This four-part article series provided a detailed description of the All-on-4® dental implant technique and how it can typically provide patients with new, non-removable teeth in just one day.

Welcome to the third installment of this four-part article series on the revolutionary dental implant technique that is, in most cases, able to give Manhattan residents beautiful new and non-removable teeth in just one day, in a single appointment. In our previous article installment, we explained what the All-on-4 is and how it works. We ended off by explaining that the strategic placement of dental implants is important as it:

1. Minimizes the number of implants necessary for full mouth reconstruction

2. Reduces the number of surgeries needed for implant placement (since fewer implants are needed)

3. Typically avoids the need for bone grafting surgery.

It is the combination of these features that makes it possible for the All-on-4 dental implant technique to be done in a single appointment. But what we first want to explain is why the avoided need for bone grafting represents such a leap forward in the field of fixed oral rehabilitation.

Tooth Loss, Jawbone Atrophy and Bone Grafting

In order to fully appreciate the capabilities of the All-on-Four, one needs to understand what happens to the jawbone when teeth are lost and how expensive, painful and lengthy the consequent damage is to repair. Through their functional use, the bones in our body are kept strong and healthy. Similar to how regular exercise maintains muscle bulk; the forces associated with eating are transferred via the roots of the teeth into the jawbone, keeping it healthy.

But when you lose your natural teeth and don’t have them replaced, the bone in the abandoned tooth socket area begins to shrink and waste away. Replacing teeth with removable dentures doesn’t help because dentures only replace the crowns of the missing teeth and not the roots that are essential for the functional stimulation of the underlying bone tissue.

This is precisely why Manhattan patients who have been without natural teeth for many years frequently don’t have enough bone volume to support dental implants and are therefore told that they aren’t candidates for traditional dental implant techniques. This is where the detailed treatment planning and the strategic placement and angulation of dental implants in the All-on-4 comes in.

Avoiding the Need for Bone Grafting

The surgeons who treat many Manhattan dental implant patients have found that with the right planning, enough support can be found for a fixed dental prosthesis, even in jaws that have lost a lot of their bulk to atrophy. This almost always enables these specialists to skip bone grafting – the surgery done to augment bone volume and encourage the growth of new, healthy hard tissue in the jaw. The benefits of this feat are:

1. Patients are saved tens of thousands of dollars (bone grafting isn’t cheap!)

2. They are saved the many months of recovery this procedure entails.

3. They are saved all the associated pain and discomfort of this highly invasive surgery.

But perhaps most importantly, skipping bone grafting in the journey to oral rehabilitation means that dental implant surgeons can almost always place a patient’s dental implants AND new, non-removable teeth on the same day: an unprecedented outcome of any dental procedure in history!

Stay Tuned for Part 4

Stay tuned for the final installment of this four-part article series in which we will discuss the key benefits of the All-on-Four dental implant protocol over and above traditional removable dentures.