Case 1
Before: This patient had worn an upper full denture for some time before deciding to get implants and have fixed teeth (teeth that are not removable).
After: This upper implant bridge looks so much more like real teeth than her denture did.
Before: Here you can see how the pink on the denture looks fake and how squared and flat the teeth are. The denture was breaking down after having been repaired many times.
After: Although this upper implant bridge had to have a significant amount of pink zirconia on it, the gums look very real, the teeth look more life-like and feminine and the convex fit makes it easy to keep clean.
Case 2
Before: This picture doesn’t make it clear, but this patient had severe decay on almost all of her upper teeth and a few had cracked or broken.
After: So pretty.
Before: She decided to remove all her upper teeth and permanently replace them with dental implants.
After: This case is one that I did many years ago, before I’d developed my “staged/phased” full arch implant bridge technique. So, she wore an upper denture during the healing phase of her implants, as is standard practice. This resulted in her losing the papillae between her teeth (the little “V” shaped pieces of gum tissue) and having to have a little bit of pink on her prosthesis. It was shortly after this case that I began trying the “staged” approach.
Case 3
Before: Here’s another case of a severe grinder. You can see where he’s worn his teeth down to nubs in the front and lost many teeth over the years, very likely due to breakage from grinding.
After: His bone was too thin on the top and the bottom for implant bridges without any pink on them, so we made them with as little pink as possible.
Case 4
Before: He had severe bone loss in the upper arch, so we knew when we started treatment that “no pink” was not going to be an option.
After: Both upper and lower implant bridges have pink on them. The convex design allows for easy cleaning, and the characterization he asked for, makes for a very realistic looking smile. To see him smile, you’d never know these are not his real teeth!
Case 5
Before: This patient came in with several broken, crooked, decayed and missing teeth. Many had been missing for years.
After: He wanted a bright-white smile, so we made his new teeth several shades whiter than his natural color.
Before: You can see the extent of the damage here. In addition to missing many teeth, he had significant bone loss in both arches, gum recession, broken teeth, and decay.
After: Both his upper and lower implant bridges have pink on them. They fit snug up against his gums, yet the underside is convex, so he can easily clean under them.
Case 6
Before: Although this patient has problems with both his upper and his lower teeth, the patient wanted to take care of the worst ones first: The uppers. In this photo you can see there are many missing teeth, and that others that are severely broken and decaying.
After: His lower teeth are not that visible when he smiles, but with the upper arch restored, he has a beautiful smile now.
Before: A disastrous situation. You can see here how much worse the upper arch is than the lower. The lowers might not be very pretty, but most are still functional. This is why he chose to do the uppers first.
After: Again, because of the amount of bone loss he came in with prior to treatment, we had no choice but to have some pink on his implant bridge. You can’t see it when he smiles, and he’s able to keep it clean easily, with regular brushing and flossing, because of the convex underside.
Case 7
Before: Old, ugly, worn-down partial dentures prompted this patient to permanently fix his whole mouth.
After: A much nicer smile! He looks like a different person now!
Before: He had been missing most of his teeth for many years and wearing removable partials.
After: We were able to make him upper and lower full arch implant bridges without too much pink. He changed his mind on the shade of the final teeth, halfway through completing his treatment. This is why there is a slight discrepancy in the shade of his upper and lower teeth.
Case 8
Before: This patient’s mouth was in terrible shape when he first came in. The photo says it all.
After: Both his upper and lower implant bridges had to have pink on them; there was just no way around it. But the results look amazing and very real-looking. He’s an older man, and had dark teeth to start with, and wanted an “age appropriate” tooth color. I was very proud of our lab for the characterization they made these teeth with. They look SO real when you’re looking at or talking to him.
