I can chew...I can chew...

Used to be that when you lost your teeth you did not have much choice...you had to wear a removable set of false teeth...called a full denture, which unfortunately is a poor substitute for real teeth in most cases...but with today's hi tech solutions, we have much more to offer our patients....specifically implants....
and it gives the patient a full set of teeth that are permanently placed in the jaw and really feel and chew like your own natural teeth....
Unfortunately...many people have come in and told me how they have heard that implants are so painful that they would never consider them...but when done properly they are incredibly painless and hugely rewarding...take a look...

This patient has been holding on to several of her own teeth which have been supporting a bridge...but the time has come where the natural teeth have to be removed...
Luckily she is a good candidate for implants and she will not have to wear a denture...she had 8 implants placed into the lower jaw about 6 months ago and now they are ready to have teeth placed on them...
the first step is to take the impressions...here is photo where the transfer copings are in place(arrows point to my transfer devices, including that plastic thing that looks like a lego piece)....and an impression of the entire lower jaw was made.

It is now two weeks later and the lab has fabricated new posts(abutments)that are screwed into the implants(which are in the bone)...The first thing I do is extract the four remaining teeth...I then try in all the implants and due to some good planning and a little luck all the implants screw down nicely....

It is now time to try in the temporary lower teeth...and again we have a nice result..the temps go right to place and with just a few minutes of adjustment we have a patient who has a full new lower set of teeth...they are cemented into her mouth with a temp cement...and she is thrilled...

The first thing you are probably thinking is wow..those are huge long teeth..but keep in mind that these photos are taken with a retractor and the patients lips and cheeks hide that length and she is beautiful...
And belive it or not this patient left the office on her own, met her husband and is going out to dinner!!

Stay tuned for more as we still have to convert these temps to porcelain caps and we are going to be doing the upper teeth as well....!!