Case Studies

Total Rehabilitation with Zircon Crowns and Implant - retained bridge

Dr Firdaus Hanapiah
BDS(Otago) MSc(Lon.) FDSRCS(Eng.)

Introduction

The loss of teeth is one of the most debilitating occurence that can happen to a person. Things that once we take for granted, such as chewing and eating food will now be something that have become difficult.

It was often said that we will get used to the loss of teeth and we will adapt to this with the construction of removable dentures or popularly known as "flippers". In reality, the debilitation will continue; the patient will have trouble eating harder food as well as swallowing these food without proper mastication. This will in turn cause other alimentary tract ailments.

The advent of zircon crowns and bridges with the help of implants as anchorage has revolutionized the treatment of such patients. Here we present a case report of a patient who had a "make-over" of her dentitions.

Case Report

A 63 year-old woman was referred to us with the loss of all lower teeth and partially dentate upper arch. She also has very discolored upper teeth.

It was decided that four dental implants would be placed in the lower arch and a 10-unit teeth bridge implant retained prosthesis constructed later.

The surgery was done without any complications and after 3 months the prosthesis was made (fig 1) and fitted (fig 2)

She was then monitored for oral hygiene status and was reviewed monthly to make sure that the level of hygiene was good. At the end of the three month period, we proceeded in constructing six Zirconium crowns. The impressions were made and zirconium constructed (fig 3)

The crowns were then inserted in the mouth and occlusions were carefully adjusted (fig4)

The smile line on the finish case says it all! (fig 5)

Conclusion

The days of accepting full lower denture as an alternative to lost teeth is no longer acceptable as the technology for full mouth rehabilitation is already here. The advent of implants and life-like zirconium crown technology have made it possible for patient to live with self-esteem , good looks and better mastication.