Redoing an Inflamed Front-Tooth All-Ceramic Crown and Bridge at Our Apgujeong Clinic

Hello, I'm Park Jonguk, DDS, MS, director of Dream Dental Clinic in Apgujeong.

When a front tooth is lost for any reason,

a prosthetic restoration is needed.

These days, implant treatment is very common,

but until fairly recently, bridges were the common choice for front teeth.

Front-tooth implants have both advantages and disadvantages,

and from an esthetic standpoint, they aren't the best option in every case.

For molars, function matters more than esthetics, so implants are usually favorable there,

but for front teeth, issues ranging from bone thickness to gum shape mean

implants aren't always the right answer.

In any case, with old all-ceramic crowns or bridges,

poor care can easily lead to gum inflammation.

The problem is, sometimes it's not really about how well the patient cares for it —

inflammation can occur because of a design problem

in the all-ceramic crown or bridge itself,

and in such cases, the inflammation persists no matter how well the patient cares for it.

Through redo treatment at our Apgujeong clinic,

the gums need to heal and the inflammation needs to be brought under control.

In cases of severe inflammation, a temporary tooth is used over the long term,

and treatment proceeds while confirming that the gum inflammation resolves.

Making the temporary tooth itself can be part of treating the gum inflammation.

Let's look at a redo case of a front-tooth bridge with severe inflammation like this.

This is an old front-tooth bridge.

All the redness around the gums is inflammation.

Nearly all of the front teeth are inflamed.

The patient said the inflammation wouldn't go away even after repeated gum treatment.

In cases like this, the design of the bridge is quite often the problem.

Inflammation is one issue,

but the shape, form, and color of the teeth were also very problematic.

Since there was no sense of natural teeth at all,

we set out to both treat the inflammation

and rebuild the teeth to look natural, starting the redo treatment at our Apgujeong clinic.

Once the bridge was removed... the condition of the teeth was very severe.

The patient said the tooth had been lost in an accident, and the little remaining tooth structure had barely been saved and treated.

Cases like this are truly unfortunate,

but since there's no other option,

treatment has to preserve as much of the remaining tooth as possible.

As I mentioned earlier,

the temporary tooth is very important.

First, after removing the bridge, a temporary is made directly in the mouth.

After that, an impression is taken to make a more precise temporary tooth.

It is then worn for an extended period.

Depending on the case, this can range from 2 weeks up to 2-3 months.

One downside of temporary teeth is that they stain easily,

so patients need to be careful about what they eat during this period.

Curry in particular can stain them badly enough that the temporary tooth has to be remade.

After wearing the temporary tooth for a long period, you can see that much of the inflammation has resolved.

If the inflammation doesn't resolve during this temporary-tooth period,

it will still be there even after a new bridge is placed.

In such cases, it's necessary to identify why the inflammation keeps recurring

and treat it with a different approach.

Made of ceramic,

the bridge and all-ceramic crown are tried in.

You can see the gums have become healthier in the meantime.

The restoration must be designed so the gum tissue can fill in fully between the teeth,

and so the ceramic doesn't irritate the gums.

It's a very fine difference, but it's what determines whether inflammation occurs or not.

Treatment at our Apgujeong clinic is now complete.

In a shade that blends well with the surrounding natural teeth,

you can see the naturally made bridge and all-ceramic crown.

Although they are actually connected,

they were made to give a sense of separation between the teeth,

so the natural feel clearly comes through.

Rather than explaining in words what looks natural,

seeing it in photos like this makes it much clearer.

Natural beauty.

Since 2006, Dream Dental Clinic, Apgujeong