With the advent of implants the need for bridges has diminished to some degree. We can replace missing alveolar bone allowing us to place implants where we could not before. If we replace the extracted tooth with an implant immediately we will not need to replace any alveolar bone in most cases. Has our need for bridges been replaced with implants?
To answer this question, we need to look at some real cases.
Case I
I had this Spanish patient enter the office who wore a partial replacing her maxillary anterior number 7 through ten. She wanted something permanent. She heard about implants. She did not speak English, but she knew what she wanted. She was referred to our in-house periodontist.
X-rays were taken revealing the alveolar bone making up the Maxillary ridge was too thin to accept an implant in its present condition. It was suggested she needed to augment the ridge with alveolar bone before the implants for the teeth could be placed.
She accepted the treatment plan. The periodontist laid a flap,....