You may call it Houston Dental Implants or NoDentures, it’s all the same. But now it is
popularly known as the Houston Dental Implants Office, which is the standard of

care for missing teeth. Unfortunately Dental Implants in Houston come in many

different styles and when they have been placed by a different Houston DentalImplant Surgeon determining the type of implant we are working with can be a challenge.

The Description Of The Houston Dental Implant Case

Tuesday I saw a lady with natural upper teeth and an implant bar supported over denture on the lower. Two Dental Implant doctors from Houston, a surgeon and a prosthodontist had placed the implants and made the first set of teeth about 20 years ago. The bar had never been removed but the teeth had been remade 4 times.

Description Of The Implantation Done By Another Houston Dental Implant Surgeon

This nice lady came to me because the bar was moving. To make this more understandable imagine a mouth with no teeth on the lower. Then imagine that four roots [dental implants] are placed in that jaw. You almost can’t see them, they are just roots that come evenly to the top of the gums. In the top of each dental implant is a small threaded hole that a screw can be placed into. The jaw is U shaped like a horse shoe and the dental implants are spaced out in it. An old method of using these dental implants to support teeth was to build a U shaped bar about 3/16 th of an inch wide and thick that could be screwed over the four implants.

This had the effect of tying all of the implants together for strength and providing a solid base for the new teeth to rest on so they could be kept off of the “gums”. This is called a bar supported overdenture and prior to the All on 4, teeth in a day procedure, I used it frequently. As the non-removable nature of the All on 4 procedure as well as the teeth in a day

feature is so favored by patients given the option I rarely provide bar supported overdentures anymore.

However, it is not unusual for me to work with them as many of my patients as well as those of other Houston Dental Implant dentist still have them. The bar in this case was loose because two of the screws holding it onto the dental implants were broken and the remaining two were no longer tight. The bar was beautifully crafted and the implants were healthy so the trick was to find out what kind of implants they were. The Houston Dental Implant surgeon who placed them was retired as was the prosthodontist who made the original teeth.

How did we resolve the issue at our Houston dental implant office?

We searched our internet options for identification but came up empty. We e-mailed x-rays to Nobel Biocare and again came up empty. Finally with the help of a company who provided parts for dental implants that are no longer in production we were able to determine the type of dental implant we were dealing with and secure 8 new screws [four for now, four for the future] to reattach the bar. The existing teeth were still esthetically pleasing and functional so no further care was required. This is a prime example of the value of experience.

Without the resources to find these screws this patient would have required the removal of 4 implants, bone grafting, months of healing, the placement of new implants and the fabrication of a new set of teeth. As is she had four new screws placed and was good as new in about an hour including the time for her examination, consultation, and cat scan visit. Sometimes the simplest solutions can be the most rewarding to me.

Probably she was satisfied with the service provided at the Houston Dental Implant office.