Your question is very genuine and the answer depends upon several patient specific factors. Patient specific factors are conditions very specific to your mouth and your medical history. But the simplified answer to your question is when your current teeth do not serve you to chew or smile anymore, then you should look into a stable implant retained new set of teeth.

I do quite bit of consultations for All ON 4 on a daily basis and I can share with you the mouth conditions that I frequently encounter:

• Denture patients who cannot tolerate dentures
• Denture patient who likes to have stable teeth
• Teeth that already had a lot of work but still have teeth cracking, infection and pain
• Missing back teeth and you are unable to chew
• Some front teeth are missing and back teeth are cracking and broken down and cannot chew with it
• Widespread decay, periodontal infection and loose teeth    
• Multiple failed root canal treatments, cracked roots, decayed teeth requiring extraction and replacement
• TMJ pain from missing back teeth and and bad bite condition

 

 

Whatever condition your mouth is in, a good starting point is a consultation with a doctor who has training in reconstruction of teeth (prosthodontists) and who can do surgery as well. This way everything can be managed under one roof by the same doctor. All On 4 hybrid prosthesis can be made very natural looking and it serves well when it comes to chewing, but in reality it is still an artificial set of teeth that requires the patient has to get used to and thus transitioning patient to new teeth is key to treatment success. The implant placement surgery should be done meticulously based on your future teeth positions. I am a prosthodontist with surgical training and I plan implant positions and angulations for optimal new teeth positions to reconstruct patients mouth ahead of time. Areas that need bone grafting are identified from bone scans ahead of time and it is done during the surgery. I follow a safe & precise  implant placement protocol with surgical guides which only a few surgeons use to avoid implant placement errors during the surgical procedure.

If done correctly this should be a one time surgery for a patients who walks into any doctors office with high  expectations about their new teeth and who goes through surgery and teeth construction process patiently which takes couple of months to finish. I make sure all the planning and surgical steps are followed so that implants last a lifetime for these patients. I take pride in constructing a smile that enhances patients facial beauty. Patients have the freedom to participate in tooth color and shape selection and end result can be life changing for them. Please check below so you can identify one of the mouth conditions that I treated that looks close to your current teeth situation. Now with implants you don’t have to go through the “dreaded dentures” that our grandmothers had gone through.

copyright: Dr. Devi