Replace a Missing Canine Tooth with a Small Diameter Implant
Who would want to walk around with a missing canine (eye tooth)? Well if you have never been presented the option of using a mini or small diameter dental implant then that just might be you.
Some spaces are just small enough that a regular size dental implant (around 4mm in diameter) just won't work well. This is one of those cases. Could I have placed a 3.0mm mini dental implant here? I think so. However to give the implant the best chance of healing I decided to place a two piece implant. One that I could leave right a gum level to heal and reduce the chances of it getting bumped around while the implant fused to the bone.
Here we see the OCO Biomedical 3.25 x 16mm small diameter implant in place. It is in two pieces; the part that you see that is in the gum and bone and the part that is not attached yet. That part that will be screwed into the body of the implant is called the abutment. The abutment is what you see coming out of the gum and is what the crown is cemented to, just like your natural tooth.
Here we see the OCO implant in place without the abutment. A cover screw will keep the inside of the implant free from debris while it heals into the bone.
Of course we are not going to let our patient walk around without a tooth. A Hawley retainer being used to hold in a denture canine tooth that covers the implant during the healing process.
Paresh B Patel