Dentures on dental implants
Dentures stabilized with implants, more precisely locators, imply the installation of between two and four dental implants per jaw and the placement of a dental prosthesis on implanted dental implants.
It is performed on patients who have lost all natural teeth in one or both jaws.
The loss of all teeth is not easy to bear and represents a real shock for patients. Without teeth, the function is reduced, nutrition is difficult, and speech becomes slurred. Most people today put a lot of emphasis on the aesthetic appearance, which is significantly changed due to toothlessness. In addition to not having teeth and a smile, the lower third of the face begins to deform, the tip of the nose and chin come closer, cheeks and lips collapse, giving the face the appearance of a much older person than it really is.
In the dental practice Cvjetković, we are acquainted with all the mentioned problems of our patients. That’s why we worked so that we could restore their smile and self-confidence. With the denture on the implants, we achieve great comfort during meals and speech, because it is completely stable on the bed and does not move. Patients start taking the food they are used to again.
The great advantage of dentures on implants is that they give excellent aesthetic results. There are almost no restrictions when it comes to aesthetics – not only do they balance the lower third of the face, fill in the lips and cheeks, but they also give a beautiful natural smile.
If the patient wishes, an individualized denture can be made, in which we copy the natural smile from the time before the loss of the tooth. With special materials and techniques, we model the gums so that the teeth look as if they grow out of them, so it is not visible that it is a prosthesis.
Differences between mobile denture and fixed bridge on implants
The key difference between a denture on dental implants and a fixed dental bridge is that the denture is less comfortable, but on the other hand it is more affordable and can be removed, which facilitates maintenance.
The prosthesis, unlike the bridge, covers most of the gums, i.e. it has borders and a size similar to standard total prostheses. However, it is very stable in the mouth, so patients quickly get used to it. Dentures on implants, although firmly attached, should be removed from the mouth after each meal, washed, and returned to the mouth. During the meal, one can expect occasional food decay, a slight shift in the implant work itself and a feeling that is not the same compared to natural teeth.
Patients who previously had plain dentures are generally more than happy with dentures on implants, but patients who had natural teeth until recently sometimes expect more from dentures.
The great advantage of a prosthesis on implants over a fixed bridge is that it does not require much bone and in most situations when the patient has lost his bone – it does not require bone augmentation. The procedure of implant placement and denture making is simple and relatively inexpensive.
Differences between dentures on implants and standard total dentures
What distinguishes a prosthesis on implants from an ordinary prosthesis is exceptional stability, especially in the lower jaw. Ordinary total dentures are significantly more unstable in the lower than in the upper jaw, and patients often struggle with the lower denture. It is difficult for them to chew, sometimes even to speak, because the prosthesis moves very easily even with the slightest movements of the lips and tongue. Fortunately, there is a solution for such problems as well, and that is making a denture or a fixed bridge on implants.
Making prostheses on implants
The procedure of making a prosthesis is relatively simple. The ideal number of dental implants for dentures on snaps is four on each jaw, but dentures with three implants per jaw are often made. The first phase of making a dental prosthesis on implants involves the installation of two to four dental implants, and then a rest period of about three months for the fusion of titanium screws with the jawbone. After that, the dental implants are opened, locators are placed on them, and matrices are inserted into the dental prosthesis, which will be attached to the implant locators as snaps. The new denture is mostly made after a few months from the installation of titanium implants, and in the meantime, the old denture is worn, which is softly padded. In certain cases, a new denture can be made before the implantation of dental titanium implants and can be used during the period when the dental implants adhere to the jawbone.
We have already mentioned that you do not have to worry about possible complications with dentures, because if the titanium implant does not integrate into the jawbone, the entire implant-prosthetic structure continues to hold on to the remaining three implants. There is a possibility to subsequently install a new implant and to hold the prosthesis again on 4 implants. Also, it is much easier to repair a denture if something happens to the denture itself than to repair a fixed cemented work. However, this ease of maintenance comes at the expense of comfort and functionality (compared to fixed operation).
It is important to note that the denture on the implants enables an easy transition from the prosthesis to the fixed implant prosthetic work, because more than half of the implants are already in place.