All On Four

The most common and most popular way to stabilize a denture is to affix them to dental implants. These dental implants are usually inserted into the jaw bone in the manner and place where regular dental implants are inserted. To replace an entire arch of teeth, a patient needs to get four implants. A bridge that covers all of your teeth will be made, with four insertion sites that connect to the dental implants in the jaw. This way, the entire arch of teeth is stabilized, and the result is the same as having a denture, except instead of having the bridge be fixed in some type of resin or other artificial gum, it is housed in dental implants that connect to the jaw.

Benefits

The results and effects speak for themselves. No more irritation from the plate shifting and sliding around, no more embarrassing situations when the dental adhesive gives out and the denture falls off. By getting the denture fixed, it’s like getting new teeth altogether, and not just a  replacement for missing teeth. The dental implants are not discernable to the naked eye, and the all on four denture looks just like natural teeth, as there is no space between your gum line and the crowns, and there is no “dark line” that sometimes shows up as the gums start to atrophy, as they will not atrophy, because they are being occupied by the dental implants.

Caveat Emptor

There are certain things to be aware of, however, before getting your all on four. The first thing is the cost; aside from having to buy the entire row of crowns, you will also need to purchase the four dental implants that they will be housed on. This costs somewhere between 2 and 3 000 GBP.

It is also important to know that if you have been missing your teeth for an extended period of time, you will most likely need a bone graft, which incurs an additional fee. This is because once teeth have been missing for an extended period of time, the supporting tissues and biological structures start to deteriorate, which leaves the gums and jaws unable to house a dental implant. When this occurs, your gum is filled up with an artificial bone replacement material, which binds to the bone and stabilizes the area so that the dental implant can be received.