Communication Tools

We have recently started to use Digital Smile Designs to assist our implant surgeons when it comes to  explaining the potential benefits of having grafting or GBR on an implant placement to their patients.

To make it quick and easy we simply take a picture that the surgeon has provided of the case they have aesthetic concerns over and then use this to do a quick mock up of how the final teeth may look if the patient decides they just want to have the implant placement without any grafting or GBR.

At the very least it allows the patient to clearly visualise the potential aesthetic compromise that may occur if they choose not to have the Grafting or GBR

Of course none of these are guaranteed outcomes and in fact we are careful to show that the false tissue may in fact not be a perfect match, but it does offer a clear visual indicator of where we are likely to end up if the patient feels that Grafting or GBR are not right for them.

We have found that by working together with our surgeons and offering this service at the very beginning that the patients are much better informed and able to make a choice based on clear visual information.

In this way we all hope to avoid a situation where the patient does not really understand just what we mean when we say they may end up with 'longer looking teeth' or a false tissue that attempts to make the proportion of the teeth look right, but may not be a perfect match to the pink tissue for a number or reasons, particularly in short span anterior cases.

We are always looking for ways to assist our surgeons and ensure that everyone is satisfied with the end result, this Digital Smile Design service is just another of the useful tools that we offer to our partners in order to ensure we make their management of cases simple and predicable, even on a case like this where the patient was not intending to have any other work done to the existing teeth.

Recreating Nature using Creation Ceramic

Our latest addition to the ceramic team has created 5 beautiful teeth from ceramic to show his understanding of nature and tooth morphology.

We will soon be presenting all 5 once we have our photoshoot done at the locate gallery, but for now here's one of them that Jack has made as a little teaser of the beautiful work to come.

Christmas Closing 2013

Did we really just give you all Christmas notice already?! I'm afraid we did but We’re just trying to give enough notice to allow for patient scheduling over this period by your surgery team.

Laboratory closure during Christmas period 2013

  

The lab will be closed from Tuesday 24th December 2013

and will re-opened on  Thursday 2nd January 2014

Collection & delivery

The last collection will be Monday 23rd December 2013

The first delivery after will be Thursday 2nd January 2014

Work required for fitting before Christmas 

All work which needs fitting before Christmas must be received by the laboratory on the 9th December

Any work received after the 9th December will need an additional 6 days to the usual 2 weeks required in the lab to allow for the closure period

For example a job received in the lab on the 13th December 2013 would be returned for fit on the 7h January 2014

Please take the chance to plan the appointments accordingly to avoid any disappointment for your patients.

Here's a link to the pdf so you can save or print it off for quick reference https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/3248981/Christmas%20Closing%202013.pdf

Atlantis ISUS gains great interest in Birmingham

We were blown away by the incredible interest in ISUS CAD/CAM technology for implant restorations last night in Birmingham. It was literally standing room only for the talk by Steve and Tim.

Here's Dr Tim Doswell giving a compelling presentation on the inconsistency and potential problems with outdated cast screw retained implant restorations.

Don't get us wrong, we love "hand made" items, in fact it's a label we look for, but only when we are at a local food market or craft shop.

When it comes to medical devices on implant fixtures however we prefer to offer our surgeons and their patients precise, clinically superior, consistent and cost effective screw retained implant restorations.

CAD/CAM isn't a revolution, it's just evolution.

If you would like to know more about CAD/CAM screw retained restorations from Atlantis ISUS or have a case in mind then we have a dedicated page for this on our site

Team AC does Spartan Yorkshire

We're incredibly proud of the team for taking on the challenge of The Spartan Race Yorkshire 2013.

It's a fun challenge and it was fantastic to see the team soak it all up and come out of the other side raring for more.

We always knew we had a great team but the effort and support they showed to each other on this challenge really showed what a great team they are,

Our friend Sarah Glover was there as an Ambridge Ceramics Spartan Racer showing that anything a technician can do, a dentist can match. Not only did Sarah get the finishers medal & Spartan T Shirt, she was luck enough to leave with an exclusive Ambridge Ceramics Spartan Racer Vest!

So, what was it like? We've got a few snapshots from the day to help tell the story

For many of these pictures we must thank Richard Egan, Melissa Duncan, Adam Glassford and anyone else who helped us capture some fantastic memories of our fun in the mud.

Here was the team before the start, all ready and raring to go

When we got to the start we were given a little warm up from this Spartan, after his rousing speech there was no stopping us, right up until the first of the 3 very steep hills that is....

There were a few nasty sprains, twists and cuts on the day though, We think Mark Ambridge wins with this beauty (the split eyebrow might just help add to the winner)

Although this was closely followed by Sean Easey who was walking on an ankle the size of a balloon.

Dr. Sarah Glover from Birdgate Dental in Pickering was also a member of the AC Spartan team and doing a great job of flying the flag for adventurous dental surgeons out there, she was even smiling all the way through it as you can see below.

Our newest member of the team Jack Gleave however, seemed to be wondering what he's let himself in for when he joined us, but don't let the picture fool you, he was loving the day and is now looking for the next challenge to take on!

We were incredibly fortunate that one of our oldest friends is not only a very skilled technician over at Egan Dental Laboratory, he's also a Fellow of the Royal Photographic Society and decided to pop along and capture a few images for us, which is why we have these excellent pictures that captured the moment so well from the day.

Here's just a few of the fantastic pictures her captured (including the 2 above of Jack and Sarah)

Amanda & Natalie showing determination

Lee hanging around

Sean's missed his casting in Rambo

Mark, who was already carrying the cut eye and injured arm by this point

Iain just loving the mud

Ange claimed to hate the mud but seems to be having a ball here

There's far too many images to fill up this blog so we have posted them all on our FB page in our Spartan Album which you can view here

Do you fancy joining us on next years challenge? let us know at info@ambridgeceramics.com

Dentist completes Iron Man Challenge

Dr Tim "Iron Man" Doswell has done it! Not only is Tim a very skilled implant surgeon, he's now official and Iron Man.

Tim managed to complete the challenge in a very respectable 15hrs 32 mins which is a great achievement in itself, but it's also worth noting that the one in Wales is commonly acknowledged as the hardest Iron man to do.

If you've never heard of an Iron Man, it's a 2.4 mile open water swim, followed by a 112 mile bike ride & finally a Marathon, yes the full 26.2 miles!

Any of these alone is quite a challenge, but to do them all in succession on the same day Is a superhuman effort and the money he raised for Alder Hey children's hospital was certainly hard earned.

The full timing of Tims effort is on the attached picture and there's still time to make a donation to his chosen charity if you missed the chance beforehand.

http://www.justgiving.com/Tim-Doswell-ironman

But finally from all the team at AC, well done Tim!

Skilled ceramist joins our talented team

We would like to introduce you to our latest member of the ceramic team.

Jack Gleave is an incredibly talented and passionate technician and we are very proud to have have him joining our talented team of ceramists.

Jack is very experienced with many different ceramic systems and particularly Creation ceramic, in which he trained with the creator of the system Willi Geller and world respected ceramist Sascha Hein. Jack also demonstrated the Creation ceramic system to other technicians at The Dentistry Show this year on behalf of Cendres+Metaux.

Thanks to our growing success we are constantly looking to attract the most talented technicians to to join our team and ensure our surgeons continue to get the very best aesthetic results along with the best technical support and advice from the rest of the team.

This latest addition to our team adds to the wealth of creative talent that we are proud to have supporting our surgeons.

We will post up some of the beautiful work from all our ceramists over the coming months.

Upcoming speaking dates

We're very proud and honoured to be asked to share our knowledge and experience with CAD/CAM and implant restorations for both the ADi and Atlantis Isus.

 The upcoming dates are :-

Location - Birmingham

Speakers - Dr Tim Doswell - Steve Campbell


Date - 19th September - Atlantis Isus - A guide to using the system for surgeons & technicians

Tim & Steve will demonstrate the unique clinical and cost effective advantages offered by using a premium CAD/CAM partner compared with the old, inconsistent and expensive cast methods used to fabricate multi unit screw retained implant restorations.

Venue

Hotel La Tour, Albert Street, Birmingham, B5 5JE

Registration, refreshments & buffet are available from 6.30pm ready to start at 7.00pm

Location - London Stansted Airport

Speaker -  Steve Campbell

Date - 24th October - ADi Essex/Herts Study Club - Restoring Dental Implants - What's New?

Steve will outline the latest developments in CAD/CAM technology for the fabrication of custom abutments and screw retained implant restorations, along with looking at some new materials and techniques that offer us advantages over the traditional porcelains and acrylics that we sometimes use to restore implant restorations.

We will also see how these new solutions are often vastly more cost effective than what we have on offer with traditional restorative materials we have had in the past

Venue

Radisson Blu Hotel London Stansted Airport, Waltham Close, London Stansted Airport,                Essex, CM24 1PP

Registration, refreshments & buffet are available from 7.00pm ready to start at 7.30pm

Location - Belfast

Speaker -  Steve Campbell

Date - 14th November - ADi Belfast Study Club - Restoring Dental Implants - What's New?

Steve will outline the latest developments in CAD/CAM technology for the fabrication of custom abutments and screw retained implant restorations, along with looking at some new materials and techniques that offer us advantages over the traditional porcelains and acrylics that we sometimes use to restore implant restorations.

We will also see how these new solutions are often vastly more cost effective than what we have on offer with traditional restorative materials we have had in the past

Venue

The Ramada Hotel, Shaws Bridge, Belfast, Ireland, BT8 7XP

Registration, refreshments & buffet are available from 7.00pm ready to start at 7.30pm

Location - Warwickshire

Speaker -  Steve Campbell

Date - 20th November - ADi Warwick Study Club - Restoring Dental Implants - What's New?

Steve will outline the latest developments in CAD/CAM technology for the fabrication of custom abutments and screw retained implant restorations, along with looking at some new materials and techniques that offer us advantages over the traditional porcelains and acrylics that we sometimes use to restore implant restorations.

We will also see how these new solutions are often vastly more cost effective than what we have on offer with traditional restorative materials we have had in the past

Venue

Hilton Warwick, Junction 15, M40, A429 Stratford Road, Warwickshire, CV34 6RE

Registration, refreshments & buffet are available from 7.00pm ready to start at 7.30pm

Location - Edinburgh

Speakers - Dr Tim Doswell - Steve Campbell

Date - 28th November - Atlantis Isus - A guide to using the system for surgeons & technicians

Tim & Steve will demonstrate the unique clinical and cost effective advantages offered by using a premium CAD/CAM partner compared with the old, inconsistent and expensive cast methods used to fabricate multi unit screw retained implant restorations.

Venue

Edinburgh Dakota Hotel, 11 Ferrymuir Retail Park, South Queensferry, EH30 9QZ

Registration, refreshments & buffet are available from 6.30pm ready to start at 7.00pm

Booking

To book for any ADi Study Club you can either visit the website www.adi.org.uk and book 

or call the office, 020 8487 5555, or email info@adi.org.uk

To Book for any of the Atlantis Isus dates please contact Gill Hallet on 01453 793273 

or email gill.hallett@dentsply.com

I know we bang on about CAD/CAM but this shows exactly why you need to work with premium partners like Atlantis.

Online editor to ensure we have complete control of our designs and as you can see, we've even made a few alterations to ensure it's perfectly within our prosthetic envelope.

Online viewer that we can use to communicate any potential issues to our surgical partners And a level of milling and finish that we still believe is the market leader.

Not only are CAD/CAM custom abutments more cost effective and clinically superior to any official stock components available, they also allow us to produce a completely unique, custom solution to be tailored the each cases specific requirements.

The icing on the cake fro peace of mind has to be the Warranty backed by the biggest dental company in the world which covers both the abutment and the fixture, regardless of which manufacturer the original implant is supplied by!

There is plenty of CAD/CAM available out there, but does yours offer all these benefits along with technicians that know how to get the very best from it? We only believe in providing the very best to our clients which is why we only partner with premium service and material providers like Atlantis.

We were fortunate enough to be in the Beta program at the very beginning of this system launch in the UK and have since gone on to teach how to get the best from this and other CAD/CAM systems across the UK and Europe and have seen many additions to the range that have improved the restorative options available to the surgeon and patient.

We'll be updating with more Atlantis, Atlantis Isus & ADi lecture dates in the near future.

Overcoming the aesthetic challenge of a resorbed bone ridge

This is is a 4 unit screw retained implant bridge where the patient did not want any block grafting or treatments to try and increase the volume of bone.

This left us with the situation where we wanted to ensure the very best aesthetic outcome for the patient by replacing the the space where the bone and tissue has resorbed with an artificial replacement.

The problem for laboratories is that most ceramic pinks are very difficult to make look natural and match the patients tissue tone.

The other issue is that some composites can discolour or dull after a couple of years after being fitted which tends to let the whole restoration down.

By using Crea.lign pinks from the Visio.lign range we are able to get a beautiful, natural soft tissue contour, especially if the surgeon chooses to use some of the Crea.lign range at the final fit (as practiced by Dr Christian Coachman which you can see by following this link) Crea.ligh also has excellent wear properties and similar discolouration tendencies as ceramic due to it's dense homogenous structure which ensure is will look good for a very long time indeed.

Another huge benefit of using Crea.lign is the future maintenance and ability to alter in future if needed as it can simply be polished, modified or added to in the mouth.

We are getting more cases like this coming through the laboratory as we hear that some patients simply do not want to have the bone grafts or other procedures required to increase the bone volume, so the ability to create natural, maintainable and alterable soft tissue tones is becoming more critical in meeting the patients high aesthetic expectations.

One more tip, please ensure the patient is told to brush their teeth AND the new false gum they now have as it's something many patients do not think to do.

A solution to access holes emerging through full arch implant restorations

This is proving to be a very popular implant solution for the problem of access holes that would normally emerge in the aesthetic zone.

A full arch case which can be fitted so that the occlusion and function can be checked with the patient and then the veneers bonded afterwards.

Working with the Visio.lign system allows Iain to make a really natural restoration which is also shock absorbing and allows the restoration to be repaired and maintained without removing from the patients mouth

Beautiful work as always by Iain.

Article published in the European Journal of Dental Implantologists

Congratulations to Dr Tim Doswell & Steve Campbell from the lab on having their
article published in The EDI (Issue 2/2013 Vol.9).

We think it's fair to say that The European Journal for Dental Implantologists is among the most well respected journals to have your work published in? It's certainly one that we've always looked forward to reading in the lab.

This is a technique that we started to develop together whilst out doing the Atlantis Roadshows in 2011/2012.

The whole team are very proud to have been able to support Tim in both the technique and the final crown that was finished by Mark Ambridge.

http://www.dental-online-community.de/images/magazin/literatur/edi2_13_doswell_lit.pdf

Skilled Ceramist Required

We still have an opportunity for someone with the right talents and attitude to join our award winning team.

If you know anyone who would be suitable then please let them know.

Angle Corrected CAD/CAM screw retained single units are here

A new solution for screw retained implant crowns

In this blog update we are going to look at a new technology that allows us to bend the access holes in screw retained restorations.

Screw retained implant units have always been popular with our surgeons for many reasons but I think a main advantage is the lack of cementation needed at fit, which negates any associated risks of retained cement causing issues sub gingivally later on.

However the access hole can be a problem in certain situations where the emergence angle leaves the hole coming through the aesthetic facings of the crowns, which often then means we have to switch to an abutment and cement retained restoration.

As our regular followers will know we have a belief that CAD/CAM restorations really are the only way to go when designing and producing implant sub structures to ensure the best clinical results, but this did mean there was no solution to the access hole problem as these structures are milled from a solid block of material and therefore the burs had to have a line of sight the section of the element that was being milled.

For a while we have been able to offer angle correction on the access holes for multiple unit cases but nothing was available for single units in CAD/CAM due to the complexity of the milling strategies required.

Thanks to new milling strategies and partnerships it is now possible to offer angle corrected screw retained CAD/CAM crowns on most of the popular implant systems, even down to some narrow platforms such as this Nobel Biocare Replace NP fixture that we restored with Dr Pav Khaira
 

 Original design

 

Angle corrected design

The red tube illustrates the original access hole direction, which would have been coming through the buccal of the crown and the green shows where the access hole was corrected to come out of the centre of the occlusal surface of the crown.

Once we have approved the new correction design the abutment can be milled from chrome with the access hole now corrected to come out of the occlusal of the crown, rather than the buccal where it would have been previously.



By using this new technology we can now have screw retained units with the clinical benefits they bring, without the compromise to aesthetics or the very challenging prospect of the surgeon having to fill the hole and blend the composite to match the surrounding crown in an aesthetic area of the restoration.

This image of the final crown back on the model shows that we have been able to bring the access hole well clear of the buccal of the crown (we will post up final fitted pictures when the patient comes back in for a review with Dr Khaira)

Fitting an angle corrected screw retained crown

For the surgeon these are to be fitted following the same protocols as any other screw retained crown, the only exception is that they must have a specially designed screwdriver, which we will look at below.

Screwdriver

To fit these crowns you need a specially designed screwdriver that has a thin shank to allow the head of the driver to engage with the head of the screw but a large head which is similar in design to a rosehead bur, this allows the grooves to stay engaged with the hex in the head of the screw, even if the shank of the driver is angled back.




the engaging head of screwdriver in action




The benefits of using this new solution are :-


All the traditional benefits of screw retained restorations (easy retrievability, no risk of retained cement etc.)

No change to the restorative procedure (you simply need a new screwdriver)

Control of where the access hole will emerge from our restorations

Incredibly cost effective as there is no need for a separate abutment and cement retained crown

Consistency and cost efficiency of CAD/CAM technology


We have also covered the difference between cement and screw retained and the advantages of CAD/CAM technology over traditional lab cast methods in this previous article which we wrote for the dental site Dentinal Tubules, and may be useful if you are unfamiliar with these types of restorations

For more information you can visit our website page for angle corrected screw retained implant crowns, call sean on 10765 607347 or email sean@ambridgeceramics.com

Atlantis ISUS case report from Dr Millhouse and ourselves to be published

Just got through the approved final of our Atlantis ISUS case report which will soon be published. A 3 unit bridge we restored with Dr Millhouse. Got to love the CAD/CAM

http://goo.gl/zglJU

Investing in the future

We have always believed that the only way to offer our surgeons the very best in quality and value is to stay at the leading edge or technology.

As we have continued to invest in new equipment, technology and training we have hit a bit of a problem. We needed more room to house it all!

Mark has recently had a re design that allows us more room to accommodate our 2 newest team members (Andrius and Lauren) so that we can drive our standards and service levels even higher.

We now have 2 dedicated CAD/CAM stations (with room for the latest scanner that is still to come)

Add along with the scanners we see here there's also the Procera scanner along with a backup storage unit and central CAD file storage drive, and one of our hubs that brings this section of the network together with our other systems in the porcelain department. There's also a wireless storage unit here for connection to the iPad's, but I'll cover them in a bit....

And all of this is at the far end of the new behemoth of a bench that we've affectionately named the Battleship, and here she was on Sunday when just finished.

And here it is in all it's working glory!

But this is only one side of the story. Our ceramists have also been enjoying the fruits of a huge investment too.

All our ceramists now have their own ipad on which the can view all the patient images that as sent in to us. When we are asking for digital photographs of the patient, this is the reason. 

Using the crisp, clear and vibrant screens of their ipads the ceramists can really see the detail in your photography, and transfer that into their restorations for you. Up until now we had to share a couple of monitors that were of a good enough quality to display the detail in these images but now it's always there as they work.

On top of this we have also purchase the very best ceramic furnaces available to ensure the cramics do not lose any vitality and clarity when they are fired.

The black furnace on the right is a Dekema Oral Design Furnace, they simply don't get any better.

And of course all this technology and equipment is reliant upon the very best asset we have, some of the most talented and dedicated technicians in the UK.

Of course all this technology and equipment has a very clear purpose, we don't just have it because it's cool (although it definitely is)

The Wireless server that was next door in the CAD department stores images and files that any of the ceramists can access at any time, along with a private network that allows us to share information amongst the group instantly, ensuring we have as close to perfect communication on all our cases as possible,

This is certainly a laboratory you would be happy to send your patients to, we get great feedback from patients that have seen just what we do in the lab and the level of technology involved.

We have even more exciting developments in the pipeline and will update over the coming weeks.