Darin O'Bryan, D.D.S. One of the challenges when doing an anterior case is managing the soft tissue and making sure not to leave a black triangle that could cause esthetic problems. When we are doing an anterior case, it is nice to know what the preoperative gingival shape and contours are like. When I am doing a case in the anterior, I make sure to take a digital impression of the gingiva before hand. Now if we are doing a BioCopy case in the mouth then this gingiva digital impression is incorporated into the BioCopy preop images. However there are cases where we are either working off of a wax op model or doing Biogeneric Individual. In these cases I will add a Gingiva Mask Catalog or a BioCopy Catalog prior to any tissue retraction. This way the original gingival contours can be viewed after we have retracted the tissue with retraction cord. Here is an example note how you can see the space through the gingival embrasure.
Here is the same case with the preop gingival mask in place. Now we can determine that the papillae will fill in the black triangle area.
This also allow us to determine what the final emergence profile and contour will be with relation to the gingiva allowing for a more predictable esthetic outcome for you and your patients.
