Dental Implants Driver in Fixation Screw in Abutment on Model & Crown

Dental implants are not teeth.  Dental implants are very much like the roots of teeth.  Crowns can be cemented to teeth or dental implants.  Overdentures can be secured to either dental implants or tooth/teeth roots.  Neither are the white things that people smile or chew with.

In this picture a hex driver is being used to tighten an abutment screw and the final crown is seen.

This picture and the narrative above outlines the detail of this specific case, but for the one stop shopping – comprehensive dentist, this is just one small but very important aspect of restorative dentistry.  In my opinion, as I have stated before, Comprehensive Dentistry means ” accepting a patient in any stage of dental disease and restoring them to a state of health, comfort and esthetics consistent with their wants and being respectful of their finances.”

Future blogs will address infection control in the dental office as this is huge issue right now.

Dental Implants are now a common way to replace missing teeth, it was not always this way.  When I graduated from Columbia University School of Dental and Oral Surgery in 1985, I remember the most conservative instructors warning “do not place dental implants, they rarely work.”  Now in 2013, dental implants enjoy a success rate and longevity greater than traditional tooth supported fixed bridgework.  A quick history.

Historically, for implant dentistry “I think that we have to start with the first modern, successful implant that was placed in 1948 by Gustov Dahl.  Then I believe we jump over to the introduction of successful, widespread use of endosteal implants following the development of the Ramus Blade by Harold Roberts and the the esplosion of the implantololgy being brought around the world by Leonard Linkow and his many modifications of the concept of blade implants.”  This is a quote form my mentor, O’Hilt Tatum Jr from AAID’s Winter 2013 “AAID News” page 16.  Dr Tatum then goes on with what he considers the most important milestones in implant dentistry.  I personally think the next major step was the exquisite scientific studies published in the book, “Tissue-Intregrated Prostheses” in 1985 by Per-Ingvar Branemark, MD., Ph.D., George A. Zarb, DDS and Tomas Albrektsson, M.D., Ph.D.  These long term, controlled, human scientific studies were done over a 15 year time period in Goteborg, Sweden.  These studies gave a scientific basis for the safety, predictability and longevity of dental implants.

All on 4 is the concept that all of ones lower teeth can be supported by 4 dental implants.  In this picture, 4 lower dental implants are connected via a gold bar with two ball attachments supporting a lower overdenture.  This patient presented to my Palm Harbor dental office in 2013 to have a new lower overdenture fabricated.  The original surgery and prostetic’s were done by my friend and former associate of Dr. Tatum, now retired, Richard Borgner DDS.

Driver in Fixation Screw in Abutment, Crown

The dental implant itself is not seen in this picture.  I placed the dental implant 6 months prior in my dentist Palm Harbor office, now it comes time to restore this dental implant.  The hand driver has the white circular part.  The hand driver goes through the abutment and is inserted in the fixation screw (not visible as it is inside the abutment.)  This will be screwed in to the implant and tightened with a torque wrench.  The dental crown will be cemented to the abutment.

Retracted view of new crown on Dental Implant tooth #9

The bigger of the two front teeth is tooth #9.  It is a crown that was cemented to a dental implant abutment.

Unfortunately, it is not rare when a dental implant is done in this region for the final crown to be bigger/longer.  Fortunately, in this particular situation, this asymmetry is not visible when this man smiles.  The techniques used to restore dental implants in my dentist office, Palm Harbor have changed favorably over the more than two decades that I have been placing and restoring dental implants in Palm Harbor, Tampa Florida.