Move Shifted Molar to Where It Belongs
As mentioned earlier, Mrs. Tai is scared of dentistry. Upon persuasion, she has got two implants (Fig.1 I). The new left implant (below white *) is too close to 2nd molar (2), as compared to the right side. The space for two missing teeth (two white *) is smaller than that of the right two teeth (two black *), because the left 2nd molar has moved forward. Red lines are drawn on the back surface of the top and bottom 2nd molars for comparison between the right and left. Therefore, the shifted molar should move to where it belongs.
First, place a temporary crown over the implant (Fig.2 black outline), second, place braces on the 2nd molar, the temporary crown and the tooth in the front of the missing teeth (pink boxes), third, slide a thick wire through these three braces (straight blue line) and last, place a spring between braces of the 2nd molar and temporary crown (curved green line).
Since the implant is tightly fixed to the bone, the 2nd molar will move backward under the tension of the spring (Fig.3 arrow). Probably in three to six months, the 2nd molar will move to where it belongs (different case).
Xin Wei, DDS, PhD, MS 1st edition 09/30/2012, last revision 10/07/2012