Teeth-in-an-Hour Photos

Becky's Teeth in an Hour Story

Becky's case was referred to Dr. Chal by Nobel Biocare, the company that developed Teeth-in-an-Hour technology. The following photographs and presentation are adapted from Dr. Chal's presentation at the 2007 annual meeting of the American Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry, where he taught this technique to an international audience of dentists.

Becky's "after" photo is at the left, showing the great results that Dr. Chal was able to achieve for her.

Click here for further information about Dr. Chal's lecturing. Patients who are interested can obtain copies of some of these lectures at his office.

After the careful diagnostic work was done, the first step was to make Becky a set of prototype complete dentures, with the teeth in their ideal positions. The teeth are positioned in accordance with Becky's esthetic requirements, as well as functional requirements. Dr. Chal, besides being recognized for his advanced work in implant dentistry, is accredited in cosmetic dentistry and a past president of the American Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry. He understands how much patients want to look good when they have this extensive work done.
Notice in the photo above the radiopaque markers in place on the prototype dentures. These markers show up in the CT scans, as you can see below, and they enabled Dr. Chal to make pinpoint correlations between the positions of the teeth and the images of the bone and tissue that showed up on the scans. The next step was the virtual surgery. A sophisticated computer simulates the surgery and plans the exact placement of the dental implants. In preparation for this surgery, Dr. Chal wrote up a detailed set of instructions. These instructions were sent to the Nobel Biocare laboratory in Sweden, where the virtual surgery was performed. Photo of Teeth in an Hour instructions
On the right we have some photos of the computer planning taken from Becky's virtual surgery case. Angles, depths, and every detail are all carefully planned.
The software and hardware for the virtual surgery are patented by Nobel Biocare, and it is all performed by a computer at their laboratory in Sweden. This does affect the cost of Teeth-in-an-Hour.

Nobel used the results of this virtual surgery to fabricate a surgical guide which guided the surgeon through Becky's surgery. It had channels for the surgical instruments, and when it was used, the implants were able to be placed into the exact positions planned by the computer. It was sent to Dr. Chal in a sterile bag as shown below:
The surgical appointment was then scheduled, the implants were placed. Since it was all planned on the computer beforehand, it went very smoothly and quickly. Becky's teeth were restored in the same appointment. She had her Teeth-in-an-Hour, and was able to go home and enjoy a light meal that evening. You can see in the "after" photo how happy she is with the results.