We had a middle-aged gentleman visit our practice a few months ago, finding it hard to chew his food as he had no back teeth on the lower left or right side of his mouth. He was also concerned that his front teeth were becoming worn and fragile, as he was relying heavily on them to break up his food. We discussed all his available individual options with him, which were to either wear a lower denture or have dental implants placed.
He felt that he was too young to wear a plate and would not like the feel of it in his mouth, so he opted to have three dental implants placed to replace the missing back molar teeth.
After leaving the implants for 3 months to heal with bone, we are now ready to build posts and crowns on them. This will give our patient molar teeth at the back to chew his food and stabilise the biting forces so that he will not put as much pressure on his front teeth, which have been worn because of the loss of the back teeth. He is looking forward to not having to cut his food up anymore and being able to enjoy a steak!