Every day, our office sees patients with a wide variety of restorative needs, each of which we try to match on an individual basis. Today's patient came to us with decay in their second premolar that structurally compromised the tooth. Radiographs revealed that there was not enough healthy enamel/dentin left to do a traditional filling or crown, so we had to consider other treatment possibilities. After reviewing options with the patient, it was decided that the tooth should be extracted and replaced with an implant by one of our specialists.
Take a look at how the decayed (darker appearing) tooth was removed and replaced with a titanium implant.
After the implant was placed and healed, we took impressions to make a custom mounting for the final crown (called an abutment). Since the second premolar is far back in the mouth, we had our lab create a gold abutment matched to a porcelain and metal crown. This combination of materials allowed us to create a crown that was both durable and beautiful without risking damage to the opposing teeth. The patient gets all the structural benefits of a metal crown, but with no metal showing. Careful planning provided us with great results; both our office and the patient were ecstatic with the outcome!
The final product! Notice how natural the implant crown looks in the patient's mouth.
Overall, dental implant cases typically take about 8 months from start to finish. The vast majority of this time is spent making sure the implant is healed correctly and properly integrated into bone. In the meantime, there are numerous other considerations and adjustments needed: the appearance of the surrounding gum tissue, the color/shade of the crown and even the shape/material of the underlying abutment. If you are interested in an having a dental implant placed or are just curious about what goes into making an implant, please feel free to call our office! We are always happy to walk you through any of our procedures!