We were not able to save the natural tooth that was originally located in this position.  You can see why here.  Now the implant has been placed and healed, so it’s time to finish with the post and crown.

And here’s the area at only 2 months after the gum surgery. The healing is significantly better and, again, look how much of the root surface remains covered from the original photo. To review, I placed a tooth colored filling to replicate or replace the lost ‘landmark’ that differentiates between the enamel and root surface of the tooth, giving the gum specialist a ‘target’ to place his graft afterwards. This happens to be an IDEAL result.

Now, since we’ve looked at the final result, let’s look where we started.

The patient lost her front teeth many years ago and so had to get a bridge across the front. When it was constructed the dentist did not take into account the shape of her lips or smile. So this old bridge has what we call a ‘reverse smile line’. That means her front teeth don’t follow the shape of the lower lip giving a worn, older appearance to the smile. This also occurs in many people that grind their teeth.

An orthodontist asked for assistance with our mutual patient. The patient’s lateral incisors (next to the big middle teeth) were slightly undersized and he wanted them bonded FIRST to make their size ideal, then he would finish his orthodontics. This is an excellent way to get an ideal esthetic result, as described here.

The orthodontist was kind enough to take off the brackets on the front 4 teeth. Here’s how things looked:

Now take a look at the final result. This was completed with only bonding and, as I stated last time, no root canal was necessary. Both the patient and his mom were thrilled!

Same photo…but look at the ‘top’ of the tooth in the picture. Can you see the small ‘line’ that seems to touch the adjacent tooth? This tooth is cracked in multiple areas, but the only portion that broke off is at the bottom. I would bet the tooth was already fractured when it was filled with this composite (it was done before the patient came to my practice). In fact if you look at the recent posts below, you can see what this one probably looked like before the silver filling was replace.

Look here:

Let’s change subjects. Often people have older silver fillings that are still serviceable. They are conservative, meaning the filling is small and the tooth remaining to hold the filling is still adequate. But over time, the filling can act like a wedge inside the tooth and cause it to split or break. This often occurs from the INSIDE of the tooth first.

Look at the difference in Cleo’s smile before and after her dental treatment. And here’s the pretty portrait photo we took when all her work was finished. It looks great!

Here’s another view of the before and after:

With the bonding added to the centrals it becomes obvious that the laterals are too small. After the orthodontist is finished I’ll show the veneer portion of Suzanne’s case.

Here are Suzanne’s teeth before and after the bonding.

The space is significantly closed by simply making the teeth their ideal width. Because of this the orthodontist will have an easier time moving the teeth….less guesswork and less movement. Suzanne is happy about that, too!