Mr M had several missing and worn teeth and was referred to Elmsleigh House for dental implants. He saw Kit Spears from the dental implant team, who performed a thorough examination.
Kit found that the significant wear on his teeth had been caused by teeth grinding (bruxism), which had caused teeth to be lost due to cracking. He therefore needed to take a whole-mouth approach to plan treatment to distribute the biting forces more evenly.
Options included a chrome denture, fixed bridges or dental implants, or a combination of these options. Kit wanted to plan treatment using models of Mr M’s teeth to design and visualise the final outcome. This involved a thorough evaluation of his teeth, gums and bite and additional x-rays to enable models of Mr M’s teeth to be made to digitally and physically plan treatment.
Mr M first needed root canal treatment on his upper right first premolar, so booked in to see Specialist endodontist, Somayeh Modarres-Simmons.
The plan to treat Mr M’s existing teeth involved: reshaping the gum around his two upper front teeth to improve gum height in order to increase the bonding area of the composite resin and improve appearance.
Restoration of ten front teeth (two upper and eight lower) in composite resin to planned appearance, shape and bite based on wax model planning.
Restoration of a further ten teeth with temporary crowns and onlays to new bite. Test function, appearance and speech with the new bite (for several weeks), and replace all temporary crowns and onlays with ceramic crowns and onlays as well as a four-unit ceramic bridge on the upper left.
The plan to replace Mr M’s missing teeth involved three implants to replace his upper right lateral incisor, lower right first molar and lower left first molar. Two implants to secure a four-unit bridge on his upper right. Two implants to secure a three-unit bridge to replace his fractured canine and both adjacent teeth. After some months of healing to ensure integration, these were restored with implant crowns or bridges made to match the look and colour of his other teeth. A temporary acrylic denture was made for the gaps to be restored before completing the restorative and implant treatment.
At the end treatment, a custom-made acrylic mouthguard was made to protect all restorative work and minimise further wear.
Mr M wrote this lovely thank you:
“Dear Kit, I welcome your email of May 15th, being your summary of dental work done since my first arrival at Elmsleigh House.
While, as we both know, the ‘journey’ achieving this was much longer than first envisaged - and for a variety of reasons - throughout this time you always showed me courtesy and consideration; likewise, your support staff and I thank you all for this.
I was impressed with the way you yourself so helpfully and calmly explained each stage of the work, and your ability to listen, but (most importantly!) your very considerate expertise. How reassuring - and even awesome - to find that the service and professional skill I expected was a reality” Mr M.
