Preventing further tooth loss with Dental Implant treatment

So often we talk about Dental Implants as being the solution to teeth that have had to be removed or are missing. In this case we also demonstarte how treatment with Dental Implants can also help to prevent further tooth loss in the future.

This patient presented to our clinic with severe bone loss affecting his upper central incisors. This form of localised severe periodontal disease is one of the most common causes of localised tooth loss. It results in teeth drifitng and becoming loose. In this particular type of periodntal disease, we often find that the pattern of bone loss spreads from one tooth to the adjacent tooth over time. This can ultimately result in multiple teeth becoming loose and severely affected over time if left untreated.

In this case, the patient had 2 teeth which were very loose and beyond the point of being able to save them. However, the adjacent teeth, which were the lateral incisors, were also starting to become affected by the bone loss as can be seen in the radiograph images.

It is not possible to successfully contain the periodontal disease unless the most severely affected central incisors are removed. By removing the central incisors we were able to maximise the chances of saving the lateral incisors. We replaced the central incisors with strong Dental Implant supported teeth and a bone grafting procedure that replaced the deficient bone. The bone grafting procedure not only allowed us to replace the central incisors BUT it improved the bone volume around the patient’s own lateral incisor teeth as well. This helped to improve the long term prognosis of the adjacent teeth and limit the number of teeth lost to the periodontal disease to just 2 teeth.

The pictures below show the stages involved in restoring this patient’s incisors with Dental Implants. As can be seen by the occlusal image, the implants are placed in the middle of the prosthetic zone in every plane to ensure that we are able to regenerate the maximum amount of bone following treatment. There is plenty of evidence demonstrating that implants in the middle of the prosthetic zone will evade peri-implant disease in the future more so than implants placed too far buccal or palatal.

Our patient is enrolled onto a long term periodontal therapy programme with our hygienist to minimise his risk of developing this severe form of periodontal disease in the future. Therefore, we have successfully contained his periodontal disease and helped to restore his confidence in his smile and dental health.

Thank you for reading

Mohsin Patel BDS MJDF RCS (Eng)