Is a badly fitted bridge the cause of my bad breath?

Q.
About 5 months ago I had a bridge installed on 30,31,32. The next day, I called the dentist back and told him that there was a gap between the lower and upper teeth. The dentist told me that he left a bit of a gap because I had to have a root canal on #32 prep and he didn’t want to irritate it. He said that the teeth would naturally come together over time and my bite would be normal. This sounded strange to me, I didn’t know how teeth would get longer, but I didn’t pursue it further.

In the last few days, I have noticed that I have bad breath even minutes after cleaning my teeth and rinsing. I’m also having some very slight pain on my #3 tooth, directly above my new bridge. Could this be a result of the occlusion not being right and the tooth extending down too far to meet the bridge on the bottom and exposing too much of the tooth. I suspect that I have an abscess that is draining in my mouth and causing bad breath. But is isn’t painful because it is draining. If this is the result of a poorly fitted bridge, then I think this dentist should be responsible.

A.
It could be all the above. Certainly teeth can move. And, upper teeth can migrate downward if they are not in contact with the bridge. It is important that your bite be balanced As for the bad taste, it could be an abcess or it could be retention of debris under the bridge. If you have a bridge it is important to keep it very clean underneath.
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