Sendhil Dental’s Express Dentistry – Fast Track full mouth dental implants for an elderly woman
Dr. D.Sendhil Nathan MDS, DNB Prosthodontics And Implantology
Many people do not take their dental health seriously until they get an excruciating oral problem, especially aging seniors. Most elders believe that teeth problems are a part of the aging process. It persuades them to ignore dental care.
Likely, they do not step into dental offices due to their fear of pain and in-office treatments’ longevity. If you or your senior loved ones fall into this category, remember that you encounter serious repercussions due to delayed dental care.
This is the story of an old lady whose entire dentition and smile were badly affected due to ignoring timely oral care treatments. Keep reading to know how our dental team restored her stunning smile in just 2 days. Recently, a 68-year-old woman named Mrs. xxxxx visited our clinic. She reported having multiple broken teeth and suffering from chronic toothache. She continued by expressing her displeasure with the unpleasant smile and wanted a fix.
Analysis
When we analyzed her mouth, we detected that most of her teeth were badly broken down, and some had deep cavities as well. She had fixed a dental bridge in her upper front teeth to replace her missing tooth years prior from another dentist. A dental bridge consists of the false tooth that is held in place by the abutment teeth ( teeth on either side of the missing teeth.)
When the natural teeth become weak, the dental bridges become unstable and less effective. In such cases, the bridges exhibit symptoms like cracks, pain while chewing, sensitivity in teeth and so on. Even though the patient encountered such discomfort for many months, she did not seek a dentist’s help.
When we asked about this, she replied that she was anxious about dental treatments as they were painful and time-consuming. We understood that the elderly woman had strong beliefs on misconceptions about dentistry.
Later, Dr Sendhilnathan explained that dental treatments are not as painful as they once were to alleviate her anxiety. His words helped the patient to overcome her dental anxiety, and she agreed to our treatment plan.
Pre-operative procedures
We advised her to have all of her teeth removed because they were significantly damaged and could not be treated. Instead, full mouth rehabilitation treatment with All-on-4 dental implants could replace the missing teeth through which her smile design would be revamped and reconstructing the dentition.
Our dentists began the treatment on the same day. Preoperative assessments were made for implant planning using digital imaging systems. We observed details like the color and shape of the teeth using intraoral scanners. Likewise, the health of her underlying bone structure, nerve pathways, and surrounding soft tissues was also evaluated using a CBCT scanner.
Dental implant Surgery
We moved forward and began inserting the implants as the clinical findings were positive.
The implant surgery involves accessing the bone with an incision in the gums and drilling the bone to place the implant metal post. We inserted the immediate loading implant posts deep into the bone. As the name implies, these implants work more quickly to establish primary stability within 48 hours in most cases.
The entire procedure was carried out painlessly and comfortably under conscious sedation with the help of our excellent anaesthetist Dr Elavazagan.
So the patient remains at ease throughout the procedure. We asked her to visit the clinic after 2 days.
Artificial teeth placement
During her next visit, we found that the implant posts integrated with the jaw bone and provided a stable foundation for the prosthetic teeth. We mounted full dentures over the installed implants.
The older adult felt spellbound when she saw her new teeth and beautiful smile restored after years. She was pleased with our dental work and thanked us many times in an ecstatic state.
We advised her to follow the dental implant aftercare recommendations to avoid complications like peri-implantitis later.
The joy of reclaiming the stunning smile after years
Bottom line
If the patient had sought dental support earlier, she would not have undergone teeth extraction and implant surgery. Her broken and infected teeth could be repaired with minimally invasive procedures,
Similar to her, many aged people ignore visiting a dentist even though they notice abnormalities in their mouths.
Keep in mind that salivary flow to our oral cavity reduces with aging; hence, aged adults are more likely to develop cavities. Likely, the protective barrier function of oral mucosa also dwindles with aging. It also makes aged people more susceptible to various dental dilemmas. Disregarding dental care in late adulthood will pave the way for various health concerns like heart ailments.
The message our dentists would like to convey to those who believe dental diseases are a part of aging is “Dental care is required for everyone, regardless of age”.
