All On 4 Plus® with Immediate Final Teeth™ has puzzled clinicians for over a decade. How can final teeth be produced in such a short timeframe? What happens if the gums shrink over time? What if the patient wants to make some changes? These kinds of questions are typical from clinicians who either don’t have the knowledge or don’t have access to the necessary systems and resources that are unique to All On 4 Plus® Centres. Below are some of the myths that are out there.
Myth 1:
The gums shrink after dental implants surgery.
It is true that recession of the gums can occur following the extraction of teeth due to atrophy or resorption of the underlying jawbone. The bone that is most susceptible to atrophy is that bone that immediately surrounds the teeth and residual sharp or uneven parts of the bone that remain following extraction of teeth.
However, when undertaking dental implants surgery using appropriate techniques the surgeon has an opportunity to control the gum line by flattening the bits of bone that are most susceptible to atrophy and also using special procedures to improve the quality and stability of the gum tissues. Additionally, creating a smooth flat interface, such as when fitting final teeth, reduces inflammation and establishes a favourable environment for the gums to heal in close adaptation to the fitting surface of the bridge.
Using these methods as part of the All on 4 Plus® system reduces or completely eliminates post-operative shrinking of the gums. In the rare cases where some recession still happens to occur, this can be dealt with simply and painlessly with a relining procedure of the Immediate Final TeethTM at no additional cost within the first 2 years.
Unlike All On 4 Plus® with Immediate Final TeethTM the older style Denture Conversion method using temporary teeth creates an unfavourable environment for the healing of the gums because of the roughness and bulkiness that is inherent to that method, which traps food and plaque resulting in inflammation and excessive shrinkage.
Myth 2:
It is not possible to make final teeth that look great for the long term when fitted immediately after surgery
It is difficult to believe that we can produce teeth that are final within such a short timeframe, but we developed the Immediate Final TeethTM system and have a track record of having treated many thousands of patients with outstanding success. Patients who we use in our advertising typically wear the original teeth that were fitted immediately after surgery.
The process involved in making a final bridge within 24 hours from surgery is highly sophisticated and requires special techniques, equipment, and facilities, as described earlier. Without access to these sorts of things making a final bridge immediately after surgery would not be possible.
Other than the smile looking great, what lays beneath are the tissues around the dental implants, which also have the best chance to become and remain healthy because of meticulous surgical control at surgery using the All On 4 Plus® system and the favourable conditions created by the smooth interface of the final bridge. In other words, making it look good on the outside gives it all the best chance to also look good on the inside.
Myth 3:
There is too much swelling after surgery and impossible to determine the aesthetics
This is inaccurate. Postoperative swelling varies between individuals and gradually increases over a period of 3-4 days. Typically swelling is not as yet present, certainly not to a great degree, within the first 4 hours from the surgery, and as such, there is a window of opportunity within that timeframe to try printed templates of the teeth in the mouth in order to fine-tune the aesthetics, which is covered at length in the earlier section “The Process”.