I would like to share with you a recent dental treatment that i had completed for an elderly. It is not uncommon to find out many dental problems in the mouth of an elderly who had not been taking care of itself for a long time, an addressing all of them later in life may not be that easy even if the patient wants it, or in some cases when it is indicated, it may not be feasable for the patient to go through several dental visits and cope up with a long tretment. The term conformative dentistry applies to those instances where you limit your treatment to address certain needs without going through a “complete dental rehabilitation or reconstruction”. Below is an example of that.
It is a conformative dental treatment for an elderly who didn’t want to have a complete dental rehabilitation, a treatment that would have been ideal but rather difficult at that point.
After exploring different treatment alternatives, it was decided to restore the upper teeth and focus on aesthetics. So four front teeth were extracted and an eight units bridge over four conus crowns were designed and eventually fabricated.
The shade and characterization of porcelain was chosen in such a way to match patient’s age and the remaining worn teeth. Pink porcelain was also applied between teeth to mimic the gums to keep the proportion of artificial teeth close to what is considered ideal and natural.
Patient presented with broken front teeth, which were bonded together multiple times just to keep them together.
8 units porcelain bridge (Conus or Telescopic fixed partial denture) was designed to replace the missing four front teeth.
Life-like 8 unit bridge delivered. Would you call this a cosmetic restoration because it blends with patient’s remaining teeth or ugly dentistry because her teeth are not white and shiny?
Dr. Babak Noohi
Your Capitol Hill Prosthodontist