side by side comparison of front teeth alignment

A single-tooth implant in the esthetic zone can be one of the most challenging cases encountered in a practice because it involves the management of the hard and soft tissue, as well as the replacement of the tooth.

In a new Spear Study Club module, “Managing the Unesthetic Single Tooth Implant,” clinicians will learn the proper course of treatment and effective treatment options for an implant in the esthetic zone.

“In my practice, I see quite regularly patients coming in with previous implant therapy and the results are less than ideal,” said Dr. Kinzer, the Spear Resident Faculty member who teaches the new study club module. “The challenge that we have when we see these patients is – what do we do, how do we talk to them and how do we evaluate them?”

According to the American Academy of Implant Dentistry, 3 million people in the U.S. have implants and more than 500,000 dental implants are placed annually. But it’s difficult to say how many of those are anterior implants in the esthetic zone.

When an implant in the esthetic zone needs to be retired or removed, having an interdisciplinary approach to treatment sequencing leads to a more predictable outcome.

“What I hope the viewer takes away is the ability to evaluate the challenges that implant dentistry gives us and what the shortcomings often are, specifically how to evaluate an unesthetic anterior implant to help us determine how we can improve the esthetics,” Dr. Kinzer said.

The new “Managing the Unesthetic Single Tooth Implant” module addresses the different etiologies that can result in unesthetic implant restorations in the maxillary anterior, the factors that need to be evaluated to determine the proper course of treatment and the different treatment options.

This module will leave study club members more confident in their ability to:

  • Name common etiologies that can result in unesthetic implants
  • Evaluate for defect, implant and patient factors
  • Describe different treatment options to help manage patients with unesthetic implants

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