Ugly Implant Crowns

[james01]

Hello

Last year I went abroad to have two implants placed to replace my two missing teeth. I thought the surgery went well but when I had my new crowns placed on top of my implants I was very disappointed with the results. The crowns looked too long, the colour of the crowns was wrong and the shape and position of the crowns was also totally wrong. Now more recently the gum around the implant crown is shrinking back and I can now see a black line appearing which is obvious to see when I smile.

I have been back to see the surgeon but he says that there is nothing that he can do to fix this problem because the implants are now fixed in my jaw and cant be removed.

I am upset that this has happened to me because I followed all their instructions by keeping my implants clean and even gave up smoking and yet I now have these ugly crowns that I hate. Is there anything that you can do to help?

[Dr Mohsen J. Esfahani]

Thank you for your post. Implant crown aesthetics is very important because this is the part that people can see and if its in the smile zone, the crown should be as aesthetic as possible.

There may be different reasons why these crowns have turned out to have poor aesthetics.

From a position point of view, It could be that the implants are poorly positioned. If this is the case, it maybe very difficult to improve the position of the crowns as the position of the crowns is largely dictated by the position of the implants below.

The shape and shade of the implant crowns can be improved by remaking the crowns but this time the work should be carried out at a cosmetic dental lab with a lab shade take for improved shade selection.

If removal of the crowns is difficult for whatever reason, then one could remove a superficial porcelain layer from them and bond cosmetic lumineers to the crowns for improved aesthetics.

Once implants integrate with bone, their removal is very difficult and destructive. In this case, I would recommend trying to change the crowns to more cosmetic crowns.