“How many teeth can be in a bridge?”

Depends. Usually 1 to 4/5.

I do not know the condition of your teeth or where this four unit bridge will be placed. If you are considering: crown ____crown 2 crowns, 2 pontics, the two pontics may be a large distance. The forces exerted on the two natural teeth may be O.K. Your dentist can't determine if only one crown on each side of those missing teeth will be enough. If it is not, one crown may be loosening up. This means you may have to go back to get your bridge recemented. This is to make you aware that this can happen. If you choose this: crown crown ___________crown crown, two crowns before, two pontics, two crowns after, pontics are the missing teeth. This means you will be paying for 6 units. At this point, considering 6x the price of a crown, are you a candidate for implants? The price of 2 implants is in the area of 6 crowns. While you are considering your options, are you reviewing daily flossing and brushing? Not taking care of crowns and bridges and implants can lead to gum disease and loss of natural teeth or implants. Before you make any decisions, get as many options as you can and do good home care.

Depending on which teeth are missing and how long the missing span is will dictate whether a bridge is appropriate for you. Consult with your dentist.

Bridges can be long spans involving from 3-14 teeth. Whether or not you can have a bridge depends more on the condition and number of teeth around the missing teeth. For example, if you lost two teeth due to periodontal disease, the remaining teeth might not be healthy enough to support a bridge. Or if you don’t have any teeth on one side of the missing teeth, then you wouldn’t be a candidate for a bridge. I hope this helps!

4 at least but 6 would be stronger

The decision to choose a bridge is more than how many teeth are missing. Implants are a better option to replace missing teeth which will not risk damage to others.

Mitchel Friedman

Like so many situations, it depends. If you are missing 2 teeth, your bridge would need to be at least 4 teeth in total, the 2 missing teeth and one tooth on either side to anchor it. Under ideal circumstances, and very healthy anchor teeth, you could go with 4 missing teeth and two anchor teeth for a total of 6 teeth. Other alternatives are placing 2 implants. If the adjacent teeth to the 2 missing are in poor shape,(root canaled or periodontal bone loss), it may need to have 4 anchor teeth total. There are variables, but that is a ballpark!

That’s a complicated question. The number of teeth in a bridge depends upon many things. The ratio of support teeth to false teeth. The amount of roots in bone. If the bridge is in a straight line or makes a turn. Your dentist needs to take all this and more into consideration.