Smile Gallery

Gingival Grafting

These procedures (free gingival grafting and connective tissue grafting) help strengthen the soft-tissue margins and cover recessions. The thicker tissue helps prevent further recessions, improves chewing comfort and increases resiliency to trauma from tooth-brushing.

After: Roots covered with thick gum tissue

Before: Recessions on upper teeth

After: Frenum removed, grafted thick border of tissue

Before: Thin tissue and frenum along bottom teeth

After: Thick strong border formed

Before: Thing loose tissue on lower teeth

After: Thick border with root coverage

Before: Thin tissue and frenum on lower teeth

After: Thickened tissue with frenum removal

Before: Thin tissue and frenum on lower front tooth

Osseous Flap Surgery

This procedure raises the gingiva (flap) to allow access to the roots of the teeth and bone (osseous) for proper debridement. During this process, hard to reach calculus/tartar is removed along with unhealthy gum tissue. The bone may be recontoured if needed, or bone grafted (guided tissue regeneration) to fill bone defects around the teeth.

After: Tight healthy non-bleeding gums

Before: Deep pockets and bleeding gums

Frenectomy

A frenum is a short tissue fold that connects one part of your mouth to another, causing some restriction of movement. Sometimes these folds may be unesthetic, increase the risk of recession, prevent teeth spaces from closing, or limit the movement of different parts of your mouth. A frenectomy procedure allows us to reduce the negative impact of these tissue folds.

After: Frenum removed and tissues recontoured

Before: Large prominent upper front frenum

Dental Implants

Dental implants have revolutionized modern dentistry, allowing strong fixed individual tooth replacements without needing to affect adjacent teeth. We can replace individual teeth, groups of teeth, or even all the teeth with different kinds of implant options.

After: Implant bridge to replace 3 teeth

Before: Missing upper back teeth

After: Individual implants replacing 2 teeth

Before: Missing upper front teeth

After: Individual implants replacing 2 teeth

Before: Missing lower back teeth

After: Individual implant replacing tooth

Before: Missing lower canine

Implant Over-denture

It is possible to greatly improve the stability, support and retention of your partial or full denture using relatively few implants. The implant over-denture uses small "button-like" gold-colored attachments that snap tight to your denture, giving you confidence when you eat and smile. With upper dentures, there is no more need to cover the palate, giving you more room for your tongue and improving taste.

Maxillary (Upper Jaw)

Before: Many decayed teeth, large cavities and roots remaining that were not worth fixing. Most of these teeth were removed and the sockets were grafted with bone to prepare for future implants.

After: 4 implants were placed evenly in the upper jaw, while leaving the 2 molars at the back (which will be removed later if needed). Together, these strong anchors help secure a maxillary denture.

Maxillary denture secured to the 4 implants with no palatal coverage. The clasps at the back grip the 2 remaining molars but they are not needed (eventually these clasps will be removed with the molars).

Mandibular (Lower Jaw)

Before: Lower teeth have bone loss, deep pockets, looseness, spacing and cavities, making their prognosis poor. The patient preferred to extract the teeth and place implants.

After: Following extractions and bone grafting, 4 implants were placed in the lower arch to provide a stable base for the over-denture. One molar remained (not visible).

The lower denture has 4 attachments which snap on to the gold-colored implant buttons, helping to keep the denture tight and provide a solid foundation.

Pathology

Changes in the color, shape or texture of your gum tissue may indicate an abnormality that needs to be further investigated. When an excisional biopsy procedure is performed, the entire abnormal area is removed and sent to a laboratory for identification. With an incisional biopsy, a sample of the tissue is sent for identification first to decide whether complete removal is justified or if it can be monitored. Sometimes these abnormal growths destroy the jaw, so extra attention is needed during surgical removal to restore supporting bone and maintain esthetics.

After: Tumor removed and gingiva recontoured

Before: Tumor on the front upper teeth

After: Tumor removed and tissue restored to health

Before: Tumor surrounding a number of implants