Mini Dental Implants to Replace Missing Back Molar Teeth
Missing a back molar? Don't want to wear a partial denture? Have you been told you will need a sinus lift for a traditional implant?
In some cases all of these issues can be solved with a mini dental implant.
X-ray of the missing upper teeth. Notice on the upper jaw the limited amount of bone that is left.
4 OCO crown and bridge head mini dental implants in place to anchor two molar size crowns. A lot of times Dr.s ask me why are you putting in two mini implants to replace one tooth instead of one larger one? My answer (best worded by my friend Dr. Chow) is lets replace the upper molar tooth by replacing it with the most anatomically and biologically correct position of the missing roots. 2 or 3 implants to disperse the force the way the body originally had it.
The 4 mini dental implants are inserted with 2 engaging the palatal(roof of the mouth side) slope of bone. The other 2 engage the buccal(cheek side of the bone). This way we avoid the sinus cavity and have primary stability from the day of placement. This is the original positions of the roots the mini dental implant will replace. These mini dental implants had over 40ncm of torque day of placement.
I often get asked questions on how can patients keep the crowns clean. Each crown has a 'flossing groove' built into the anatomy. This will help the patient guide the water pic or floss threader.
Floss in between the mini dental implants to confirm removal of excess cement and to demonstrate to the patient how to use the floss threader or water pic.
Crowns in place and floss removed.
Implants are not teeth. The assumption that a dental implant should be the size of the root it replaces should be reexamined. Titanium alloy provides a level of strength in a smaller size than a tooth root does. We should place into our patients the minimum amount of foreign substance (titanium dental implants) required to maximize the vital bone supporting and surrounding the implants. For a good class on learning how to place implants click here: Simple Implant Placement Course & Hands on Seminar
Paresh B Patel Dental Implants Charlotte NC