Let's start with this 74 year old woman...she has had dental work her entire life covering almost all her teeth...when she came to me her chief complaint was that her lower teeth looked awful
And, she was correct...as one gets older the upper teeth show less and the lower teeth show more due to muscle sagging...and now she always noticed her dark and non uniform lower front teeth...
In order to correct the crookedness and restore a full lustre look to these teeth, porcelain type crowns are the treatment of choice.. We could have opted for a laminate/crown combination plan but I felt that I would be more in control of the final look if I had full coverage of the teeth.
I would do 6 crowns in front...at today's visit we prepared 3 teeth for crowns...she could not sit through a long enough visit for me to prep all six teeth, so we decided on three preparations and temporaries today..and three next visit.
I fabricated the three temps with an alginate technique. The patient left the office after a 90 minute visit and was very comfortable and satisfied with the fit and look of the temps. At this point the temporaried are modeled off her original teeth but the final porcelain crowns will be straightened out as much as possible without having to do root canal or minor tooth movement.
Patient will be returning next week and I should have the next three teeth prepared and hopefully will take an impression for the permanent crowns as well.
Hope you enjoyed this real life dentistry.
Dr Stan
