Sub-structures have a huge influence upon the cost of bridges. If they are ceramic, they tend to be much more expensive as the processing and machine costs are much higher. Composites need sub-structures and the shelf-life of these materials can be very short.
Up to ten tubes may be on hold to create one tooth at £25 per tube and this can be quite a costly process because there is a lot of waste. With a lot of processes in the profession, to produce one single manifestation of tooth structure can require tying up vast amounts of money in short shelf-life products. If laser welding is included in your metal sub-structure, you will find that the £17,000 machine used influences the cost, just a little!
The same applies to the £20,000 machine used to make all porcelain Procera sub-structures. Yellow gold sub-structures are more biocompatible but more expensive. They give a more warm, vital colour to porcelain teeth than other metals.
The use of metals in the mouth can prove to be an advantage in cases where dead teeth (discoloured tooth stumps) need to be masked by metal and making the crowns look much better than they would, had they been all-ceramic.Palladium metal is a good substitute and is sometimes needed as it is stronger for long bridges and this is also expensive.
It is important to understand that bridges can be more expensive as they need extra soldering to join the metal parts together. This, combined with normal manufacture of bridges results in a much more time-consuming process than a single crown.
Titanium is the latest metal used that is very light, very strong, very biocompatible but can give a grey halo to the teeth, as it doesnt emit a warm colour in processing. It is very expensive to manufacture.
The last metal alternative being chromium nickel-based alloys these may contain elements of nickel that can create an allergic reaction in patients. This is very cheap and can be used a lot for this reason.
