Tag Archives: virginia

Bridge case of the day

This patient had a non-restorable decayed upper first molar tooth. I recommended a bridge since his adjacent teeth already had crowns on them. We extracted the infected molar and placed a temporary bridge. Following healing I prepared the adjacent teeth and fabricated and cemented a fixed 3 unit zirconia porcelain bridge. Here’s the before and after pictures.

before-bridge
before
after-bridge
after bridge
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X-ray of infected tooth
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photo of decayed tooth
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zirconia bridge
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view of inside
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happy patient :-)))

beforebridge afterbridge

Implant/crown case of the day

This 32 year old female patient was missing her upper left lateral incisor and the right lateral incisor was fractured. Today I restored the missing lateral incisor with a BioHorizons titanium dental implant, custom abutment, porcelain crown and broken incisor with a porcelain crown.

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Implant case of the day

This patient had a fractured upper first bicuspid tooth that needed to be extracted. I restored her tooth with a Zimmer Biomet 3i Encode screw retained dental implant. Here are my clinical photos of the crown delivery today.

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Encode healing abutment
implant
implant
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screw retained implant crown
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filling placed in access opening
implantcrown
implant crown, gold screw and torque wrench
implantx-ray
final x-ray
implantdesign
digital design scan

Implant case of the day

Today for this patient I restored her missing lower right molar with a Zimmer-Biomet Encode titanium dental implant with a custom titanium abutment and porcelain crown. Here are the restorative pictures and digital design scans.

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encode healing abutment
implant1
dental implant
implant2
custom abutment
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abutment screwed in
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porcelain crown cemented

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implant5
looks fantastic
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restorative implant parts
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happy patient and dentist :-)))

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Tips for Your Teeth: Halloween Edition

Dr. Gentry’s Tips for Healthy Teeth

halloween

  • Eat Halloween candy right after meals. The saliva produced during meals will help dilute the acids produced by the mouth bacteria in response to the sugar and the saliva will help rinse away food particles.
  • Avoid candy that lasts a long time. It’s the length of time the sugar is in your mouth that is the critical factor. The longer the candy is in the mouth the more damage to the teeth.
  • Stay away from sticky candy. The longer the sugary candy is stuck to the teeth the more decay will occur. Stay away from gummy bears, sticky fudge and taffy. Stay away from sour candy. Sour candy is highly acidic leading to erosion of enamel.
  • Drink more water. Tap water with fluoride is best. This will help wash away the candy.
  • Eat good healthy foods and don’t fill up on sugary candy. You need good nutrition for healthy teeth and gums.
  • Stay away from sodas and sports drinks. The frequent contact with the sugary liquid will increase damage to teeth.
  • Chewing sugarless gum after eating candy will cause increased saliva production, which will neutralize the acid in the mouth and wash away food.
  • Brush as soon as possible after eating. If you ate sour or acidic foods rinse with water a few times first to neutralize the acid so not to push the acid into the enamel. Brush for two minutes.
  • Floss! Flossing removes plaque and food stuck between the teeth where the toothbrush can’t reach.
  • Visit your dentist regularly to catch dental problems early, and “treat” them before they get really scary. … Remember good oral health is a major contributor to good overall health.

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Bridge to replace a missing tooth

For this patient, I replaced his lower right missing bicuspid tooth with a porcelain fused to metal bridge. Normally we would place an implant, however, in this case his mandibular bone was very thin in this area, and the distal tooth was very badly decayed and needed to have a crown. So I recommended a bridge to replace the missing tooth.

bridgebefore
before
bridgepreps
teeth built-up and prepared
bridgeafter
bridge cemented

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bridge

dentalbridge 

This next patient was missing a lower molar and the adjacent teeth were badly broken down. We elected to try to save the remaining teeth and made a porcelain fused to metal bridge to replace the missing molar and restore the adjacent posterior teeth. The other option would have been to extract the 3 broken down teeth and place dental implants to restore the lower left quadrant. Here’s the before picture showing the broken down teeth, and after with the bridge cemented in place.

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