Case study
Case Study 1
This patient is a wonderful young man who we have seen in the practice for the past 17 years. His first initial trauma to the 2 front teeth was as a 9 year old. Root canal treatment was completed on tooth #8 and tooth #9 with composite bonding completed.
step one
step ONE
Ortho was completed at age of 14. Patient and patient’s parents were concerned with the bonding on his 2 front teeth was interested in veneers. Normally this isn’t a procedure that is don’t at this young of age. With the previous trauma and root canal treatments on these front teeth, we felt full coverage restorations were indicated and would help improve the cosmetics as well.
step two
step two
Finished restorations on tooth #8 and tooth #9. We worked with a highly skilled lab technician to customize these porcelain restorations to blend with the adjacent teeth. These were finished at the age of 15.
step three
step three
Over the years patient had some shifting of his teeth post orthodontics. He had invisalign again at the age of 18. His main complaint was shifting of the lateral incisors which then made him feel the central incisors were too dominant. Made the lateral incisors also appear darker than he wanted.
step four
step four
Patient was home from college. He wanted whiter teeth and wanted his lateral incisors to come further forward in his smile. We discussed orthodontics again, patient declined. We discussed bleaching and possible bonding, patient declined. He wanted the most predictable way to make all his front teeth look aligned and white. Patient is 19. We discussed options with his parents as well, even though his is old enough to make his own decisions. He had grown up in our practice and we wanted to make sure he was making informed decisions. He opted for porcelain restorations on his front 6 teeth. NORMALLY, this is a treatment that we suggest doing 4 teeth or doing 8 teeth in order to make things blend in well. We made an exception for him and I feel that it turned out very well.
step five
step five
We worked with our amazing dental lab to have a wax up done of his 6 front teeth. This wax up allows us to see the final proportions on preparation day. He walks around and functions on these temps just like they were the real thing. A TRIAL SMILE of sorts. He can then give us feedback to what he likes or would like changed. Our dental lab is SO GOOD, that these changes almost never happen because the patient like them so much. This is my FAVORITE appointment with the patient because the results are so dramatic and so fun.
step six
step six
Final custom made porcelain restorations seated. Again, front 6 teeth which I felt worked very well on him. This gave him a confident and bright smile that he had been wanting. It is so fun to see these patients grow up in our practice. Watching his confidence grow has been a blessing. Hearing from his mom that she has “never seen him smile so much” is just the icing on the cake for us as dentists.
