drlangberg.com

Replacing a Missing Back Tooth with a Fixed Bridge

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Hi everyone!

It’s easy to see why people would be anxious to replace a missing front tooth where the gap is embarrassingly noticeable when they smile.

But what about a missing back tooth?

Did you know that each time you lose a tooth, about 10% of your chewing ability is lost with it? To fill that space, the teeth surrounding it tend to tilt over toward that gap. As they fall over, the adjacent teeth spread apart so decay and gum disease can more easily set in. In addition, the collapse in the bite can be associated with changes in facial profile and TMJ or bite problems. [Read more…]

Placing Dental Implants

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Hi everyone!

    This last Thursday, Friday, and Saturday,  Laurie (my assistant) and I took an amazing and exciting class in the surgical placement of dental implants to replace missing teeth.  The course was given by the Ladera Ranch Implant Institute  ( www.laderaimplants.com ) and provided an opportunity for us to learn dental implant surgical placement techniques, first hand, under the direction of several top implant dentist mentors.  It was a live “hands on” course that allowed us to spend two pre-surgery days learning strategies about safe and predictable implant placement, followed by an actual patient surgical procedure on day three. This was a mentoring approach to learning, and provided one mentor to every three attendees. The highly trained and skilled instructors assisted us one on one all the way through our pre-surgical work-up and step by step live surgery, and culminated in my safely and successfully placing an implant in a middle aged Ford engineer.  The setting was a local “state-of-the-art” dental office,and the quality of the learning experience was awesome!     

                                            Ladera Implant Class1 2-09 (Medium)     

In the past, we have referred patients to implant surgical specialists to actually place the implants and have focused our efforts on restoring (attaching crowns) to the implants after they have “fused” (integrated) to the jaw.  Up to now, this relationship has worked very well and we have become quite skillful in restoring implants as well as natural teeth.  However, placing implants directly in our office will save patients the additional time, cost, and hassle of going to another doctor’s office and give me additional control over the restorative outcome that is unavailable when the surgery is referred out.  In the beginning, we will focus on simpler and predictable cases and will continue to refer more complex or involved cases to more experienced specialists.  Dental Implants are a great way to replace missing and hopeless teeth without relying on fixed bridges or removable teeth.  I am really proud to incorporate dental implant placement into our practice and I am continually committed to improve my knowledge and skills so we will always be on the cutting edge of technology and service!

Gotta go, so until next time,

Mark Langberg, DDS, MAGD