Case 1:
Patient presented with a chief concern of “I heard a snap when I bit on some hard licorice and now my tooth is sore.” The initial radiograph was not diagnostic, so I opted for a small volume CBCT. This revealed both the horizontal fracture, which was my differential diagnosis, and extensive external root resorption on the lingual of #24. We diagnosed this tooth as hopeless and scheduled the extraction. I wanted to preserve as much bone as possible, so I decided to extract the tooth using a periotome rather than laying a flap. The extraction was successful and I removed the apical root tip with limited soft tissue and bone damage. The following day I modified the patients extracted tooth to act as an ovate pontic tooth in a Maryland Style Bridge. Using a facial putty to secure #29 in its original position, I used resin infused carbon fibers to reinforce the bridge from the lingual and flowable composite to fill the remaining space. The patient was ecstatic with the result and will use this as a long-term temporary until the bone allows for an implant or neighboring teeth fail and a different solution is needed.
