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Mini Dental Implants vs Traditional Implants

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The next story is about a patient of mine named Storie….how bizarre.  Well actually the patient is the wife of a patient of mine who had placed mini dental implants on to replace his existing partial denture. 

She had broken her tooth.Before Ext

X ray of broken premolar #13

I gave her the option of a root canal, post and a crown.  I thought it was a good option but she had it in her mind to take the tooth out and have implants.  We talked about traditional implants but she wanted what her husband had been offered – mini dental implants and crowns.   

I took the tooth out with some peritomes to preserve the facial bone as much as possible .

After Ext & Bone Preservation X ray of the tooth removed and the socket preservation with De-mineralized  & Mineralized Freeze Dried Bone (6 months later)

The area had healed in quite well and I was pleased with the amount of bone that was preserved in both the Facial/Lingual dimension as well as height.IMG_7513 

3 Intra Lock Mini Dental Implants were placed to act as the roots for the missing premolar and molar (#13 and #14)IMG_7514

As you can see the procedure was very atraumatic to the tissue as no flap was made.  Notice hardly any blood in the sites where the mini implants were placed. 

I standard impression was taken and the case was sent to Valdi and Shatkin FIRST Lab for 2 PFM Crowns.  The thing I like about FIRST Labs is that you don't get charged for the lab analogs for the master model or the 2nd pour for contacts.IMG_7658 IMG_7659 

Not to mention that the crowns look good and more importantly fit well on the mini implants.

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I dry fitted the mini dental implant crowns in the patients mouth…let her approve the color and aesthetics.  She approved them and we cemented them.  Overall it was a slam dunk case.

IMG_7662 IMG_7666 13 14 Mini Final Xray

  

  

 

Mini Dental Implant Molar Crown ~One Mini Dental Implant per root Part II

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As promised here are the photos for the mini implant crown to replace a missing molar tooth.  In this example of using mini implants for a crown 3 minis were used to replace the three roots on the missing upper molar.3MinisforMolarCrown

3 Intra Lock Mini Dental Implants in tooth #3 position

We have been using the iTERO dental scanner for 20 months now and decided to see how it would scan muliple mini dental implants.  I did take a traditional impression as a backup and also to verify the fit of the mini implant crown.  IMG_7597 IMG_7596

I discussed the case with Valdi at Shatkin FIRST Lab's and he felt like there should be no issue with the case using the iTERO scan.  He built the case just like any other one he does on a daily basis. 

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iTero model of 3 mini dental implants

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FIRST Lab Mini Dental Implant PFM Molar #3

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Mini Implant Crown next to a standard crown

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Mini Dental Implant Molar Crown Chewing Surface View

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Mini Dental Implant Crown Side View

3Minis #3

X-ray of Molar Crown on 3 Mini Dental Implants
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Mini Dental Implant

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What do you do when its Friday afternoon and this walks in with a crying patient attached to it?

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Well I looked in the tool box and thankfully I had a stash.  No not anything illegal but a stash of Intra Lock Mini Dental Implants from Shatkin FIRST Labs.  Jay Moore (the well respected and highly knowledgeable sales manager) had just sent me 24 mini implants in the 'Cash for Clunkers' trade in program.

The patient stated that the bridge was 'slightly decayed' for a while and that she had noticed some movement over the past few months.  Well from where I was sitting I don't know where the 'slightly decayed' came from…..it looked more like a stroll down the street in Anbar Province Iraq. 

I was able to tack mush to mush and took a pre op pan xray

  Pre pan

 

Of course I was drooling over the thoughts of Mini Implants everywhere for this patient!  But I had to slow down and go over all the options from

1. Do nothing…not really an option….but I have heard that patients can get creative with Super Glue!

2.  Extract and recommend a denture or partial.

3.  Extract and implants for an over-denture or implants and a fixed bridge.

4.  Extract and mini dental implants for a fixed bridge or mini implant retained full denture.

To my surprise the patient had done her homework and had come to see us specifically for mini dental implants and a mini implant bridge.

I told her lets's slow it down a bit.  How about we make it the first goal to take out the broken root tips and preserve as much bone as possible with some peritomes(dental instruments to extract teeth with less trauma to the facial bone).  Then see about placing some mini dental implants and for certain figure out how to make her a temporary bridge to wear while some healing occurred.

Minis all went in as planned.  She will return in a few weeks for a tissue check and I will update the photos. 

ICAT CT minis iCAT CT scan of mini dental implants in place for a fixed bridge

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pre post mini pansPost operative pan xray of mini dental implant in upper jaw for fixed bridge