A missing tooth can affect your appearance and self-confidence. Also, it can cause a variety of problems ranging from sagging lips to crooked bites. Traditional options like dental bridges or implants do not necessarily work effectively for everyone. And all-on-4 dental implants can become another potential solution for improving your smile.
You may lose your teeth for multiple reasons, like aging, gum disease, weak teeth, nutrition, or sickness. But before you choose the type of treatment, you should find out a little bit more about all-on-four dental implants.
What are ‘all on four’ dental implants?
Dentures are not suitable for every mouth. Some patients choose a more durable, long-term solution to replace missing teeth. All-on-four dentures are held in place by a mix of implants and prostheses.
Dentists can replace an entire arch using this procedure. They will drill four holes in the jawbone for implants secure. Then the porcelain crowns are placed on the implants to simulate natural teeth. Each implanted post can support multiple prosthetic teeth. This gives you a complete set of teeth without the need for dentures.
Benefits of ‘all on 4’ dental implants
Realistic look and feel. ‘All on 4’ dental implants will look and feel like your natural teeth. You may need some time to adjust, but soon enough you will forget that you have implants. Over time you will notice in all your new photos your happy and bright smiling face.
Eat and drink with pleasure just like before the tooth loss. You had to avoid hard and crunchy foods since they may shatter a cap, or feared eating in public without anyone noticing that your teeth are different from theirs. With ‘all on four dental implants’, you won’t have to worry about any of that again.
Short timing. The implant and cap procedure can be performed quickly. You won't have to wait months or years to replace one tooth at a time. With all-on-four implants, you can have all of your teeth replaced at once after the implant sites have healed.
Less invasive than some other methods. For example, when one tooth is put adjacent to another, bone grafting may be required. This can be extremely painful and demands an extended recovery time. And ‘all on four’ implants are less painful.
No rubbing. Dentures might seem stable, but even with the strongest glue, there is some movement. This friction generates rubbing, which can cause oral pain and make eating and speaking difficult.
The downside of ‘all on-four implants
No individual teeth. The teeth cannot be unique, no matter how real your ‘all on 4’ implementation feels. Each implant is accompanied by a number of porcelain caps. This can be a strange sensation for some people, especially during flossing.
Tenderness and discomfort. An implant process, unlike dentures, includes drilling into the gums and jawbone. During the healing process, you may feel persistent pain and discomfort. Tenderness goes away, but in the first few days after surgery, it can be too painful to speak or chew.
Learning to speak. Though there is a learning period with all-on-four implants, they eventually will feel like your natural teeth. At first, you may find it challenging to speak after the surgery, but it'll become easier with practice.
Potential rejection. Not every implant is compatible with the gums and bone. So, implant rejection is possible, however, is extremely rare.
Even with the few potential cons associated with all-on-4 dental implant surgery, the benefits are plentiful. If you’re not sure it’s a good fit for you, speak to your dentist or orthodontist.
Despite potential disadvantages, the benefits of all-on-four dental implants exceed the risks. Problems may exist, but the confidence and satisfaction that a properly functioning set of teeth will bring you are worth it.
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