Immediate Restoration

In the past, with recommendations from dental implant manufacturers, implants were left buried under the gum (soft tissue) until bone has healed tightly around the implant.  But some implant manufacturers and researchers advocated leaving the implant open to the oral cavity right after the surgery.  Now, many implant manufacturers recommend even putting load on the implant right after the surgery.  Well, it does not mean chewing with the implants right after the surgery.

There are some advantages to at least providing a temporary crown on top of the implant right after placing the implant in the jaw bone.  First of all, a second surgery to expose the implant is no longer required.  This saves treatment time and money.  And some anxiety.  Second, by putting a temporary crown on the implant right after placing it in the bone helps the soft tissue to mold around the temporary crown so that when the final and permanent crown is placed, the soft tissue is ready as well.

So…  Do we really recommend patients to go back home and chew on the implant right after a dental implant surgery?  The answer is no.  But, a temporary crown can be placed a little out of occlusion, meaning that the temporary crown is not touching the opposing tooth or teeth until bone heals tightly around the implant.  Placing a temporary crown immediately after placing a dental implant is especially advantageous when a front tooth is being replaced with a dental implant.  Instead of wearing a stay-plate or a denture, the patient can go home with a temporary crown on the implant that looks much like the final and permanent crown that will be used later.

Here is a case with immediate restoration, the patient’s old porcelain crown used as the temporary crown right after placing an implant in the upper right lateral incisor (tooth #7).

When a fron tooth is missing, a bridg has been the traditional way to replace the tooth. With the advent of dental implants, teeth adjacent to the missing tooth are no longer cut down. Dental implants allow replacing a missing tooth without touching the adjacent teeth, whether it is a front tooth or a back tooth. Let’s take a look at this case.

The temporary crown used is the old crown the patient had on. The tooth had root canal treatment done and after many years of service, the tooth broke. Instead of trying to restore a tooth with a questionable prognosis, this patient wanted to have the remaining root of the tooth removed and replaced with a dental implant.

The root of the tooth was removed, a dental implant was placed and the old porcelain crown was reused as the temporary crown, all in one appointment. That saves a lot of future appointments, time and money. The temporary crown can be replaced with a permanent crown 5-6 months later.