What are All-on-4 Dental Implants?

Full mouth dental implants: A reason to smile again

Due to modern advances in dental implant technology, using just four implants, all of the teeth on the top or the bottom of your mouth can be replaced.

Tooth loss is quite common among adults. This is especially a challenge as we age. An estimated 35 million people in the US are missing all of their teeth in the entire upper and/or lower jaw. Because dentures can be a hassle, cause discomfort and negatively impact daily living, many people are starting to use full mouth dental implant restoration.

One complete arch of teeth and four dental implants

In order to better understand this modern technique for replacing teeth, it’s important to first understand what a dental implant is. A dental implant is a small screw, usually made from titanium, which is placed in your jawbone in order to replace the root of a missing tooth. Minor surgery is required to insert the implant into the jawbone and a local anesthetic is typically used. Once the implant placed, a crown is then attached which provides patients with a strong, functional and aesthetically pleasing prosthetic tooth.

Fortunately, patients who are missing many or all of their teeth don’t need a dental implant for each and every tooth as this would be tedious, time consuming and extremely expensive. Four precisely placed implants on both the top and on the bottom of your mouth can be used to fully restore your smile. Because the implant is made from titanium, it has the unique ability to attach to living bone and function as a normal tooth without issues. With this procedure, the dental implant eventually becomes part of the actual jawbone and acts as a strong foundation for your new teeth.

In addition to permanently securing your implants and keeping them in place, the fusion of the implant to the jaw has another critical benefit. The implant helps to prevent future bone loss within the jaw.  Maintaining the jaw bone helps patients avoid a change in their appearance and allows them to maintain good oral health.

A new smile and complete set of teeth in one day

When we combine the technology used for the full mouth procedure and our expert implant team, we have developed a way to provide patients with a new smile in just one day.

Below is how the procedure works for people who are missing a majority or all of their teeth:

• The implant team: doctors, lab technicians and equipment are all located in one facility
• The team places the dental implants and the arches of the new teeth in the patient’s mouth
• Patients leave the facility with a comfortable, natural-looking and functional set of teeth in just one day

It will take the dental implants time to heal and completely fuse to the jawbone. Once this step is complete, patients return and the team replaces the temporary denture with a permanent set of teeth which are customized for each patient.

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