TL;DR
Prosthodontics covers the crowns, bridges, implant restorations, dentures and veneers that rebuild a mouth. It is also a recognized dental specialty. Dr. Prane is a general dentist who completed the Navy’s Advanced Education in General Dentistry residency and the Dawson Academy’s core curriculum, and she plans and provides this kind of care in our O’Fallon office. Two of the smile gallery cases are multi-tooth rebuilds of this kind.
What is prosthodontic care?
Prosthodontic care is the work of restoring teeth that are badly worn, broken or missing, so they look natural and meet comfortably when you bite. The individual pieces are familiar: crowns, fixed bridges, implant-supported teeth, dentures and partials and porcelain veneers. Each one has its own page under restorations or cosmetic dentistry.
What makes it prosthodontics is planning across many teeth at once. When the front teeth have worn short, or one arch has lost most of its teeth, each restoration has to agree with its neighbors and with the opposite jaw. That is a different job from repairing a single tooth, and it’s why this page exists apart from the treatments themselves.
Who plans this kind of treatment at Stone Falls Dental Care?
Dr. Carleigh Prane does. Prosthodontists are specialists who train for several extra years after dental school; Dr. Prane is a general dentist whose advanced training went past dental school too. She completed the U.S. Navy’s Advanced Education in General Dentistry residency in Pensacola, and later the Dawson Academy’s core curriculum and hands-on series, which centers on the bite and on how the jaw joints and muscles respond when teeth are rebuilt.
The practice’s own cases show the scale. One upper and lower rehabilitation paired an implant-supported upper denture with lower implants and crowns. Another replaced a three-unit bridge, chipped and showing metal, with an all-porcelain bridge matched to the natural teeth. Both are in the smile gallery.
What has to happen before prosthodontic treatment begins?
The foundation has to be healthy first. Active gum disease or untreated decay will undermine any crown, bridge or denture placed over it, so those are treated before anything else. Dr. Prane looks at the gums, the bone, the bite and the jaw joints, using X-rays and photographs, then lays the plan out in stages so you know the order of the work and the cost of each stage before it starts. Temporary restorations can let you try a new tooth length or bite before the final porcelain is made.