My First Implant

I have a lot of admiration for the early pioneers of dental implants, such as Leonard I. Linkow, Carl E. Misch,  Gerald A. Niznick, and too many others to mention.  They had the intelligence and the courage to work with less resources and knowledge than we have presently, and learn at the same time.  It is because of their accomplishments that we have our implant practices today.

It was actually Dr. Niznick who introduced me to the surgical placement of implants in the late 1980’s with his Screwvent  implant, a part of the Corevent system. 

It is easy to show your best cases, but I am going to show you my first implant, done in the late 1980’s when implants were not as popular as they are today and our knowledge about them more limited.

My patient was an elderly gentleman that lost a maxillary canine which served as an abutment for a three-unit bridge.  I did not feel that a four or five unit bridge would be as good a service to him as a smaller three unit bridge if I could use an implant as the anterior abutment, so that is what I did.  

Here are the pre-op and post-op periapical radiographs:

 

Today of course, we prefer not to join implants and natural teeth, but it seemed a great idea at the time, and the bridge served him well for many years.  I lost contact with the patient, so I cannot give you more details about its longevity.

Introducing implants in my practice has allowed me to provide a higher level of care for my patients.  I can honestly say that I haven’t had a single implant patient that hasn’t  liked them.  Compared to other treatment alternatives, implants are usually the best solution.

If we can help you with implant related questions or services, please call us at (561) 968 6022.

West Palm Beach Dentist
Carlos Boudet, DDS DICOI
website:  http://www.boudetdds.com
Implant Blog:  http://www.palm-beach-implants.com
Spanish website:  http://palmbeachdentist.net