Ridge Reduction
A 71-year-old man has lost an implant at #29 (Fig.1 (taken 3 years earlier)). CT shows that the implant at #30 is failing. The biggest challenge of re-placing implants at the lower right is lack of keratinized gingiva. Gingival graft is mandatory.
The abutment tooth at #18 is symptomatic with gingival recession (Fig.2). It appears that it is overloaded due to pressure from the tooth #14 (Fig.1 arrow). An implant at #19 should be able to alleviate the pressure on the tooth #18.
The 3-unit bridge (#18-20 in Fig.1) will be sectioned (Fig.2 red lines) with the pontic of #19 to be removed. The ridge top is narrow (Fig.3). To place a 5 mm UF implant, the triangular ridge top should be reduced (result).
Return to Lower Molar Immediate Implant
Xin Wei, DDS, PhD, MS 1st edition 04/16/2016, last revision 01/19/2018