Upper All-On-4 to Replace Failing Bridges and Asymmetric Gums

This 41-year-old lady had dental treatment done overseas as seen in the before shot. She was not satisfied with the appearance but didn’t really know what to expect. Soon after her return to Australia, she developed pain from numerous of her upper teeth and when seen at our clinic, we discovered the presence of decay affecting many of the teeth under the bridges that were fitted abroad to point that it was not possible to save most of the teeth.

We considered saving 2 teeth, the upper left lateral incisor and canine because they were reasonably healthy, but doing so would have meant that we had to fit an implant-supported bridge segment on either side. This treatment relies on the natural gums for aesthetics, but since the gums here were not only unevenly receded and asymmetrical, but also visible on smiling, the overall aesthetics would have been highly compromised.

Instead, the patient decided to sacrifice two teeth that were otherwise healthy and proceed with All-On-4 dental implants treatment in the top. A feature of this treatment is Aesthetic Gum Replacement, which essentially means that the gum component is replaced as part of the bridge. As such, we had better control and flexibility to design a more balanced look in terms of the appearance of both the teeth as well as the gums, and we were also able to improve the bite at the same time.