Dental implants have come a long way over the last few decades. Especially now that we have full-mouth restoration designs like All-on-4 treatments. Since the first implant was installed by a Swedish orthopedic surgeon in 1965, we’ve learned a lot about these biocompatible dental and surgical devices. In fact, the material that’s used to create dental implants is also used in everyday medical procedures like joint replacements and reconstructive surgeries. Why? Because your body is naturally attracted to it!
Today’s modern dental implant designs are the closest thing out there to having natural teeth all over again. If you’ve lost your smile and think that dentures are your only option, think again. All-on-4 dental implants offer you an opportunity to have a fixed device that you never take in and out of your mouth like you would with full dentures.
What are All-on-4 Implants?
All-on-4 implants are a fixed set of teeth that eliminate the need to wear a removable denture. They’re a modern dental implant design that uses a limited number of implants (in this case, usually four) to permanently anchor and support a streamlined, hybrid prosthesis across your bite. The “teeth” in this instance, only follow the natural curvature of your bite; there aren’t any bulky plates that rest against the roof of your mouth. It affixes directly to the dental implants underneath, which act as artificial tooth roots.
Depending on who you ask, you might hear some people call All-on-4 implants by other names, such as Arch on Four, Hybrid Implants, an implant-supported bridge, Arch on Six, or All-on-6. Since some people need more than four implants, an All-on-4 can sometimes become All-on-6, depending on your unique circumstances.
One of the biggest perks is that you don’t take All-on-4 implants out at night like dentures, so there are no embarrassing situations to worry about or the fear that something is going to slip out of your mouth when you’re eating dinner. All-on-4 is truly the next best thing to having all of your natural teeth again.
The All-on-4 Process
Every All-on-4 implants case starts with a one-on-one consultation with one of our smile reconstruction specialists. During this visit, we’ll discuss what you want your smile design to look like. It might be that you’ve been dreaming about your teeth looking a certain way for your entire life. Or maybe you just want to restore the smile that you used to have, but lost because of a chronic medical condition that caused your teeth to deteriorate. Whatever the reason behind it, we’ll help to bring your smile back to what you want it to be.
From there, we’ll design everything from scratch. The shape of every tooth, the contour of each one, and the color of your smile overall. Since All-on-4 implants replace all of your teeth in one arch, we can make them look however you want them to; they don’t have to be matched to any adjacent, existing teeth. You’ll have a hand in every decision that’s made until you’re thrilled with the proposed smile design.
What’s next? Getting your new smile. You’ll come back to our office, take a nap, then wake up with completely brand new teeth. From the moment you’re able to smile in the mirror, you’ll experience a huge boost in confidence and your self-esteem. You’ll have brand new teeth in just one day.
For the first few months, you’ll want to stick to a soft diet as your dental implants integrate. That means the bone is re-forming around the implant surfaces, gradually fusing to them and making them one with your mouth. After full integration occurs, we’ll replace your temporary healing teeth with the permanent zirconia version.
Materials Selected for All-on-4 Implants
There are different types of materials that All-on-4 implants can be made out of. Most are either acrylic or zirconia. Acrylic is usually what we use for temporary healing teeth, which is what you go home with on the date of your All-on-4 installation. It’s the same type of material that you see with conventional dentures.
And then there’s zirconia. Zirconia offers the highest level of quality and longevity when it comes to restoring missing teeth. It’s a hard, dense material that’s durable enough to eat just about any food, but also promises the highest level of aesthetics.
The one downside about zirconia—if you want to call it that—is that you have to find an implant specialist and lab who offers it. Because it’s such a hard material, some dentists are unable to easily work with it or find a lab that will. So, you’ll want to partner with an All-on-4 specialist who has already gone through “all of the issues” and knows how to work with and adapt zirconia on an everyday basis for their patients. You don’t want someone who just quickly places a set of teeth on your implants at the cost of durability. After all, these are the permanent teeth you’re going to live, eat, and smile with in the years ahead.
ARCHPOINT uses zirconia on most of our All-on-4 implant treatments as the final set of teeth (after your temporary healing prosthesis.) We design everything in-house and work closely with our lab to provide high-quality denture alternatives that make it feel like you have a natural smile all over again. Zirconia provides the best investment and is going to last when you need it to. It’s a material we use each and every day.
Implant Alternative to Dentures
Dentures have to be taken out at night so that your gums can breathe. They sit on the counter or your bedside table, or rock and slip whenever you eat. They’re also less durable than other types of restorations, which makes them difficult to eat with.
On the other hand, All-on-4 implants provide you with a custom smile that starts with a blank canvas. You can choose natural characteristics and be in complete charge of the way your smile will look. Then you simply go to sleep and wake up to a completely transformed set of teeth that never have to come out of your mouth. To say the process is life changing is a bit of an understatement!
Get a Brand New Smile
All-on-4 implants replace your teeth in one day as you wear a healing process for a few months, then have a new set of teeth crafted from durable, high-quality zirconia. You can eat whatever you want, smile wherever you want, and never have to take out a pair of dentures.
Call ARCHPOINT today to find out if All-on-4 implants are right for you! Free consultations are available.
