This case of severe dental trauma resulted from a serious assault on a night out in Glasgow and ultimately required dental implants.
The patient came to our Glasgow practice with his three-tooth porcelain bridge in his hand after a meeting with a baseball bat.
The two teeth which previously supported the bridge had broken off below gum level and required surgical removal by Dr Brendan Murphy.
A temporary denture was fitted after hours so that the patient was able to attend work the following day, This is credit to Leca dental laboratory who accommodate our cosmetic dentistry requests very well.
Dentures versus Implants
After more X-rays, photos and discussion regarding all the options, the patient decided he wasn’t enjoying life with a removable denture. He requested a fixed implant bridge and it was decided to remove the other upper front teeth, supported by a bridge, which had some infection beneath it.
One of the major issues in this case was the patient’s tendency to grind his teeth at night and also several missing back teeth. Whatever was planned needed to have very strong support within the bone. Some of the lower teeth had very little enamel left.
Due to the trauma – bone responds poorly to this – some bovine none graft (cow bone derived) and porcine membrane (pig skin derived) were used to cover visible threads on the implants upper left.
Five dental implants were placed. These were all commercially-pure titanium, made by Biohorizons, our favoured implant manufacturer.
After four months the implants were exposed and impressions taken so that we could start making the gold abutments (posts) and zirconium porcelain bridgework for eight teeth .
The bridges were separated into two – one with three teeth, one with five teeth – to reduce future risks.
The patient paid £5000 for 5 implants, £250 for graft materials and £6800 for five gold abutments and eight teeth in zirconium porcelain bridgework.