OCO ISI Dental Implant to Replace a Missing Upper Molar Tooth
My patient came to see me because she was tired of her gum hurting when she would eat where she was missing her upper molar.
Food would poke her in the gum and she was just unhappy.

She also did not like when she smiled everyone seeing the empty space.

I had extracted the molar tooth about 5 months ago due to a failed Root Canal. We packed the extraction socket with a bone grafting material so her own bone would fill in where the tooth roots used to be. As you can see on the x-ray it filled in very nicely.

I explained to my patient her choices in implants...either two mini implants to support the molar size crown or one regular size implant. It would cost a bit more to do the traditional implant but that is what she decided on after our treatment planning and consultation. I measured the space and a OCO ISI One Piece Regular size implant would work just fine here.

With the OCO ISI dental implant system only 2 burs are necessary to place the implant. Here we see the pilot bit with a drill stop to keep it from going any farther in the bone than we want. Its right in line and we proceed to the next step.

The next size bit is used and a implant replica is placed to verify fit and angle. All looks good so we gently rotate the OCO ISI one piece dental implant into the gum and bone.

Clinical view of the OCO ISI 5.0mm implant in place ready for a traditional impression like you would have for a crown on a tooth. Notice the lack of blood, stitches or any real trauma to the area. With the OCO implant protocol it is very similar to the placement of a mini dental implant. No flap of gum tissue is made. It is one piece in design, so no extra parts and pieces for the dentist to buy.

Final x-ray of the OCO ISI 5.0 x 12mm dental implant in place.

In the end a missing upper molar tooth can be replaced quite easily for both the dentist and patient with either:

A regular implant that is one piece in design or

A 2 mini dental implants to support the larger size crown.

The impression is off to First Impressions Dental Lab for them to make a Upper Molar Crown.

Paresh B Patel

Mini Dental Implants

Dental Implants Charlotte NC

Dental Implant Education Seminar Course

What are mini dental implants good for? I would say lots of things; like immediate use, less cost than a regular dental implant,less trauma, less pain, less healing and more immediate satsifaction for both me as the dentist and the patient.

Before a one piece mini dental implant, like the OCO i-mini and OCO i-micro existed, I would have been tempted to do some heroic dentistry. In this case a post, crown lengthening and a porcelain crown. In a few years this patient would be back in my dental chair with my crown in her hand and we both would be frustrated.

Clinical view of the broken lower front tooth. In this case even if I wanted to do a bridge it would have been a bad idea. The adjacent tooth (the one on the left side of the broken tooth) was part of her bridge that extends back to the molar.

So off to the OCO Biomedical tool-chest of goodies that Chris Sanchez sent me. I found a 3.0 x 16mm mini dental implant. Ahh.....this would work well here.

With some Salvin Peritomes (sharp dental extraction instruments used to removed the broken tooth with minimal trauma) I proceeded to extract the root.

With the tooth root out and the bone on both sides still intact I decided to continue with the OCO mini dental implant placement.

To be certain I was keeping in line with the adjacent teeth and roots I took a dental x-ray with the pilot bit in place. Looks like we were in good shape to place the OCO mini dental implant.

OCO Biomedical i-mini 3.0 x 16mm one piece dental implant in place with the machined collar right below gum level.

OCO mini dental implant in line with the adjacent teeth. In keeping the dental implant in the correct angle it would be easy to make a temporary tooth while the gum tissue healed.

Temporary crown in place over the OCO Biomedical mini dental implant....about 20 minutes after placing the mini implant.

Final x-ray of the OCO mini dental implant. I will have the patient come back in 4 weeks to check gum healing around the mini implant. If all looks good an impression will be made and First Impressions Dental Lab will make a porcelain crown to fit over the mini dental implant.

I will post pictures of the crown once it is in place.

Paresh B Patel DDS

Mini Dental Implants

Mini Dental Implants for Missing Lateral Teeth

One of the most prevalent dental conditions is missing upper laterals (about 10% of the population is missing these teeth from birth).

Some of the time, even with orthodontics, there is not enough space to restore the missing teeth with traditional implants (implants with a diameter greater than 3.0 mm).

Most of the patients I have seen either have some sort of removable appliance or a orthodontic retainer with the two missing teeth on it. The issue is that these teens don't really care to wear their retainer.

Another solution, the bonded bridge, seems to fail. While the bonded bridge works well on missing lowers, the clinical data shows that bonded bridges to replace missing upper laterals fail quite often because the central and canine tooth both move to different degrees under chewing function.

One solution that works well in my hands is to use mini dental implants. Any high quality mini dental implant such as OCO Biomedical mini,Intra Lock MDL, IMTEC MDI, or HiOssen can be threaded in between the canine and central. This mini dental implant can then hold a porcelain crown in place that the patient does not remove.

This photograph shows a mini dental implant to replace missing laterals.

Final x-ray of the mini dental implant in place to have the crown cemented over it just like a regular tooth.

Paresh B Patel DDS

Mini Dental Implants