Gaps in your smile can reduce your confidence, social opportunities, and can have negative effects on other’s perception of you. Apart from that a missing tooth can cause tooth shifting, underlying bone and gum loss and structural collapse of your face. This is obvious when our face is full of wrinkles, a sagged appearance and premature aging. Dentists usually recommend All-on-4 Dental implants for patients who have no teeth left or a few teeth that cannot be salvageable. But there are other three instances where All-on-4 Dental implant may not be required. Let us see these three scenarios.
Scenario 1
In this type, the patient suffers from multiple tooth loss. It should be noted that the multiple teeth that are lost need not be adjacent to each other. The multiple teeth that have been lost can occur in different locations in the upper or lower jaw or both. This type of multiple tooth loss can be addressed by using individual dental implants for each place to replace the lost teeth. The advantage that dental implants have over other tooth replacement options is that it will look and have functions like an actual tooth without affecting the health of the neighboring teeth. A tooth-supported dental bridge can be used to restore the lost tooth but the dental implant option is always superior and they help in preserving the underlying bone better.
Scenario 2
If you are missing a number of adjacent teeth, they can be replaced by implant-supported bridges. Implant-supported bridges eliminate the need to use individual implants for 3 or more missing teeth in a row. Implant-supported bridges are cheaper than individual implants and they preserve the underlying bone better than tooth-supported dental bridges. Apart from this, the implant-supported bridges have the added benefit of superior aesthetics when compared to individual implants. The process of an implant-supported bridge is very similar to a tooth-supported bridge with two-implant fixtures supporting the implant rather than the existing tooth.
Scenario 3
In this type, a person may be suffering from both of the above-mentioned types of multiple tooth loss at the same time. This can possibly occur in the event of oral trauma. This type of situation is dealt with by combining individual implants and implant-supported bridges to replace the lost teeth. Although individual implants can be used to replace all the teeth (even the adjacent gaps), the cost to do so is very high. Implant-supported bridges can be easily used to replace 3-4 adjacent teeth with just two implant fixtures.