Published September 2026
- A front tooth is missing, with healthy teeth on each side
- A regular bridge would mean grinding both neighbors down for crowns
- Instead, thin wings are bonded to the backs of the neighbors
- The false tooth sits in the gap, held by those wings
- The neighboring teeth keep their own enamel
Who usually does it
general dentist. Done in general and prosthodontic offices.
One question worth asking
How does this hold up compared with a regular bridge in a bite like mine?
Metal wing for a bonded bridge
D6545. A thin metal wing glued behind a neighboring tooth; the classic Maryland bridge.
A Maryland bridge replaces a missing front tooth with a false tooth glued to the back of the neighboring teeth using thin wings, so the neighbors do not need to be ground down for crowns. Codes cover the wings by material; the false tooth is billed with the same code used for a bridge's false tooth.
Thin metal or ceramic wings are bonded to the backs of the two neighboring teeth and carry a false tooth between them, so those teeth keep their enamel. It suits a front gap where the bite is light, and the bond can come loose and need re-cementing. The wings are coded by material and the false tooth uses the ordinary pontic code. Most plans file this as Major. What they actually pay varies by plan.
Codes for this
Upload it or type the lines. We read it and show what happened to other patients. Free, no account.
No dental office can pay to change what we show you.