Making jigs for each bridge that will fit on top of dental implants may initially seem time-consuming but actually they can save the dentist a lot of time by creating a more accurate fitting bridge that will need less subsequent adjustment or even remakes. This video on Fabrication of Jigs for Dental Implants was created in our dental implants office.
You will see the addition of GC resin to dental floss that is interwoven around dental implants on the left side of the lower jaw. This resin is applied until it securely connects all the dental implants that are planned to be connected within the same bridge. When that is done then do the same for any or all dental implant bridges that are to be made for the patient. Thereafter the lower right dental implants are shown that are already connected in a jig made of the same interwoven dental floss and GC resin. After this is completed then the jigs are taken out of the mouth and the interconnections are cut apart with a thin disk. When replaced in the mouth they are reconnected once again with GC resin; this method is used to make sure the fit is very accurate.
The dentist will receive back from the dental lab a very accurate dental bridge frame on which porcelain or acrylic may then be added. Note in this video polyether impression material is placed over Vaseline and over a large herpes lesion that is protected with this barrier during the office visit. Also note that this barrier does not protect against intraoral herpes virus that is still present.
VIDEO TRANSCRIPT: This is Dr. Jeff Dorfman at the Center for Special Dentistry in New York showing how to create a jig for a full arch dental implant case. You can see we have already created the jig for one side. The blue impression material here is actually covering a herpetic lesion so that should not be a distraction. And what you will be seeing now is I will be taking a resin and I will begin to paint it on in between the implant abutments, and doing that I will connect them and after they are connected I will section them and reconnect them a second time, and after that occurs I will then take an additional impression up over the entire thing. When this is completed this will look something like this. This is Dr. Jeff Dorfman at the Center for Special Dentistry in New York City.