Single tooth implants 331

Fig. 8-71. A vent-plant is screwed into the interseptal bone buccal to the remaining lingual half of the tooth.

Fig. 8-72. The implant shaft is notched for retention of the acrylic core to the roughened surface of the lingual portion of the molar tooth and an acrylic core is built.

by rather unusual, although successful, uses of single implants.

Case 9

Saving a fractured tooth with a single implant

In this case, an unusual approach was taken to prevent good neighboring teeth from being sacrificed for full crown restorations. A 13-year-old girl had sagittally fractured a 6-year mandibular molar exactly in half vertically downward to the apices of the roots in a mesiodistal direction. The canals were also severed exactly in half, so that root canal therapy was impossible. The buccal half of the tooth was removed (Fig. 8-70), and a vent-plant was screwed through the bone remaining between the mesiobuccal and distobuccal roots (Fig. 8-71). The protruding shaft of the implant and the lingual half of the molar tooth were notched and locked together with acrylic (Fig. 8-72). The acrylic was prepared (Fig. 8-73) and an impression taken for a full crown gold veneer, which was cemented in position with hard cement (Fig. 8-74). A radio-

Fig. 8-73. The acrylic core is prepared for a full crown restoration.

Fig. 8-74. A, A gold-and-acrylic veneer crown is cemented over the acrylic core, which locks the implant to the lingual half of the tooth. B, The occlusion must be carefully balanced.