I rarely do long span bridges anymore thanks to implants but this 65 yr old gentleman had 20 yrs of success with his previous fixed bridge from his lower first premolar to his lower third molar until marginal breakdown allowed recurrent caries to develop and prompted replacement ( in Canada this is from 34-38 replacing 35, 36, 37 and in the US from 17-21 replacing 18,19,20) . He did not want to use implants since he had had "enduring success" with the previous bridge. We have all seen this kind of reasoning by our patients- can't blame him. He is a Class II with a deep bite and a grinding habit. I reprepared the abutments for a zirconia bridge ( the third molar is very tipped mesially )…not easy to get both draw as well as resistance and retention form. He did not want to wear a nightguard that I had recommended and…..you guessed it- the third molar retainer loosened up in less than 2 years! He ( and I) would like to remove the bridge, really look at the occlusion, convince him to wear at least an essix retainer and see how it goes with recementation. NOT such bad logic BUT I am unable to loosen the retainer on the premolar. I have encourged him to keep wiggling it- the distal retainer is definitely debonded and have tried the Richwill Crown and Bridge Remover "gummies" which can sometimes be amazingly effective! But not here so far. I am next going to try Frank Spear's idea of using the GC Crown Removing Pliers with a fulcrum sitting on teeth anterior to the first premolar . Although Frank uses a toothbrush as the fulcrum, I am going to create a broader fulcrum using a silicone putty and have it seated on the cuspid and incisors. I don't want to extract the premolar in doing this !! WHAT WOULD YOU DO to remove the bridge and recement it? Would a YERG laser work?

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