Removing Dental Implant Bridge?

I recently delivered an implant bridge #18-20 (#19 pontic). Because the patient was extremely picky, I purposely used temp-bond to cement the bridge. A week later, patient came back and started complaining about the bridge. He felt the contacts were too loose and wanted the contact areas closed. Now I’m having a lot of trouble removing this bridge. Is there a way to remove this bridge without destroying it? Any advice would be appreciated.

5 Comments on Removing Dental Implant Bridge?

New comments are currently closed for this post.
Dr. J
11/20/2007
I have removed implant supported bridges with extraction forceps. You may even use an elevator under the pontic and help it out with the elevator. Make sure please to use local anesthetic before starting. I wrap one or two 2x2 gauze so the porcelin does not fracture. Belive it or not u do not need a lot of force to remove it, but need a firm grip with the forcep. DO Not squeeze the forcep too much. If it does not come off after a 10-15 minutes , it is not going to. traditional bridge remove can also help. The implants won't come out , so do not worry about gently wrestling with the bridge.
satish joshi
11/20/2007
First of all it should not be a patient telling about loose(open)contact.It is restorative dentist's responsibility to make sure contacts are proper before insertion. If you are not sure what is causing yor problem,and you tried enough with conventional methods it will be better to sacrifice the bridge. It may not be your cement,it seems your preps of abutments may be cause.
dr T
12/3/2007
A nice way when you screwthe abutments and cement the bridge can also be to drill a hole in the occlusal plane at the place you expect your abutments will be and most of the times you put some soft material on the screws. In this way you can unscrew your abutments with the bridge and remove it without anesthetics.
dr n b singh
12/27/2007
MAKE A DRIL ON OCCLUSAL PLATEFORM OF ABUTMENT,& YOUR BUR SHOULD NOT TOUCH TO ABUTMENT SCREW. THEN UNSCREW IMPLANT THEN, THENSCREW THE IMPLANT LABLE ABUTMENT IN ALL ABUTMENT & MAKE A MOCLE. IN LAST REMOVE BRIDGE FROM MODLE BY CROWN REMOWER [ DR N B SINGH][ALIGARH ,U P ,INDIA PHONE 00,9837668888
CHRIS SAYS
12/28/2007
THIS IS IN RESPONSE TO DR. J ON NOVEMBER 7, 2007 COMMENTING ON TO REMOVE BRIDGE. DR. J , YOU MENTIONED THAT FORCEPS CAN BE USED TO REMOVE BRIDGE AND NOT TO WORRY ABOUT WRESTLING WITH THE BRIDGE BECAUSE THE IMPLANTS WON'T COME OUT. I AM A PATIENT WITH A REAL BAD CASE OF IMPLANTS GONE WRONG. I WILL ONLY GIVE YOU SOME OF THE THINGS I EXPERIENCED WHEN A DENTIST CHOOSES THE WRONG SIZE IMPLANT FOR A PATIENT. I ORIGINALLY HAD 6 IMPLANTS. MY FACE DOUBLED IN SIZE AND I HAD 2 BLACK EYES AFTER SURGERY. ONE WEEK AFTER SURGERY I LOST MY FIRST IMPLANT DUE TO A SEVERELY PAINFUL INFECTION. ONE MONTH LATER I LOST ANOTHER IMPLANT BECAUSE IT BECAME MOBILE. DURING THE HEALING TIME FOR THE NEXT 6 MONTHS I WAS CONSTANTLY IN PAIN. MY DENTIST KNEW THIS AND HE CONTINUED TO GO FORWARD WITH THE BRIDGE FOR MY UPPER TEETH. OH BY THE WAY. I DIDN'T KNOW ANY BETTER AND I THOUGHT THIS WAS ALL NORMAL FOR HAVING IMPLANTS, AND MY DENTIST DIDN'T SEEM TO WORRY SO I DIDN'T. NEXT I GET THE BRIDGE AND IT WAS CEMENTED IN . I LOOK IN THE MIRROR AND MY LEFT UPPER SIDE OF MY BRIDGE WAS NOT EVEN SITTING OVER MY LOWER TEETH. MY COSMESTIC DENTIST USES A FORCEP AND CONTINUES TO EXTRACT THE BRIDGE, BECAUSE THE CEMENT HAD DRIED. HE DID EVERYTHING YOU MENTIONED TO GET A BRIDGE OUT. THE BRIDGE FINALLY CAME OUT, BUT IT TOOK TWO OF MY IMPLANTS RIGHT OUT OF MY JAW ALONG WITH IT. GOOD THING HE USED A ANESTHETIC. I HAVE SINCE THEN HAD THE OTHER REMAINING IMPLANTS REMOVED. I HAD TO TELL YOU THIS HORROR STORY AFTER READING YOUR BLOG. I SINCE HAVE HAD 10 NEW IMPLANTS PUT BACK IN MY MOUTH BY A NEW DENTIST WITH NO PROBLEMS WHAT SO EVER. HE DID DO EXTENSIVE REPAIR WORK TO GET ME BACK TO NORMAL. THE NEW DENTIST AT FIRST DIDN'T THINK HE COULD HELP ME BECAUSE OF ALL THE DAMAGE LEFT BEHIND BUT THANK GOD SO FAR EVERYTHING IS WONDERFUL.

Featured Products

OsteoGen Bone Grafting Plug
Combines bone graft with a collagen plug to yield the easiest and most affordable way to clinically deliver bone graft for socket preservation.
CevOss Bovine Bone Graft
Make the switch to a better xenograft! High volume of interconnected pores promotes new bone. Substantially equivalent to BioOss and NuOss.