DENTAL IMPLANT CASE STUDY

My implant works, looks and feels like a real tooth

Dr Chris Woods

Margaret damaged her front teeth in a fall.  When one of them started to fail and go dark, she was reluctant to smile properly.  After the tooth broke she wanted a dental implant to replace it.    Now, her new implant looks and functions like a real tooth and she wishes that she’d had the treatment years ago.

Margaret was nine months pregnant and on a weekend away, when she fell heavily, rolling forwards onto her bump.  The force of the fall knocked her front teeth back.  At the time, she was more concerned about the effect of the fall on her first baby, so she remembers pushing her teeth back into place and returning home.

It wasn’t until twenty-seven years later that her front right upper central incisor started to go dark in colour near the gum line.  It took about ten years for the whole tooth to go dark, but when it eventually snapped off leaving an unsightly gap, Margaret sought advice.  Her NHS dentist was unable to help, so she made an emergency appointment to see Dr Chris Woods at the Greenside Implant Centre in Cleckheaton.

                        

Dr Woods discussed the treatment options and stabilised the damaged tooth with a temporary orthodontic wire splint.  Margaret already knew that she wanted a dental implant.  She explains, “Because it was a front tooth, I decided that it should be an implant.  It needed to look and work just like a real tooth.  I wanted to be able to bite properly.”  Margaret also has a slight lisp and didn’t want her speech further affected by a bridge or denture.

Margaret’s broken front tooth was extracted and a temporary single tooth partial denture was provided.  A period of three months’ healing allowed a bone graft to fuse with the jawbone (a process called osseointegration).  Dr Woods then placed the implant, and after the soft tissue had healed, a temporary implant crown was fitted.  The temporary tooth gives the gums time to mature around the implant and can help with the aesthetics, particularly if the teeth involved are at the front of the mouth and visible. 

After a couple of appointments to make adjustments to the temporary crown, Dr Woods fitted the final implant crown onto a custom-made abutment.  Margaret comments, “I am delighted with my implant, it feels like a real tooth.  I didn’t want false teeth.  My parents had false teeth and they had problems chewing.  With my implant I can bite and chew normally.”

                    

Margaret is 68 and a retired teacher.   Fit and active, she enjoys yoga, zumba gold, ballet and singing in a choir.  She explains, “I don’t feel old at all.  I feel young and fit, especially with a nice-looking dental implant.”

She wishes that she’d had implant treatment earlier and concludes, “I had a dark tooth in the photographs when both my children got married.  With my new implant, I can now smile broadly without worrying.  I’m not self-conscious anymore when having my photograph taken.  I would definitely recommend having implants.”