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.

We looked at a recent case in which a patient had to lose a non-restorable tooth. Click here for a quick review. This is a similar case. The implant had been previously placed and was now ready to restore, by making a customized post and crown. We’re taking a photo to match the shade of the other teeth, but you can see the ‘healing cap’ that was placed by the surgeon.

Here’s another photo I recently took in the office.

Here’s a picture of what the tooth looked like:

Not a pretty site. You can see how well the crown fit the existing tooth, but a large portion of the root surface (the tooth UNDER the gum) simply broke off. There are only two options here: Gum surgery to lengthen and expose the fractured area (which we discussed here), or removal of the tooth and placement of a dental implant.

Here’s the tooth we’ve been talking about AFTER the gum surgery. Notice how you can now see the full extent of the fractured area? This will make possible restoring the tooth with a crown. It now has a temporary and is awaiting the new crown.

Back to this poor tooth. This is what’s been done. Since the fracture was so far below the gum this patient had to have the gum tissue moved down the neck of the tooth to expose healthy tooth structure. This procedure is called crown lengthening and is performed by a gum specialist, or periodontist. After the tissue has healed a crown will be placed to stabilize the remaining tooth and replace the lost portion. This should prevent any further damage. Do you have any teeth that look like this? Talk about them with your dentist….maybe you can avoid the problems this patient has had to endure.