Q. In early March this year, finally my “baby tooth” cut through – in the roof of my mouth, just behind my eye/front tooth at a pointing outward angle. Nothing special really, except that I’m 43 years old. I needed dental surgery, as it was pushing my front tooth forward and making loose my 3 tooth bridge. I had the surgery at Guy’s Hosipital under the care of a lovely team. It was pretty drastic I must admitt, drilling through the front of my upper gum line to the left of eye tooth and incision/hole drilled in the roof of my mouth to extract said tooth. Nine months later however, I’m left with a widening gap of the eye/front tooth and my 3 tooth bridge is loose, and lower than my gum line. My whole gum line has changed above the bridge so that now you can actully see the metal structure of the bridge itself. The bridge used to fit snug and I never had a gap either at the top of this structure or as is now a gap between my front and eye tooth. I don’t think my upper jaw bone structure would support implants following my surgery. What would you suggest? At this point I am seriously considering a denture of some form, one that does not involve invasive surgery, but then what about the gap between front tooth and eye tooth?

A. Hi it sound like you’ve been through a lot so a denture would seem like an easy option. It might be a good short term option however I guess in the long run you would probably be more comfortable with fixed teeth. This could probably be acheived using an implant supported bridge although it sounds like the bone would need rebuilding firts. Perhaps you could go back to Guys and ask them for their opinion as they have very experienced surgeons who might be able to help you.

Dr Andrew Moore
Advance Dental Clinic
Clinical Director
www.advancedentalclinic.com
Tel: 01245 268 494
104 Moulsham Street
Chelmsford Essex
CM2 0JG