bridge is on my upper left. They want to grind my lower left canine. My bite was fine before they put the bridge. I think they ground down the bridge too much when they first put it in because I was biting high on it. I'm just afraid if they do this that I may have problems down the line with the tooth they want to grind.

[Jerome Tsang, DDS]

It depends.  Sometimes a minor adjustment may be needed to correct a poor bite on a bridge.  There is usually some minor discrepancies when taking the mold and manufacturing the bridge at the dental lab.  But if its too significant, then the porcelain will be too thin, which will result in a higher risk for breakage.

So they want to "grind" your natural tooth down to fit the bridge?  Or are they grinding the bridge down to fit the teeth?

[kim446]

The bridge is already in place. But my bite is bad. I bite on my canine instead of my back teeth. They want to grind down my canine so the bridge fits. I think they should fix the bridge not make my teeth fit the bridge. Am I wrong?

[Jerome Tsang, DDS]

Yes, we refer to it as tooth preparation.  We need to remove some tooth structure around the tooth in order to create room for a bridge.  If we just put a bridge on top of the existing teeth, it wouldn't fit your bite.