Posterior Maxillary Implant Case
This was a nice posterior maxillary (upper jaw) implant case done by Dr. Biggerstaff. This involved a 67 year old woman who had fractured tooth #13 (upper left maxillary second premolar). Her dentist extracted the residual root and the socket was not bone grafted at the time (usually most sockets are bone grafted if a dental implant is planned for later). The patient saw Dr. Biggerstaff for a consultation to have a dental implant replace the tooth. The socket was allowed to heal, and after a few months, an implant was placed in the site. Following a period of healing, or osseointegration, the implant was restored with a crown. The patient now has a nice aesthetic and functional dental implant and crown to replace her missing tooth. Image #1 shows the preoperative state with the fractured root of tooth #13 still in place. Image #2 is a coronal slice of the patient’s initial cone beam CT scan (CBCT) showing the tooth socket. Image #3 is a sagittal slice of the patient’s initial CBCT showing the tooth socket. Image #4 shows the implant in place on a coronal slice of the patient’s postoperative CBCT. Image #5 shows the implant in place on a sagittal slice of the patient’s postoperative CBCT. Image #6 shows the implant at the time of the crown impression. Image #7 shows the implant with the crown cemented into place. Image #8 is a preoperative and final comparison.