By: Dr. Elizabeth Eggert
John came to us as an established patient at one of his routine recare appointments. Dr. Elizabeth noted decay around the edges of his expansive 6-unit bridge on his upper front teeth.
After further examination, one of the natural teeth of the bridge was showing signs of infection and needed to be removed. Dr. Elizabeth recommended John go through our records process so she could help John plan for a more stable, longer-lasting tooth replacement option for his front teeth.
What did John want his future smile to look like?
John wanted to replace his missing teeth with a stable and long-lasting solution. Dr. Elizabeth noted changes on one of the anchor teeth of John’s front bridge on radiographs, and the tooth needed to be extracted. John wanted to do what was needed to keep his natural teeth healthy and wanted to replace the front teeth with the longest lasting replacement option. John liked the look of his current bridge.
What did Eggert Family Dentistry do?
Dr. Elizabeth used photos and x-rays of John’s teeth along with the results of a thorough muscle and joint evaluation to present John with the current health of his teeth, gums, and the function of his jaw and muscles. The details of the records process revealed that the position of John’s bridge and many of his natural teeth caused multiple interferences when he chewed. This means he was biting down unevenly, causing the breakdown of his teeth. This deterioration was negatively impacting the function of his teeth and likely contributed to the failing bridge.
Dr. Elizabeth and John decided that John’s best replacement option for the bridge would involve placing two implants and connecting them with an implant bridge. This made it possible to detach some teeth from his original bridge and allow for easier cleaning.
Before we could start with John’s implants, though, we had to address the instability in his bite. John first wore an anterior deprogrammer to take pressure off his back teeth and relax his muscles so his new bridge could be restored to a more stable, comfortable bite. John then had restorations placed on many of his back teeth to rebuild tooth structure into a better functioning bite. John then had two implants placed in front and wore a temporary bridge during the healing phase. The final phase was for Dr. Elizabeth to fabricate a new implant bridge to replace his front teeth.
What does John think of the results?
“Everything turned out great! I like how it looks and I like how it feels! Everyone comments on how nice it looks. At first, I didn’t fully understand how it was all going to come together, but I trusted Dr. Elizabeth and her abilities and I am glad I did!” John is excited to also have brightened his smile and is considering bleaching his lower teeth. Contact us to schedule your bridge consultation.
