Cosmetic Dentistry Orange County | Huefner Sensational Smiles Blog

Breaking and losing a front tooth can be devastating and very embarrasing. Everyone sees it.

Rita broke off just such a tooth at the gum line and it needed replacement. We discussed several options with her (placing a porcelain bridge, a removable partial denture or dental implant). In her case she didn't want to do anything to the adjacent teeth, so a porcelain bridge wasn't chosen. Also, she didn't want a tooth replacement that came in and out like a removable partial denture, so that wasn't chosen either. She wanted something permanent and very strong and accordingly, chose to do a dental implant.

Here is the process that we used to restore her tooth and smile with the dental implant.

First, the remaining part of the tooth (the root) was removed (extracted). A dental implant was placed into the area were the root was (below).

Then a zirconia abutment was made (below).

It was placed into the metal dental implant (below).

An all-porcelain (non metal) crown was made that fits onto the zirconia abutment (below).

A all-porcelain (non metal) crown showing how it fits onto the zirconia abutment (below).

The porcelain crown was cemented onto the zirconia dental implant abutment (below).

This was a successful case, but could have looked better had veneers been done on the two adjacent teeth to cover over the yellow root areas. Notice how beautifully matched the dental implant was to the two adjacent teeth!

Dr. Norman Huefner, General and Cosmetic Dentistry, Laguna Niguel, CA

Labels: irvine dental implant, laguna niguel dental implant, mission viejo missing tooth, san clemente porcelain crowns