Which Tooth Is the Dental Implant? A Four-Year Treatment Followup

In looking at the photo above, can you tell which tooth is on a dental implant?  I sure hope you can't as that is the goal with each of our cases.  This case was completed in 2017 in our usual manner.  Pt was referred to our oral surgery partner, Dr. Steve Widner, and our standardized workflow was instituted.  

During her one and only surgery, our patient had her bad bicuspid removed, an implant placed, and our practice temporized the implant so that there would not be a period of time without a fixed tooth in the space.  

Immediate temporization accomplishes two things.  First, the obvious, no one wants to be without a tooth so immediate temporization prevents the humilation of being toothless. Second, the temporary crown helps to preserve the precious soft tissue triangles, called papilla, between the teeth.  This preservation of the architecture of the gingiva is critical to making it look like it never happened!

I look at cases like this every day in my routine care patients.  Beautiful gum tissue surrounding natural looking teeth.  

Now, for the answer to the challenge...the implant tooth is the second tooth from the right!

Thanks for playing my game and I look forward to meeting you to discuss your tooth replacement needs.