Midlife Laminates: Are They Possible in Your 70s? A Case of Treating Microdontia and Gapped Front Teeth

Hello.

I am the director of Seoul Bardi Dental Clinic.

These days, even as people get older, there are many who think about “how should I take care of myself?”

Midlife Laminates: Are They Possible in Your 70s? A Case of Treating Microdontia and Gapped Front Teeth

Just as people change their hairstyle and change their clothing style,

there has been a noticeable increase in patients in their 50s to 70s who want to improve the front teeth, which are the first thing people see.

Midlife Laminates: Are They Possible in Your 70s? A Case of Treating Microdontia and Gapped Front Teeth

When looking at the age groups of patients who received laminates at our clinic,

about half were in their 20s and 30s, and the other half were middle-aged patients in their 40s and older.

That much, many people seem to have personally experienced that “even if only the shape and color of the teeth change, people’s overall impression can change significantly.”

Perhaps for that reason, middle-aged patients also inquire about laminates quite often these days.

But at the same time, we often hear comments like this:

“Is it okay to get laminates at my age? I’m worried they might have to shave down too much of my teeth.”

Today, to ease those concerns,

I will explain how microdontia and gapped front teeth were improved with laminates, using an actual treatment case of a patient in her 70s.

Midlife laminates, A real case of a 70-year-old patient whose microdontia and gapped front teeth were treated

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This patient is a woman in her 70s.

Since she was young, there had been a gap between her front teeth, and she had been using resin to fill the space.

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At first it was fine, but as she got older, the resin began to break and fall out repeatedly,

so she visited us saying, “This time, I want to fix it properly.”

Looking closely inside the mouth, the resin filling the space between the front teeth had broken,

and the small front teeth on either side were noticeably smaller than the other teeth.

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Teeth that are particularly small compared with the surrounding teeth are called microdontia.

Because microdontia teeth are small, spaces tend to remain around them,

which eventually becomes a cause of the front teeth appearing even more gapped.

There was one more problem here.

Last time, I posted about a case involving an edge-to-edge bite, right?

This patient had a deep overbite, with the upper teeth covering the lower teeth by about 70 to 80%.

Midlife Laminates: Are They Possible in Your 70s? A Case of Treating Microdontia and Gapped Front Teeth

In a deep bite like this,

the tips of the lower front teeth inevitably collide repeatedly with the back side of the upper teeth and the resin.

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So even if the resin was filled again,

after a little time, it would inevitably break and fall out again.

Many people ask, “Then couldn’t this be solved with orthodontic treatment?”

That is half right and half wrong.

It is possible to close the gap with orthodontic treatment.

But in cases like microdontia, where the teeth themselves are small,

orthodontics alone cannot change the size and shape of the teeth.

That is because orthodontics is a treatment that changes the “position” of the teeth,

while prosthetic treatments such as laminates adjust the “size and shape” of the teeth.

For this patient as well, rather than orthodontics,

we needed an approach that would match the size of the small front teeth to the surrounding teeth, and address both the gap between the front teeth and the problem of the resin breaking.

So we planned laminate treatment for the front teeth.

With deep overbites like this, when performing laminate treatment, minimizing the risk of fracture is the most important thing.

So rather than shaving down a lot of tooth structure, we removed only the minimum necessary,

and the key was to secure enough space for the laminate to sit stably within that space.

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Our clinic operates an in-house dental lab,

so laminate prosthetics are not sent to an outside lab but are made directly inside the clinic.

That allows the actual tooth condition seen in the treatment room to connect naturally with the lab process.

The dentist performing the treatment directly participates in the entire lab process,

so the laminate thickness, shape, length, and even the color and translucency

Midlife Laminates: Are They Possible in Your 70s? A Case of Treating Microdontia and Gapped Front Teeth

can be carefully adjusted to suit the patient’s face and existing teeth.

Also, after the try-in process, we can immediately check how it feels when speaking or smiling,

and if needed, we can consult with the lab right then and there to refine it a little more.

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This 70-year-old patient, through this process,

was able to complete customized laminates that distributed the force caused by the deep overbite

while naturally correcting the microdontia and the gap between the front teeth.

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The patient also said she was happy because she could now smile brightly.

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Just because you get older, does not mean the worries caused by the front teeth disappear.

Now that we are in the era of living to 100, rather than just brushing it off as “I’ll just live like this,”

taking time to slowly resolve long-standing insecurities can also be a good choice.

Rather than worrying alone, please feel free to come in for a consultation.

We will accurately explain your current condition,

and we will carefully find a realistic method that suits the patient together.

Thank you.

▼Check the dental clinic location▼

Midlife Laminates: Are They Possible in Your 70s? A Case of Treating Microdontia and Gapped Front Teeth

Go to make a reservation call
02-481-4278

| This post was written directly by Seoul Bardi Dental Clinic for the purpose of providing medical information, in compliance with Article 56, Paragraph 1 of the Medical Advertising Act. The information provided is for reference only, and we recommend that you visit a medical institution and receive guidance from medical staff for symptom assessment and accurate management methods. All procedures/surgeries performed at the clinic may involve individual risks (such as inflammation, bleeding, swelling, etc.). Please decide after sufficient consultation with medical staff in advance. The treatment cases in this post were photographed with the consent of patients who completed treatment at our clinic, and the before-and-after photos were taken under the same conditions. |