Case Background
This gentleman attended the clinic a few months ago. He was missing an upper right premolar tooth (due to a failed root canal treatment) and was very conscious of the unsightly gap, especially when smiling and out socialising with friends. We discussed various options with the patient, and in the end, decided that the ideal solution for him was to have an implant placed here and to restore it with a crown. The patient was happy with this option so treatment proceeded.
What We Did
The patient was referred to our colleagues at the Northumberland Institute for Dental Medicine (just a 5 minute walk from our clinic) where the implant fixture was placed. This was a very straightforward procedure and almost completely painless. After placement of the implant, the area was left to heal for approx four months. The patient then returned here to Dr. Mark Kelly to have a crown placed on the implant.
Appearance of the gap which the patient is unhappy about .
This is a view of the implant site. The implant is buried below the gum and is now ready to have the crown placed. The metal piece you see in the image is called a ‘healing cap’ and is just there to protect the implant and prepare the gum area to receive the new crown.
At this stage, we look carefully at the neighbouring teeth and work out the shades, texture and characterisations that will need to be recreated by our ceramist when making the new crown. The more information we can give our ceramist, the better the crown that will result. Once the prescription has been drawn up, some impressions and photographs are taken and sent off to our technician (who also works locally with us).
A few weeks later, the crown arrives back from the lab. It is checked and inspected by Dr. Kelly before finally attaching it to the implant. Of course, the patient gets a good look at it too, to make sure they are happy that it looks the business! The final step is to secure the crown to the implant.
Finally, the crown is secured and the patient can once more smile with confidence! Our sincere thanks here to our talented ceramist, Tatjana Baum of
Dental Art Ltd for her artistic skills in making this crown.
Total Number of Visits to Clinic (Surgical and Prosthetic): 5
