Do I need a temporary crown 4 months after the placement of my dental implant?

Question

I've received a Straumann bone level implant with an RC Healing Abutment customizable, D 7.0 mm (i think) on my front upper right tooth on August 10th, 2018. By December during my follow up, my dentist wanted to place temporary crown for an additional 2-3 months to "contour my gums", which he never mentioned before. Is this really necessary? Is the placement and removal of the temporary crown going to affect the strength of my implant? Do the cost and cons outweigh the benefits?

Abir Rammo, BDS · Answer

I agree with that, you do need a temporary crown to shape the gum; in the front area what goes wrong is the the pink part (gum). You don’t want a successful implant to have a crown on top that looks different than the other teeth especially with the shape and contour of the gum around it.

Amber Garcia, DDS · Answer

With front teeth, contouring the gums properly is very important for esthetics. I would 100% recommend a temporary crown for a few months to get the proper gum contour. A temporary can be altered. A permanent crown cannot be altered very easily. It's better to make sure you have the contours and esthetics that you like before proceeding with a permanent crown. Putting on and taking off a temporary crown will not affect the integrity of the implant.

Andy Shieh, DMD · Answer

To have an esthetic result, yes, temporary crown is a good idea to contour your gums. In the front smile zone, you want your gums to be molded into a shape where your false tooth will be to look absolutely normal like a real tooth. To do that, place a specific shape there to have the gum tissue grow around that shape is critical. A temporary tooth/crown can be that shaped object to help mold the gum tissue. If it cost more money, I recommend you to invest into it because the result will look more natural with your gums shaped and molded by the temporary crown. A temporary crown will and should not hurt the healed and integrated implant underneath. If you choose to not do a temporary crown, there is another object you can use which is a contoured shaped healing abutment but if you use that, you won’t look esthetic walking around without a tooth during healing months. We usually use a contoured healing abutment in the back teeth where they’re not in the smiling zone. Hope this helped. Trust your dentist.

Do I need a temporary crown 4 months after the placement of my dental implant?

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Do I need a temporary crown 4 months after the placement of my dental implant?

Answers (3)

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Everything you need to know about Dental Implants

Our mission is to create a world where every investment in modern beauty is Worth It.