Immediate Fiber Reinforced Composite Bridge : Dr Nik

Last month I did a few cases of fiber reinforced composite bridge. This case that I’m going to write is about a new patient who was referred to me by his ex-wife who had been my patient for more than five years. On her last visit early March, she told me that her ex-husband asked her to ask me a few questions regarding his dental problem.

She told me that her ex-husband had lost one of his lower front tooth and has another one that is shaky and loose. He asked whether he can have a bridge to replace the missing and the loose tooth. She also told me that her ex-husband is very scared of dentist and had not been visiting one for years.

Since it’s impossible for me to decide on the best treatment possible without looking at the case itself, I asked my patient to book an appointment for consultation for her ex-husband.  She did and she was so kind to actually came in to accompany him on his appointment date.

From examination, I found that his teeth condition is not suitable for a bridge and proposed to just do a denture. However, he didn’t like the idea of wearing a denture and insisted to have a bridge despite high possibility that it will fail.

Weighing the pro and cons and cost effective of having a porcelain to metal bridge and his request to not having a denture, I came up with another treatment option; fiber reinforced composite bridge. It is still a bridge which means that it is fixed to the other teeth and cannot be removed out. It’s cheaper and obviously more cost effective in his teeth condition.

He was delighted with the idea and fixed another date for the treatment.

He came in two days later and I started off with extraction of his loose tooth. Once bleeding is controlled (there’s not much bleeding as the tooth is very loose), I proceeded with building and sculpting fiber reinforced composite bridge to replace the two missing teeth. It took me 2 hours to complete the bridge and he was so happy when he saw his reflection in the mirror.

I did point out to him that the bridge will need some adjustment after 2 months as there’s gap in between the composite sculpted teeth and the gum. This is to allow some room for easy cleaning and healing of the wound.

After some oral hygiene instructions on how to clean the bridge, I gave him a follow up appointment for the adjustment and I’ll post the picture after the adjustment, so stay tune!

nik@story.drfauziah.com