As you may recall from my Journey to Dental Implants – Part 5 post, my last clinic visit didn’t go exactly as I’d hoped. I had to have a revision of gum tissues, which meant I needed more time to heal. While having to wait even longer is a drag, I’d rather things be done well than be done quickly. After all, I have to live with these results for the rest of my life.
The Journey to Dental Implants – Part 6
Second Post-Op Visit
I returned to the UIC College of Dentistry to see Dr. Stanford for my second post-op visit on March 1st. Dr. Stanford removed both the upper and lower dentures in clinic. He tightened all of the implant screws (no torque is applied when the implants are initially installed, because if they did, any shifting of the studs could be disastrous. By waiting until the studs are osteo-integrated, it insures that applying torque will not cause an implant to fail).
After tightening everything, he was able to make impressions, too. To make the impressions, he applied “rods” to each implant so that the actual implants were not “lost” or blocked by the impression material. It’s a little franken-mouth looking, so I’m really glad I didn’t have to leave the clinic like this!
The impression casts are made with an opening where the rods exit, so that they can be visualized while the impression material sets up. Then the rods are loosened and removed with the impression cast.
He then replaced the dentures and made impressions with the dentures attached to the implants.
After the final impressions were done, he tightened everything, stuffed Teflon tape into the tiny screw holes, and sealed it. I’ll return to clinic in 3 weeks to check to make sure that the “analog” cast made of my mouth is accurate before it is sent to the lab where a digital prototype will be made. The digital prototype (and final implant prosthesis) will be made in a lab in North Carolina!
Haven’t had a chance to read the other posts in this journey? You can find them all in the Dental Implants tab. I also have a Dental Implant Journey Facebook Group, where I post more photos (some of them are more graphic).
