A new lease of life – A case example of a recent case: Dental Implants

In the last week we have completed many treatments and I have decided to briefly present one case in particular that I believe may be familiar to some of our readers.

So many people put up with bad or failing teeth. Recurrent abscesses, loose teeth and poor crowns are just some of the daily problems that patients put up with. This effects people’s daily lives by making eating certain foods difficult (or even impossible) to eat and reducing their confidence in social situations.

This particular patient had put up with recurrent abscesses and poor crowns for over a decade. Over time the problem continued to get worse and the patient’s ability to smile confidently was severely impacted.

We offered a solution to replace the crowned and infected teeth with a permanent solution that would offer better health, better aesthetics and a better ability for the patient to chew and smile with ease.

We carefully removed the failing teeth and associated infections before fitting dental implants into the mouth. The treatment was planned using our CBCT scanning and digital aides to enable use to precisely fit the teeth accurately. At no point was the patient left without any teeth as we provided ‘temporary’ teeth during the treatment period which took 5 months in this case.

It is very important to give the body time to heal following the removal of the infected teeth. In theory, those infections had been in the mouth for possibly 5-10 years therefore, we allow a period of 6-8 weeks for the infection to ‘clear’. By doing this we improve the success rates of our implant treatments significantly as we can ensure that no further infection will continue to develop in those areas of the mouth.

The picture below shows how healthy the gums looked following this 6 weeks healing period and full resolution of the infection.

“You can’t build a strong building on a weak foundation. you must have a solid foundation if you’re going to have a strong superstructure”

This quote applies to implant dentistry. The gums and bone will provide these teeth with the foundations and therefore, in situations like this we must allow the body to heal at it’s own pace.

Following full healing we commenced with the implant treatment. The teeth were designed and made by Dr Hannah Wilson and Stephen Green (technician). As can be seen by the pictures below, the level of detail in these restorations is beautiful.

Everything was precisely planned allowing for these teeth to be designed in such an accurate way. The holes in the teeth are covered using tooth coloured composite resin once the teeth are fitted into the mouth.

Once the teeth were fitted we were told by the patient that it has been truly life changing. The patient is more confident in social situations and when eating. The problems that had become ‘normal’ such as abscesses, weak teeth, poor aesthetics are now a thing of the past. It is at this point that most patients realise how much of an effect the ‘bad’ teeth was having on them previously.

Thank you for reading

Mohsin Patel BDS MJDF RCS (Eng)