This patient broke off her front teeth and delayed treatment due to fear of contracting COVID. I cleaned up the decay and made her a PMMA temporary bridge so she could smile for the holidays.
Emergency Temporary Bridge
Tag Archives: cavities
Smile make-over case of the week
This patients upper teeth were badly decayed and could not be saved. I extracted all her upper teeth and made an immediate denture. Next I will work on her lower teeth.
Implant and crown case of the day
On this patient I noticed decay under two 20 year old crowns on teeth #30 and 31. Removal of the old crowns revealed tooth #30 with deep decay sub-gingival into the root furcation. This tooth was non-restorable. I recommended extraction and an implant. For tooth #31, I was able to clean out the decay and do a crown build-up and make her a new crown.
The first x-ray above shows my initial try-in with a gap between the implant crown and implant. The crown would not fully seat, so I re-did the implant crown. The second x-ray, after re-doing the implant crown, shows a perfect fit!!! Both the implant crowns #30 and #31 fit and look beautiful.
Crown cases of the day
These two patients today had badly broken down teeth. One option would have been to extract the teeth and place implants. I wanted to try to save the teeth by building them up and placing crowns. Here are the before and after photos.
Quick easy filling of the day :-))
This patient had decay on her back upper first molar. I cleaned out the decay and placed a beautiful ceramic composite restoration. Here’s the before and after pictures. Looks great!
Filling of The Day
This patient had an old amalgam filling with recurrent decay. I removed the filling and decay and placed a beautiful ceramic composite restoration.
Cavities of the day
This first patient had a large deep cavity on the inside (lingual surface) of her upper lateral incisor. The decay extended under the gum-line and the pulp was necrotic. We discussed treatment options and could have extracted the tooth and placed an implant, but I felt we could save this tooth with a root canal and composite build-up.
The next patient had a cavity on his upper molar. I quickly and easily removed the decay and placed a composite restoration.
What happens when you don’t brush
This is what happens when you don’t brush your teeth and do not see a dentist for 10 years. Most of this 64 year old patient’s teeth looked like these two that I uploaded here. Some are just too decayed and will need to be extracted, these two teeth I was able to restore with bonded ceramic composite restorations. Here’s are his before and after photos.
Cavities of the day
This 30 year old patient drinks lemon water all day long. She also grinds her teeth. The grinding causes her teeth to crack and the acid from the lemon juice erodes the tooth causing demineralization of enamel allowing tooth decay.
Next, his 23 year old patient had a crack in his back upper molar. The tooth had a 10 year old amalgam restoration in it. The crack allowed decay to spread deep under the old amalgam filling. The tooth was not sensitive and the patient was unaware that he had a cavity. I removed the old filling and cleaned up the decay, placed a fluoride base to protect the pulp and restored the tooth with a beautiful ceramic composite.
I enjoy explaining and educating my patients
As Dean’s Faculty, Clinical Assistant Professor in The Advanced General Dentistry Department at The University of Maryland School of Dentistry, I am used to teaching and educating residents and senior dental students. I am always happy to answer questions and show patients exactly what I am doing and explain why.
