All-on-4® Treatment ConceptMerritt Island, FL
Your teeth perform several important tasks, including biting, chewing, and aiding in proper speech. They provide you with a confident smile. They also play an important role in the health of your jawbone. Tooth loss impacts all of these functions. The more teeth you lose, the worse the effects are. At Florida Prosthodontics, we offer dental implants to replace your missing teeth. Implants can be used in a variety of situations, including if you lose an entire arch of teeth. However, if you do not have sufficient bone mass to support the necessary posts, getting dental implants can be more difficult. We can provide you with a full arch replacement without the need for a bone graft with the all on four treatment concepts.
What Are Dental Implants?
Traditionally, an entire arch of missing teeth has been replaced with a complete denture. Dental implants are a modern alternative to this treatment. They are quite versatile and can be used to replace any number of missing teeth. Implants consist of three different parts, the posts, the abutments, and the crowns. The posts, which are made from titanium, are surgically implanted in your jawbone. As you heal, your bone fuses to them, stabilizing them within the jaw. The abutments are the connectors that are placed on the exposed ends of the implants. The crowns replace the visible sections of your missing teeth.
Bone Loss and Dental Implants
Dental implants rely on your jawbone for success. As you heal from surgery, the bone fuses to the posts in a process called as osseointegration. This fusion stabilizes the posts in your jaw, turning them into roots that then provide support for your new teeth. However, when you lose your teeth, your jawbone begins to resorb. It starts to lose height, width, and mass. The longer you go without replacing your teeth, the more bone mass is lost. Without sufficient bone mass, your jaw cannot properly fuse, which can lead to implant failure.
The All-on-4® Treatment Concept Difference
Typically, a full arch of missing teeth is replaced using 6 to 8 posts to support your new teeth. However, if you are missing too much bone mass, your jaw may not be able to support all of these posts. The failure of even just one post can fail the entire restoration. It used to be that to get dental implants, you would first need to undergo a bone graft surgery, which you would have to heal from before implants could be placed. With the All-on-4® Treatment Concept, you can get a full arch replacement without the need for a bone graft first. All-on-4® Treatment Concept uses only four posts to support all of your replacement teeth. The success is not in the number of posts that we place, but the way in which they are placed. Two implants are placed vertically at the front of the jaw while the other two are placed in the back of the jaw, one on each side, and are placed at 45-degree angles. This angle enables maximum contact between the posts and your available bone mass, increasing the rate of success.
Benefits of All-on-4® Treatment Concept
The All-on-4® Treatment Concept offers all of the same benefits as other dental implant procedures. It also has a few additional benefits, including:
| • | Less surgery. |
| • | Shorter recovery. |
| • | Less expensive. |
| • | No need for a bone graft or sinus lift. |
If you are missing an entire arch of teeth and do not have the bone mass to support the implants needed for a typical full-arch replacement, you may be a candidate for All-on-4® Treatment Concept. Call Florida Prosthodontics today at (321) 452-3388 to schedule your consultation.
Merritt Island