By Barsha Bhattacharya
If you’ve been dealing with missing or broken teeth for a while, you’ll know how uncomfortable and sometimes painful it can be. Regular daily activities such as chewing and speaking can also be affected.
Fortunately, all is not lost. If you have missing teeth on the same arch (side) of your mouth, you may be a candidate for all-on-4 dental implants, which can greatly restore functionality.
If a professional recommends this procedure, you may wonder if you need it. Keep reading to find out more.
What is an All-on-4 Dental Implant?
Before we explore the drawbacks and benefits of all-on-4 dental implants, we need to understand the basics. In this section, let’s take a moment to define what an All-on-4 Dental implant truly is.
This form of implant requires higher levels of precision and technical understanding. The dental procedure involves screwing in titanium implants into the jawbone itself. These screws function like an anchoring point that keeps the implant from moving.
These dental processes are generally more permanent than getting removable dentures. This permanence is the biggest USP of these processes. Fixing an all-on-4 dental implant is about three distinct stages. Here they are:
- Step #1: The dentist assesses the damage or state of your gums and teeth to understand your requirements. At this stage, the dentist also evaluates the quality of the bone or whether the procedure would prove helpful.
- Step #2: The second part of the process involves removing the debris and damaged tissue. By debris, we mean broken and underdeveloped teeth that can hinder the dentist and cause the procedure to fail.
- Step #3: This part involves fixing the implants using screws made of non-reactive metal. This is crucial as it determines the procedure’s effectiveness.
However, you must remember that medical science is changing rapidly. Therefore, do not be surprised if the procedure changes slightly in the coming months. Other than that, the process is this at press time.
Benefits Of All-on-4 Dental
Having several broken teeth in one arch can leave you experiencing pain and discomfort every time you need to eat.
If you’re looking for the most effective way to restore your smile, then this procedure may be just what you need. Our prosthodontic team has compiled a list of the top reasons you should opt for the all-on-4 procedure.
1. You’ll Get Long-Term Results
Ideally, you’ll want a procedure that provides long-lasting results. Fortunately, the said procedure can help you with that. In other words, you will not have to keep visiting the dentist to maintain the denture.
Unlike regular dentures, this is a more permanent solution that can last for years or decades if you pick the right material. The permanence prevents these dentures from getting lost, which saves a lot of hassle.
2. Restore the Functionality of Your Teeth
Replacing missing teeth can instantly improve the way you speak and eat. Unlike traditional dentures, which can be loose, they do not slip, making eating difficult and uncomfortable.
All-on-4 implants are secured to the titanium posts, so there’s no risk of slipping or being left in place. This makes it easier to eat all your favourite foods. Since the new teeth are designed to look and feel natural, you will regain confidence soon.
3. Helps Preserve Your Jawbone
Missing teeth can cause your face to become sunken because there are no teeth to hold up facial muscles. All-on-4 implants go a long way toward preser jawbone and facial structures, preventll-on-4s will stimulate bone growth, prevent deterioration, and stimulate bone growth.
The titanium posts create a solid foundation for all the replacement teeth between the posts. This means there’ll be no sagging of your facial muscles. You’ll then have stronger, tighter facial muscles, which instantly improve the way your face looks.
4. Improve Oral Health
It can be difficult to maintain your oral health when you have missing or damaged teeth that affect your other teeth and gums. Other oral health-related issues that can develop from poor oral health include the following:
- Shifting of remaining teeth
- Bone loss
- Gum disease
- Infections and abscesses are caused by trapped food residue.
Having teeth in these open spaces will create stability in your mouth, which improves your oral health. To avoid compromising oral health, follow your prosthodontist’s recommendations to ensure your mouth heals correctly. You may also invest in a softer toothbrush while your implants heal.
5. Look Forward to a Shorter Treatment Time
Traditional tooth replacements usually require more than one surgical procedure, weeks of healing, and follow-up appointments. With the all-on-4 process, the four implants can all be placed in one day.
With implants, additional bone grafting is usually unnecessary, so there’s usually no need for additional bone grafting. This can reduce surgery time and minimise costs.
Drawbacks Of All-on-4 Dental
We have seen the benefits of all-on-4 dental implants. They are expansive and noteworthy. However, you are making active alterations to your gums and teeth. In this penultimate section, we will move away from looking at the benefits to exploring the drawbacks. Here we go!
1. Bukiness
These dental implants are renowned for their bulk. The reason behind the bulk is that they replace teeth and gums. In some cases, they even replace any missing bones.
As a result, they can be quite bulky to begin with. This can certainly feel foreign and too big for your mouth, making these implants a little too uncomfortable at some stages. These implants can even give rise to blogger complications.
2. They Are Not Indestructible
Many companies that specialize in building these implants tend to claim that these implants are ‘indestructible. However, that is untrue. Like any other implants, these are not indestructible. In other words, they will break under significant pressure.
People have often stated that they have faced major wear and tear. This can be a huge challenge since a broken piece can get lodged into the gum, leading to an infection. However, resilient products like Titanium 33 are mostly available in the US and Europe.
3. Bone Loss/Gum Recession
One of the biggest problems of these dental implants is that they cause major loss of bone and gum. This is due to prolonged exposure to materials and components that are foreign to one’s body.
The only way to truly avoid this situation is for the person to have thick gums. Some people genetically have thicker gums. Therefore, there is not much choice in this matter.
Therefore, if you get the procedure at an advanced stage of gum erosion, there is a high chance that you will experience some bone or gum loss.
Final Thoughts
It’s easy to see why the all-on-4 dental implant procedure is the preferred tooth replacement option. Not only will you improve the appearance of your mouth, but you will also regain proper teeth function. Once your mouth heals, eating, speaking, and smiling will have become much easier!
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