This is a story of an patient who came to Dr. Chal for a second opinion. She had two non-restorable teeth that would have to be extracted, and had been given an estimate for two dental implants to be placed in order to be able to replace these teeth for her. But something about the dentist made her somewhat uncertain about whether or not she should proceed with treatment. So she came to see Dr. Chal.
 |
|
The first thing Dr. Chal did was to take an impression of her teeth and the adjacent structures, and then pour up the impression in a quick-setting stone. Within five minutes it was hard enough to do a mock surgical operation and cut off the teeth that needed to be extracted. |
| |
|
|
 |
|
Dr. Chal has this precision guidance system from Innovative Implant Technologies that has precisely calibrated guides to help predict whether or not implant surgery will be successful. |
| |
|
|
 |
|
Here Dr. Chal is trying the green guide to see if small diameter regular-sized implants will work for this patient. It allows for the diameter of the implant (represented by the holes in the guide) plus the minimum 1.5 millimeters of space that is needed between the implant and the adjacent teeth and between the two implants.
The guide shows that there is room for one implant, but not for two.
Because this case involves two teeth in the upper jaw that are in the smile zone, they need to be done as two separate teeth, or her smile will look strange. |
| |
|
|
 |
|
This gold-colored guide is calibrated for mini implants. As you can see, there isn't quite enough room even for two mini implants.
|
| |
|
|
As a result of Dr. Chal's careful assessment of the patient's situation, a disaster was avoided. Without adequate support, there is a high risk of failure for two dental implants placed in this position on this patient. And since the use of just one dental implant would have not been esthetic, the patient elected to have a fixed bridge placed.
|
