Sometimes people are not ready to restore their front teeth. There might be a need, whether from fractures, wear, large fillings….any number of reasons. But maybe they just are not psychologically or financially in a position to really ‘fix’ their teeth. Here’s a quick example: This tooth fractured, but the gentleman does not want to crown his front teeth just yet. So….what to do??
On a recent visit to get her teeth cleaned I asked this pretty patient if she’s lost weight. Yes she had!! And she was VERY proud of that fact! So I suggested we update her portrait photo that we had taken after we fixed her front teeth, and she readily agreed. Her teeth look absolutely amazing, and she takes a great photo, too!
Portrait photo
Cracked tooth
A fun day of boating led to this cracked tooth. There was no hot, cold, or bite sensitivity so it became and esthetic issue. What was the best course of action to quickly repair this tooth?
Here’s the result after replacing the old dental work. Our pretty patient got some new teeth, and a beautiful rejuvenated smile. The shade is clean and bright without being TOO white (like SO many crowns tend to be!!).
This pretty patient had been very happy with the crowns on her front teeth for MANY years. But recently they started to show signs of aging, and we decided it was time to replace them. When you look closely, they seem to be angled slightly to one side and there are spaces that have developed between them.
Look at this tooth. It’s a mess. And it’s just downright ugly.
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.
So let’s look at this situation a little closer. You can see where the crown meets the tooth because there has been some recession of the gum tissue over the many years this crown has been in service. Also, this same area is starting to ‘leak’, that is, bacteria is migrating under the crown and infecting the tooth underneath. The tooth in front of the crown has a large cavity. In fact it’s big enough that you can see the gray ’shadow’ of the decay if you look closely. It was definitely time to fix these teeth.
I’ve mentioned before how I’m waiting on Vista until they get it working properly. Here’s a great article by John Dvork about this very subject. Bottom line: I’m still waiting!!
Read here.
Here’s another view of the finished bridge. I wanted to show this view along with the old bridge to illustrate the difference having teeth the proper proportion can make.
This also illustrates the difference a real artist can make when crafting a dental restoration. Look at how life-like the new bridge appears.
