Condition in which a patient has no teeth in one or in both jaws, or when all existing teeth have to be removed is called complete toothlessness. This condition can be reversed by complete implant treatment or by using implant anchored denture. Complete implant treatment will return more than 90% functionality and the natural feel compared to the time when the patient had all of his natural teeth, while implant anchored denture restores about 60%.
Number of dental implants needed for complete implant treatment are 6-8 in each jaw. Complete implant treatment requires more screws than implant anchored denture because part of the pressure on the dentures is passed onto the soft tissues. Along with the number of screws, complete implant treatment is also more complicated than implant anchored denture because of individual casting of every crown, which can have metal core or be metal-free. You can read more about the difference between various dental crowns in section “Types of dental crowns”.
The final factor to consider is the choice of implant itself. It is hard to give direct advice on what implant to choose, but our vast experience is leading us to advise against cheaper implants, as they can make lots of complications for the patient later on. We use only implants of high and
super-high quality, so you cannot choose a wrong implant, but still the most expensive ones are most perfected, including all of implant components: screw, abutment and crown. You can learn more about difference between implant types in FAQ section of this page.
Experience has shown that the first phase of complete implant treatment takes between 7 and 14 days. During the first day, all the sick teeth are extracted, and temporary denture is made. This denture is ready in about five days. During these first few days all the screws are introduced (in just one day). Seven days later the temporary denture is fixed and adjusted to make the patient as comfortable as possible. In second phase, after three months of rest, the need for successful implant integration, dental crowns are made, which brings the process to the end. You can read more about the particularities of implant treatment in section “Procedure of implant treatment”.
Premium brand implants, such as Nobel Biocare, Strauman, Astra, Ankylos and other are more expensive than others. Let us explain the difference in prices using the example of company Nobel Biocare. This company made huge contributions to dental implantology in the last 60 years, and we have been using their products as primary high-quality implants with most of our patients, for more than 20 years. Nobel Active dental implants are very different from every other system, as their screws are only screws strong enough to support the temporary denture the very day they are installed, so the patient will not spend a single day without teeth. The latest variants are especially designed for implantation into the bone of lower strength, which is often the case with the upper jawbone. Also, the whole implant-abutment-crown system is comprised of small parts, and only the premium brands products are known to make all the parts to fall into place as it was intended.
Good example of a brand which offers good quality and reasonable prices is Implant Direct. This company offer implants with which abutments come for free. It is our advice to avoid these abutments as they only work well in ideal conditions, but still, their products are generally very good and they offer excellent price/performance ratio.
If six screws are used to support implants in one jaw than the whole procedure must be done in one go, while with eight screws dentist can assemble all the parts separately, with much better precision. Further, if one of six screws is not integrated into the bone, a big problem will appear. Finally, the repair work, if needed, will be much simpler with eight screws. It is possible to successfully install implants in the whole jaw using only six screws, but patients must be warned such a decision will carry a certain amount of risk.
