A little while ago I posted some pretty scary photos of my office as it was being renovated, including this one:

But, when the tooth is opened up, look what’s inside:

This was NOT evident when you looked at the tooth (see below) and was only found with an x-ray.

We tried to save her current, new crown with some bonding and, at the same time add back to the other tooth. This was a quick, painless repair and got her on her way and back to work in no time!

So here’s the story. This young lady was in a rush to get to work, was looking down, and forgot about the glass doors ahead of her. After she ran into them the only damage was to these two teeth. She had just had a new crown placed on her upper right central incisor (the broken tooth on her right, or the left in the photo) just before she moved to town. The other tooth had some bonding. Understandably, she was upset. And we needed a quick fix to get her on her way back to work.

So that was a bad looking tooth.  This looks better.  The crown that was placed on this tooth has an all-porcelain margin (that’s the area where the tooth and crown meet).  There’s no metal in this area to give the gray appearance you can see so often around crowns.  Ask your dentist what esthetic alternatives you have when you are getting a crown.  Tell him or her you want it to look as good as this tooth!!

Notice how the new front teeth blend well with the existing teeth in back? They look like they’ve been there forever!

Notice how you are able to see through the very thin edges of these teeth. And very little tooth actually shows when her lips are relaxed and at rest. This is something usually seen in someone much older. As we age, the edge of our teeth often will wear, and we show less and less of the tooth. When this happens prematurely it gives us an ‘older’ looking smile.

Here is where we started. This young lady lost a lot of tooth structure earlier in her life. Now the teeth are too short, and VERY thin at the edge. Although there is no sensitivity, the nerve in these teeth is barely covered. There is almost no tooth structure left to protect them. Our challenge is to not only replace the lost tooth structure, but also restore ideal function and esthetics.

As I’ve stated before, the best plan when restoring teeth is to start with the end result in mind. This pretty smile is where we finished. Stay tuned to see where we started.

And here’s the final result, along with a photo of where we started. Remember, these teeth were symptom free but definitely had cavities hiding in the grooves. So if your dentist talks about some spots with a cavity starting and wants to complete a filling, don’t wait! Take care of it now while it’s small!