Before starting treatment, our patients often ask if their implant crown, tooth crown, or veneers will look natural. They wonder if their friends or co-workers will know that they’ve had work done. Those are extremely valid concerns. People don’t want to be embarrassed in front of their peers every time they have to talk. We’ve all seen people with teeth in their mouths that obviously look unnatural or fake.
Good news is that by combining diligent attention to detail with great teamwork between the master lab technician and the dentist, amazing results can be achieved every time. At Smile Arts we have a fantastic team of doctors and lab technicians. In this blog entry we’ll focus just on implant crowns.
Our expert lab technician has 20 years of experience in creating beautiful implant crowns. His goal is to make every implant crown look exactly like a natural tooth. Dr. Mann believes “your implant crown should remain a secret between you (the patient) and your dentist.” In this picture, Manuel is diligently painting porcelain one brush stroke at a time to create the perfect implant crown.
Recently, one of our satisfied patients, who previously had a dental implant placed and then restored with a crown in our office, referred a friend. The friend’s implant crown was already redone once and still did not look natural. For the past 13 years, this young lady felt embarrassed every time she opened her mouth. The canine on her upper left did not match her teeth in color and the tooth stuck out too far.
Our first step was to perform Kaboom! teeth whitening to remove years of stains and to give her a brighter smile. After the whitening, Dr. Mann removed the crown, shaped the post (abutment) that was sitting on top of the implant and took an impression.
Manuel, our master lab technician did the rest of the work. He carefully crafted the crown by painting porcelain with a fine brush to get the right shape and match the exact tooth shade. He made the crown thinner so it wouldn’t stick out farther than the rest of the teeth. On the second appointment, Manuel made a few custom adjustments by staining the crown to match her teeth perfectly. After our patient was completely satisfied the crown was cemented.
After 13 years of frustration our patient can once again speak and smile with confidence. Every patient deserves such an outcome. The implant crown looks and feels like a natural tooth. We were able to achieve predictable cosmetic results by working diligently as a team. “To change someone’s appearance like this is one of the most rewarding experiences as a dentist.”
