A 77-year-old female patient presented to the practice with an implant on tooth #30 that was placed by a periodontist. It was a replacement for a non-ideal previously placed, failed implant. The implant had osseointegrated and was ready to be restored. The oral evaluation revealed that there was excess soft tissue on the mesial and mesio-lingual aspect. The gingiva was at the level of the healing cap. The tissue coronal to the implant interface was thick (approximately 5 mm) and would inhibit proper contours of the crown. To achieve a proper emergence profile, the dentist had to sculpt the soft tissue precisely. Otherwise, the resulting restoration would have a ‘mushroom cap’ appearance (see original radiograph) and be a plaque and debris trap.
The entire procedure was performed using Solea and only topical anesthetic (TAC) was applied. To start, the 1.25 mm spot size with cutting speed between 20%-30% and 10% mist was used to ablate the thick, excess tissue and sculpt it to achieve an optimal emergence profile for the restoration. This step of the treatment took less than 3 minutes and was completely bloodless. The digital impression of the scan body was captured. Then, the healing cap was modified with bonded composite to custom fit to the newly shaped tissue. At crown insert three weeks later, the composite on the healing cap was removed easily with Solea and the screw retained implant crown was placed.
By using Solea, not only was the dentist able to achieve precision, but also enabled fast patient healing with healthy tissue growth and very minimal bleeding. He also completed this procedure in less time than he would have with the traditional surgical approach to removing excess tissue. The patient was happy to avoid the injection and post-operative pain.