At one time, not so long ago, if you lost all of your teeth, dentures were your only option. Dentures are OK for many people, but sometimes it can be difficult to keep them in place while eating or talking, and they eventually need to be adjusted or replaced.
At Bucktown Wicker Park Dental, our excellent providers offer another option for replacing a full set of teeth, and that is All-on-4®️ implants. If you’re evaluating your options for replacing missing teeth, we encourage you to consider this approach.
There’s more to a tooth than meets the eye. The part of each tooth that you can see is called the crown; the part you can’t see, what’s beneath your gumline, is called the root. The root of each tooth anchors it to your jawbone. Each time you chew, pressure from the root stimulates tissue growth in your jawbone, which keeps your bone tissue strong and your teeth firmly in place.
When you lose even one or two teeth, there can be a cascade of consequences. Your remaining teeth can shift and your gums may recede. Without the tooth roots stimulating the bone tissue, your jawbone can shrink, causing your face to lose its natural shape. Missing teeth also contributes to gum disease and other oral health problems.
While dentures help you feel better about how you look and give you some normal functionality after you’ve lost your teeth, these removable appliances don’t preserve your jawbone. Plus, dentures can slip, and adhesives that provide stability can get messy.
A dental implant mimics your natural tooth because it has both a crown and an artificial root that is surgically embedded into your jawbone. If you have one or two missing teeth, a dental implant in place of each tooth can restore your smile’s look and function.
However, if you have many missing teeth, replacing each one with an implant can take a long time and be quite expensive. All-on-4 dental implants, which can replace an entire upper or lower arch of teeth with just four artificial roots — the metal implants — gives you another option.
We want you to be comfortable throughout your procedure, so you can expect anesthesia. After that, we make an incision in your gums, then we place four titanium posts in your jawbone on an angle to support a full arch of new teeth. After that, we close the incision with stitches. This process takes about 2½ hours per arch.
In a few months, your jawbone grows around the titanium roots, anchoring them in place. When the roots are secure, a replacement arch of teeth is secured to the implants, restoring your smile with all of the functionality of your natural teeth.
All-on-4 dental implants create a stable foundation for your dentures and have the following benefits:
If you’d like to learn more about this option for replacing a full set of lost teeth, schedule an appointment at Bucktown Wicker Park Dental. Call us at 773-252-2303. We’re happy to answer your questions and evaluate your situation to determine whether you’re a candidate for All-on-4 implants.
