Having my practice based on Aesthetics, Implantology and Oral Rehabilitation, all cases are fascinating to me but, without a doubt, some still manage to surprise and challenge me.
Being also a Maxillofacial Surgeon and, obviously, placing many Implants, I am proud to be ultra conservative of the natural tooth: the best implant in the World!
In this case I managed to preserve all the patient’s teeth (I’m sure it wouldn’t be like this in many other clinics). This meant many more hours of work for the professional and longer appointments for the patient, but in my opinion, it pays off a lot!
Teresa’s case (fictitious name for privacy) was undoubtedly special.
Teresa is 49 years old, is an Accounting Administrator and came to me to change a situation that had dragged for a long time. She was aware that it had reached a point where a drastic intervention would be necessary if she wanted to keep her teeth.
Before the actual Oral Rehabilitation, many hours of caries treatment, endodontics, gingival surgery were necessary, in an exhaustive work of treating teeth that, in some cases, seemed to be lost.
No teeth were extracted.
After this phase, the models were sent to the laboratory where the Oral Rehabilitation was designed and the temporaries made with the new shape and alignment of the teeth.
In an appointment of several hours, the teeth of both arches were prepared, gum surgery (gingivoplasty) carried out after which impressions were taken and the temporaries placed.
With this new look we had a preview of the final result, how it fitted the patient’s mouth and face.
To rehabilitate this case, several Fixed Prosthesis techniques were used: Ceramic Veneers, Ceramic Crowns and Zirconia Bridges, which together created a natural aesthetic smile and corrected the various changes in occlusion (the way the teeth fit together) that Teresa had.
The result, a dramatic change, could not have made us happier and the it gave the patient the smile she had never had, both beautiful and natural looking.
See then the photos of this spectacular case of Oral Rehabilitation:
We asked the patient some questions to understand how she experienced this whole process.
Interview:
Dr.Paula: I know you have a long history of dental problems. Tell us a little about this.
Teresa: I remember that I was still a little girl, when I started going to the dentist, I don’t know how many times and then they started wanting to pull my teeth out all the time. My mother didn’t let them, otherwise I wouldn’t have any now.
When I was 18, I did a major treatment, convinced that I was going to lose a lot of teeth.
Fortunately it wasn’t like that, I went there a lot of times and the Dentist fixed the whole mouth.
After that, I had another major treatment about 14 years ago and, in between, there was always something happening, new cavity , something breaking, my mouth was “falling apart”
Dra.Paula: How did you feel about your smile?
Teresa: (Silence…) Lately, I was more aware of my teeth because they were really decayed and I started to hide my teeth with my upper lip to hide it.
Dra.Paula: How did you find us?
Teresa: At the beginning I was still looking for a Doctor to patch me up, but I was aware that things were already so bad that it will no longer withstand any more patches and everything would fall apart. I changed tactics, it would have to be a major intervention, so I went online looking for a place that was close to me, and specialized in Oral Rehabilitation.
Dra.Paula: What made you choose us?
Teresa: I’ve been more or less trying to get away from big franchised Dental Clinics that are now everywhere and that don’t inspire me confidence. I prefer a small, personalized Clinic, more dedicated to this area.
Dra.Paula: How was your experience during this radical change that involved so many treatments?
Teresa: It went well
Dra.Paula: And now that we’re done, are you happy with the results?
Teresa: I am very much, although at the beginning, it took me a bit to get used to the new image of the upper teeth. It’s not that they weren’t beautiful and natural, which they were, but they were so different from my teeth all my life… I was surprised but now these were “my teeth”, so beautiful and natural.
Dra.Paula: What did the change bring to your life?
Teresa: I feel much more at ease, I no longer have to hide my smile.
Dra.Paula: Do the others notice that you are different?
Teresa: As everyone more or less knew that I was doing this, they noticed and liked it.
