Dr. Ross Cutts, UK

This lovely lady patient was referred to our clinic due to her failing upper central and lateral incisor teeth following a traumatic event many years previously. The upper centrals were splinted following mobility issues associated with the external root resorption and the upper left lateral incisor tooth had an area of chronic apical pathology giving a poor long-term prognosis. The upper right lateral incisor tooth whilst appearing healthy had some periodontal mobility also giving it a poor long-term prognosis so the patient requested to replace the upper incisor teeth with a fixed implant retained bridge solution.

After discussing the different restorative options available – the patient confirmed they were happy to proceed with implant therapy. We decided upon a delayed immediate approach using the failing lateral incisor teeth to support a provisional bridge to allow early hard and soft tissue healing and natural replacement of the lost keratinized mucosa following tooth associated gingival recession.

The Straumann bone level tapered implants were placed and grafted with a mix of autogenous bone chips and cerabone® and covered with Jason® membrane. Following the appropriate period of healing the implants were uncovered and initially a provisional bridge used to transition from a tooth supported to implant supported provisional acrylic bridge. This allowed maturation and development of the emergence profile prior to definitive bridge fabrication.

Overall, with this extended but predictable method to implant therapy the patient was very happy and managed to avoid a removable prosthesis.

The „Case Of The Month“ highlights every month a clinical case, which distinguished itself by the clinical results or the treatment concept in combination with the applied botiss biomaterials. The selection of the case is based on content relevance and quality of the documentation.