Yup…the SAME tooth! But I promise I’m almost done. Again, sorry for the gross photos, but look at how big this cavity is! This was VERY close to the nerve in the tooth and almost required a root canal. And, believe it or not, the tooth had absolutely NO symptoms! Hot/cold/biting pressure didn’t hurt it at all.
At the next visit, the healing cap is taken off. The newly made abutment is screwed onto the implant and the crown is placed over it. Here’s the final result. It came out great!!
Although this doesn’t really apply to a dental office, I thought I’d post about this because it will affect almost all of us. As you know, Microsoft is making a HUGE push to get everyone over to their new Vista software. Here’s a wonderful site that talks about Family Discounts for Vista upgrades. Many people are running more than one computer at home, and likely are using Windows XP. Read about buying multiple copies of Vista….it could save you some money!
Now came the fun stuff. We saw Robert one last time to fine-tune his bite and check for any other minor adjustments. Afterwards Robert was kind enough to let me take a few portrait photos. I was really proud of the final results and so was he!
Here’s a ‘before’ portrait:
and ‘after’… what a change!
Looking at Robert’s final result, I have to agree with him. Even smiling as big as he can, no one can see the gum-line area of his crowns. In this case the tissue did not need to be changed to have an excellent final result. If his lip rose above the tissue/crown meeting area at the gum-line, these crowns would not have been as pleasing to look at. Here he is at ‘maximum’ smile:
Had a great discussion with a local specialist about the referral pattern of some orthodontists. It seems their common treatment plan is to automatically extract 4 bicuspids, place brackets, and then pull everything ‘back’. In the end, yes, the teeth are straight. But at what expense? Take a look at the profiles of some of these cases after treatment. Instead of being full, pleasing, naturally contoured profiles it looks like their whole lower face is ‘pulled back’.
This is disturbing enough, but often these same othodontists are too quick to refer to the oral surgeon for jaw surgery to move the upper, lower, or often both jaws into alignment. Does this occur too often? I’m certainly not an orthodontist but in my opinion….yes. We’ll talk more about it later. Watch for more before and after smiles here: before and after
I’ll be periodically posting my thoughts on dental information, and on occasion, technology that has an effect on my practice and possibly on your life, too. I look forward to your comments and hope you will find something that interests you!!
