How Does All-on-4 Differ From Conventional Dental Implants?

All-on-4® implants can be a great tooth replacement option if you have lost all of your natural teeth or are missing most of them. Traditional implants are mostly used to replace single teeth or to hold onto restorations like dental bridges. It would take up to ten implants for an entire dental arch of teeth to be held by traditional dental implants, but all-on-four only requires four to six implants.

This saves patients a considerable amount of money since implants are the most expensive tooth replacement option. All-on-4 allows patients to get the bone-preserving properties of implants without the need to replace each lost tooth with an implant.

Implants are artificial teeth roots, often made out of titanium, that are used to replace lost teeth roots. Restorations like crowns and dentures can be attached to them based on a patient’s specific needs.

All-on-4 vs. traditional dental implants

Replacing an entire dental arch with all-on-4 requires a periodontist to pinpoint the strongest areas in the jawbone to plant the implants. The implants are angled and placed in a specific manner, so they hold the patient’s new artificial teeth in place.

The process of restoring lost teeth is a lot quicker with all-on-4 compared to traditional implants. Getting conventional implants often requires patients to wait up to six months before getting their artificial teeth. With all-on-4, patients walk away from the clinic with their smile fully restored.

Some of the benefits all-on-4 has over traditional dental implants include:

• Only requires one surgical procedure: The patient’s implants and artificial teeth are placed during the same procedure with all-on-4. Traditional implants often require patients to wait up to six months for osteointegration to occur before artificial teeth are placed.
• Rarely requires bone grafts: The bulkiest areas of a patient’s jaw are selected for implant placement with all-on-4, so there is rarely a need for bone grafts. Bone grafts typically entail removing bone materials from one part of the jaw and using it to thicken bone tissues in other areas. Patients who opt for traditional implants are more likely to need the procedure.
• Shorter recovery period: Most patients recover from all-on-4 within a week, while it often takes about two weeks to recover from the placement of traditional implants. Both types of implants require patients to stick to liquid and soft foods while they heal.
• Saves money: All-on-4 costs substantially less than trying to replace an entire dental arch with single implants. It also saves money on unnecessary follow-up appointments while giving patients most of the benefits associated with implants.