Returning Clinical Judgement From the Lab Back to the Dentist

Yes. They are mini dental implants. The anterior implant has a composite bud light-cured on. The posterior 2 implants have metal buds cemented on. A direct impression was taken and sent to the lab where the bridge is made the usual way in which conventional crowns and bridges are made but designed to provide a friendly interface with the gums and easy maintenance. With the increasing use of dental implants, the dentist has become more and more lab-dependent to the extent that he/she often seem just like a technician. All the dentist have to do is to send the models and X-ray images to the laboratory and back comes a precision-stent together with the prefabricated crown or bridge. The dentist places the stent, drills the hole and screws in the implant to a preset depth and then cements the crown or bridge. Simple and straightforward but highly lab-dependent and turns the dentist from a clinician into a technician. The bud and direct impression approach gives back the dentist the responsibility of clinical judgement and the satisfaction of doing things intelligently without having to rely on a lab to instruct him exactly where and how deep to place a dental implant. If the current trend of lab-dependency goes on, the dentist does not have to think much any more and can just follow the exact instructions from the lab technician. And you can be sure that there will be many clinical problems that will arise as a result of the increasing surrender of clinical judgement  to the dental laboratory. The laboratory cannot eyeball what the dentist can in the immediate clinical situation.