Provisional Anterior Tooth Replacement & 3D Printing

Anterior tooth replacement can be a challenging experience. As dental professionals we strive to provide our patients with high quality, manageable provisional restorations. As an orthodontic practice that specializes in aesthetic orthodontic treatment, bonding buccal braces and hanging pontics from a stock wire is simply unacceptable and our patients/referring docs are aware of this.

Our practice is made up of 95% adults, with over 70% of them in lingual braces.

Let’s talk about aesthetic orthodontic treatment for adults.

When a 19 year old female walks in to your office for her second round of orthodontic treatment in order to appropriate space for implants for the congenitally missing upper lateral incisors, your first thought might be aligners! Clear aligners with shade appropriate composite pontics that are made smaller or larger as the space is coordinated. Sure, that will do. Although root angulation correction with clear aligners lacks predictability… And what if your patient doesn’t want to take out her teeth every time she eats? Do you turn her away because you are not able to offer her the treatment she desires?

This patient exists in many practices. She walked in to our office not too long ago and we were happy to offer her an aesthetic orthodontic treatment that allows her to not only have an excellent orthodontic result but one that gives her the smile she’s looking for during treatment. I’m excited to show you how.

Initial photographs:

(sans flipper)

The design process:

We used a combination of Sure Smile Advanced software and Meshmixer for treatment planning and pontic design.

The delivery:

The pontics were 3D printed in B2 resin on an LCD printer and hung on a custom arch wire designed using the Sure Smile system.

The above photographs are from the day our patient removed her flipper and we delivered the lingual braces with provisional restorations. We even have the added bonus of reprinting the pontics from the cloud any time an adjustment is needed. She is not the only one smiling.

Digital treatment planning and 3D printing technology have allowed us to provide our patients with the treatment they deserve. (Spoiler alert: ANY orthodontic specialist can do this!)

How are you providing excellence?