If you’re reading this you are probably in need of a dental implant to replace one or more missing teeth. And so we want to take this opportunity to share with you some of the different alternatives and advances in digital dental technology as they apply to implants.
The Single Tooth Dental Implant
To start off, let’s talk about the single tooth implant option that may be applicable to someone who is missing a single tooth and needs to find a way to replace it.
Traditionally, the only option available to us was to kind of sacrifice two healthy teeth. Which means that we would have to prepare the teeth for crowns, so we would shave them down quite dramatically. And these are healthy teeth that are being shaved down. And then we would get a bridge made, and we would have the bridge cemented on top of two adjacent teeth to get a fake tooth in between.
But why was that bad?
You see, those are healthy teeth, and fundamentally, we don’t want to have to prepare or damage healthy teeth in order to repair a missing tooth.
And that’s where dental implants really come in, and they are incredibly helpful in allowing us to replace missing teeth effectively without having to hurt or damage any of your other adjacent teeth.
The other thing that was really troublesome with these previous solutions is that they were dependent upon the health of the adjacent teeth. And over time, if these teeth were to decay or develop gum disease, you may end up losing more teeth.
So the better option now is an implant. And, if we revisit the original scenario where we’ve got these two healthy teeth and we’re missing a tooth, if we place an implant, we don’t have to involve the other teeth, and we can independently restore the missing tooth.
How it works is… the implant gets placed in the bone, it functions much like the root once did, and onto that we have a little abutment that we can then screw into the healed implant. And the beauty of it is that then we have the implant crown, and the implant crown will go in that position, and we haven’t sacrificed the adjacent teeth, and we have a healthy replacement for a single missing tooth.
It really is the best option to replace missing teeth. It will last the longest, it will be the safest, and it will provide the best solution that best mimics your natural teeth.
The Implant-Supported Overdenture
So now let’s move on to another implant option…the implant-supported overdenture. This option applies to patients who are missing all their teeth and are currently in dentures.
Let’s say that you have a denture which is attached, or fixated by dental implants. In this common scenario, the best solution is to replace an entire set of missing teeth with implants. This really is the most cost effective solution.
(If you refer to our video above at 2:35, you’ll see that the dental implants are the actual parts that are within the plastic of the model, and the overdenture has two corresponding parts that allow this to click in.)
The best part is that patients who have invested in this type of treatment and “upgraded” their denture to an overdenture, no longer have to deal with denture adhesives. Instead, they can live much more comfortably with confidence with their dentures with the two implants adding stability and strength. This really is a life changing option!
In fact, we had a patient who was in dentures for 50 years and convinced her to undergo this treatment. She didn’t really understand the value of the added comfort and stability that implant-supported overdentures would provide because she had been living with “traditional” dentures for 50 years! She just could not imagine what she could finally eat by just having these two implants placed.
So, if finances are a concern, and you’re limited to a denture, this is the best way of upgrading it to make sure that you’re living comfortably.
The i4S Solution: The Fixed Implant Bridge
This is a fixed solution that replaces a complement of teeth that does not come in or out of the mouth. This is a huge benefit to patients, knowing that they do not have a removable set of teeth.
So, for a lot of patients who come to us that have maybe living in dentures or know that they’re about to lose all their teeth and they refuse to get a denture, this is the solution for them. And, what we’re doing with this procedure is…
- Taking out the failing teeth, if there are any.
- We’re going to put in a number of implants, and
- We’re then going to build this specialized bridge on top of those implants that get screwed into place.
The bridge does not come in and out of your mouth. It best mimics your natural teeth, and you can function the most naturally with it. So you can eat things that you would never be able to do with dentures, like: steak, pizza, corn on the cob, or even ribs.
Another really important part about this type of solution is that it doesn’t cover the top of your mouth. Whereas a traditional denture may cover your palate, it will affect the way that you can taste foods. We’ve even had patients who say that they would drink hot soup and not even realize how hot it was until it was already in the back of their throat and had burned themselves.
That’s the problem with a denture. With the i4S fixed implant bridge, you can taste everything. So again, it’s the most lifelike, natural replacement for your teeth.
Another benefit to the I4S solution bridges is that we go ahead and plan out these cases with a level of redundancy. Which means that instead of traditionally placing just four implants, we’re placing up to six implants at no additional cost to make sure that we have the best, optimal support possible for these bridges over time.
Contact Us to Schedule a Consultation About the Best Dental Implant Option for You
These are some of the implant options available to you, from a single tooth implant to an overdenture which is retained by implants, to a full arch solution like the i4S bridge.
Fill out the evaluation form here to get an idea what options you’re eligible for, some general pricing ideas, and to get a special offer. We hope to see you soon.