Teeth play an important role in daily life. They are not just for chewing, but they also help with speaking clearly, give faces shape, and correct support. Teeth can also give a greater sense of self-confidence and self-esteem. This significance that teeth have in people’s lives plays a major role in the satisfaction we get at Burbank Dental Lab for helping clinicians change patients’ lives.
To help us create these life-changing cases, choosing the right material is a big part of the success of the case. IPS e.max is one of the most widely used materials in dentistry today. IPS e.max combines versatility, metal-free strength, and high durability. In addition to providing excellent dental restorations, it offers superior aesthetics, which helps increase patient satisfaction. There are many different types of crowns that can be made from this material, such as inlays, onlays, veneers, and screw-retained implants.
Case Study
The following case was sent to Burbank Dental Lab from Dr. LaJean Morrow-Smith. The patient was interested in improving his smile before a big family event – the wedding of his daughter. Working with Dr. Morrow-Smith to help this patient receive a smile makeover is really gratifying.
The patient presented with spacing issues, including a diastema between 8 and 9 and peg laterals. In addition, he had a gummy smile and color issues due to discolored bonding on his laterals. The case needed treatment with several different dental procedures to help improve his smile to the place he desired.
Case Study: Crown Lengthening
Dr. Morrow-Smith began the case with crown lengthening to address the patient’s gummy smile. Excessive gingiva is a common issue for patients, and too much gingiva being visible impacts overall smile esthetics. As with any dental treatment, proper planning is essential to case success.
The following should be assessed when considering the correction of a gummy smile:
Case Study: Tooth Whitening
Next, tooth whitening was done to achieve a brighter, whiter smile. When treating only the upper anterior teeth, the whitening improved the overall esthetic throughout the mouth.
This addressed concerns about a shade difference between the upper and lower teeth.
Case Study: Dental Restorations
The case was prepared and sent to Burbank Dental Lab to begin creating the IPS e.max restorations. Dr. Morrow-Smith requested that pressed layered e.max be used to create the patient’s new smile. This case was a combination of veneers and crowns with veneers on 6,8,9, and 11 and crowns on 7 and 10 to restore the peg laterals. The case was designed by the Smiles-By-Design team at Burbank Dental Lab following Dr. Morrow-Smith’s direction.
It was indicated that the underlying shade matched the Ivoclar Vivadent Shade Guide ND2. It is very important to take stump color into consideration to achieve the best esthetic results. In any metal-free restoration, the preparation shade will have an impact on the final result. In all-porcelain cases, the stump or preparation shade needs to be communicated clearly.
Using this information, Burbank Dental Lab created a model die with the same shade as the preparation to ensure that the underlying tooth structure did not show through or affect the ceramic shade. This provided the optimum situation to fabricate a natural shade based on the patient’s actual oral situation. Creating a model die in this manner helps to ensure that when restorations are fabricated, they can be tried on these dies to have a visual of what the actual results will look like. This significantly reduces the need to correct the case due to color issues.
With the newly whitened teeth, the shade chosen was a 1M2 body with a 1M1 incisal. The final restorations closed the spaces and blended nicely within the mouth. This, along with the crown lengthening, helped to create a brighter, more youthful smile.
Helping people achieve optimum oral health along with exceptional esthetics is a rewarding part of our daily work. This patient can now attend his daughter’s wedding with the smile he desired. Dr. Morrow-Smith has also indicated that the patient now wants to do the lowers as well. We can’t wait to get started on those!
Burbank Dental Lab would like to thank Dr. LaJean Morrow-Smith for choosing our lab to help create this very special smile.
Before and After
Thank you Dr. LaJean Morrow-Smith
We want to thank Dr. LaJean Morrow-Smith for choosing Burbank Dental Lab to work with on this case.
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