Are You a Good Candidate for All-on-4® Dental Implants? By Jose Valenzuela on October 04, 2016

If you are missing most or all of your natural teeth, then dental implants may be the ideal treatment for you. Dental implants are the only method of replacing missing teeth that replicate the structure of a natural tooth from root to crown. When the titanium implant posts are surgically embedded into the jaw, they fuse with the bone to become part of the patient’s anatomy and provide exceptional support for dentures. If you currently wear removable dentures, which are prone to slipping and shifting, then you almost certainly find dental implants to be a remarkable, life-altering upgrade.

The only drawback associated with traditional implant-supported dentures is that they require anywhere from six to ten implants per arch to hold in place. This means that suitable candidates for traditional implant-supported dentures must have extremely dense jawbones and undergo a relatively lengthy and complex surgical procedure, followed by a proportionately lengthy recovery period. Many patients who opt for traditional implant-supported dentures must first undergo a bone grafting procedure in order to become suitable candidates.

Fortunately, the All-on-4® dental implant technique has been a true game changer. This technique requires only four dental implants to secure a set of dentures per arch. Two of the implants are strategically placed at an angle to maximize bone-to-implant ratio, which means that less jawbone density is required than with traditional implants. As a result, more patients are considered good All-on-4® candidates at the Los Algodones, Mexico, Baja California practice of Dr. Jose Valenzuela, Jr., Cosmetic & Implant Dentistry Center.

Are you a good candidate for All-on-4® dental implants? To find out, schedule your initial consultation with Dr. Valenzuela today.

Candidacy for All-on-4® Implant-supported Dentures

All-on-4® dental implants can be used to secure dentures on the upper arch, the lower arch, or both the upper and lower arch. Therefore, good candidates for All-on-4® implant-supported dentures will be missing most or all of their teeth on either or both arches. The All-on-4® treatment can be performed on both current denture wearers and those who are getting dentures for the first time.

In addition to missing most or all of your natural teeth on either or both arches, in order to be considered a suitable candidate for All-on-4® implant-supported dentures, you should be in good enough health to undergo surgery. Dental implant surgery is a major surgical procedure and, like all forms of surgery, does entail some degree of risk. The better health you are in, the lower your risk of complications from surgery. If you smoke, you will be asked to stop smoking in the weeks leading up to your surgery and not to resume until after you have fully recovered (and preferably not to resume at all).

While the All-on-4® technique does not require the same bone density as traditional implant techniques, sufficient bone density is still required. Patients with insufficient bone density will be required to undergo a bone grafting procedure before they can undergo any form of dental implant surgery, including All-on-4® implant surgery.