Here is a full explanation of the dental implants treatment Joe received from Dr. Thein:

Additionally, he was bothered that a dental bridge he had placed only seven years earlier was failing.

This photograph of Joe when we first saw him. He is missing some front teeth, and of the remaining teeth, some are broken. He is also suffering from advanced periodontal disease. Joe actually had several options to choose from, and Dr. Thein presented the full range of options. The end result is pictured at the right. Joe is clearly happy, with a confident smile. Best of all, he enjoys his food just as if he had his own natural teeth. That’s because dental implants restore both the root and the crown of the tooth, and look and feel completely natural.

Joe’s Dental Implants Treatment Plan

Dr. Thein needed to start with extracting the hopeless teeth. Some of them had lost so much bone support from advanced periodontal disease, that they were simply not savable. But Joe didn’t need all his teeth extracted—Dr. Thein saved as many as he could with periodontal treatment.

To help Joe be comfortable during this treatment, he used conscious sedation. Many patients like having this option available, because it makes them so relaxed and comfortable that often they don’t even remember what happened during their dental appointment.

Dr. Thein then placed temporary upper and lower dentures so that Joe would look good and have some function while treatment was being completed.

Since some teeth had been missing for a while, Joe had serious bone resorption in his jaw. Many people don’t realize that when teeth are missing, your body takes the minerals from that bone to use elsewhere in the body. So Dr. Thein did some bone grafting in those locations that needed it.

He then proceeded with the implant surgery. Root forms were placed throughout his jaw to support teeth. Those were allowed to heal and become solid, and then Dr. Thein made him temporary crowns to fit onto the root forms. Once he had placed a smile design that Joe liked, and his bite was restored so that it was comfortable, Dr. Thein used those temporary crowns as a guide in making the porcelain crowns.

After placement of the final restorations, Dr. Thein adjusted Joe’s bite with the help of the T-Scan computerized occlusal bite analysis tool.

The end result? Joe and his wife were so delighted with the quality of the care and the level of personal attention that they referred five of their friends to our office.

Here is the x-ray of Joe before any treatment was done. While many teeth are broken and loose, the lower front teeth are savable.

Here is Joe’s x-ray after treatment has been completed. The teeth are solidly supported by dental implants, meaning that Joe can chew and function normally. Esthetically, it looks like he still has his own teeth.