Bob Conte Monday morning phone call from a 75 year old patient reporting that she chipped one of her front teeth. Expecting to restore her with a direct restoration we scheduled her in a side room for 30 minutes. When she arrived it was discovered that she had actually fractured tooth #24 to the gingival crest and needed to be removed. Our patient was understandably upset. CEREC to the rescue!
The adjacent teeth in that particular sextant were compromised periodontally, so the decision was made to proceed with a splinted Maryland bridge. The patient was made aware of the need for more definitive therapy, but when offered a same-day solution she was ecstatic.
The tooth was atraumatically removed. This case was done using the inLab software to take advantage of the enhanced connector option, but easily can be accomplished using Chairside 4.2. The case is designated as a bridge; veneer #23 > pontic #24 >veneer #25. The lingual of the adjacent teeth were not prepared in any way. The teeth were scanned and the bridge was designed appropriately. The material in this case was Lava Ultimate.
The final result left us with a happy patient. The disturbance to the office flow was minimal as there is little to do in term of tooth preparation. In this instance she was only charged a crown fee and was urged to return for implant planning.
