A dental implant replaces an extracted tooth root. Treatment therefore takes place solely at the site of the extracted tooth, without affecting adjacent teeth. To create a dental bridge, the crowns of the adjacent natural teeth must be trimmed to allow the insertion of dental crowns bonded to the pontic replacing the missing tooth. If the teeth adjacent to the extracted tooth are healthy, a bridge is very rarely recommended, due to the invasiveness of the procedure on healthy abutment teeth.