Many patients ask this question as to whether it’s best to do a mouth full of single implants and dental bridges or an All on 4.  Lets explain an implant bridge first.  We’re going to take some teeth out and place dental implants and do some bridges over the implants  

Primary advantage:  

-It has less bulk on the tongue side of the upper and lower jaws.

Primary disadvantage:  

-It’s costly and time-consuming.  You will most likely spend 40-60k per arch.  

-You will need to do a lot of bone grafting and maybe even gum grafting to get the optimal bone and gum levels.  

-This is not good for people who have been missing teeth for a while and lost bone as a result, or for people with really broken down teeth.  The reason it’s not good for people with really broken down teeth is that there will most likely be some damage to the bone and gums during the extraction process if the teeth are extremely compromised.

-Accurate placement of dental implants is very important.

Also, because we have to be very careful with how the procedure is done, we have to wait for all the healing periods so we’re probably going to go through an 8-10 month process of not having teeth, wearing temporaries, flippers, etc.

The bottom line We’re not saying it’s a bad thing.  Just make sure you don’t have a high smile line because the crowns may not look natural where they meet your gums.  Symmetry and natural proportions will be very hard to make natural.

As you can see in this example, this patient had many implants and implant bridges.  Not only was this very costly and time-consuming, but it’s very difficult to control the esthetics when there are too many implants right next to each other.

Conversely, All on 4 is always another option.

Primary advantage:  Way faster, way cheaper.  It can be ½ to 1/3 of the cost of dental implant bridges.

Primary disadvantage.  It does have some more bulk that your tongue may feel.

If you lose an implant it can compromise your prosthesis if it’s a hybrid or zirconia. Crystal ultra nanoceramic doesn’t have that issue. 

As you can see in this example, we were able to fix a patient’s esthetics quickly and easily with an All on 4 procedure.  

Also, in the event an implant is lost, it could be more expensive for the bridges. You’d have to get new bridges and abutments and wait a significant period of time for healing to occur before you would have your teeth again.

If you lose an implant on all on 4, it could be expensive because you need an entire new prosthesis.  If you use a nanoceramic you could use your current prosthesis.