Am I A Candidate for All-on-6 Dental Implants?

Chances are, sometime during your lifetime, you will lose a permanent tooth. Maybe you knock out a tooth during an accident, or perhaps severe tooth decay or infection causes irreparable damage that a root canal can’t fix. So now what?

If you’re only replacing one tooth, traditional dental bridges are typically the way to go. But what happens if you need to replace several teeth? Don’t panic, says Dr. Marcano at Orlando Center for Cosmetic Dentistry. 

An estimated 36 million Americans are missing all of their teeth. As astounding as that may sound, the good news is that over the years, as the number of Americans experiencing missing teeth has grown, so has the number of tooth replacement options. In this blog, Dr. Marcano shares his insights on a game-changing treatment option called All-on-6® dental implants, which taps into all the benefits of conventional dental implants while addressing the key perceived downside of dental implants – the treatment timeline.

All-on-6® dental implants explained

Let’s start this discussion by doing a quick primer on dental implants so that you can better understand the nuances of All-on-6®. With conventional dental implants, your dentist makes a one-to-one placement – surgically placing a titanium post in your jawbone for every missing tooth. Then comes the waiting game. In the course of the next several weeks or months, your body’s natural healing process kicks in. During this time, the implants fuse to your jawbone to provide a solid, strong foundation in a process called osseointegration.  

Once the implants properly fuse to your jawbone, your provider completes the treatment plan by creating and installing a crown to top each post that will become your artificial tooth. Depending on the number of teeth that need to be replaced, your treatment plan with traditional dental implants could last six months to about a year. 

Replaces a full arch of teeth

Like with conventional dental implants, steps like installing titanium posts and osseointegration are part of the All-on-6 dental implant treatment plan, but that’s where the similarities end.

With All-on-6 dental implants, Dr. Marcano replaces a full arch of missing teeth by installing only six instead of up to eight implants that the conventional dental implant process typically requires. He places four implants at the front of your jaw and two at the back. The implants placed in the back of the jaw are positioned at an angle to provide maximum stability.  

Here at Orlando Center for Cosmetic Dentistry, in addition to All-on-6, we offer our patients another similar option for replacing a full arch of teeth called All-on-4® dental implants. As its name implies, with All-on-4, the main difference is the number of posts used. If you only need to replace one tooth, we even have a one-and-done single appointment replacement option called Ultratooth®.

Quickens recovery time

With All-on-6, less surgically placed posts mean fewer incisions, which ultimately translates into quicker recovery time. Once your mouth heals, you’ll return for your second appointment, where Dr. Marcano takes digital impressions so that the dental laboratory can fabricate your implant-supported dentures. When your prosthetic returns from the lab, you’ll return for your final appointment, where Dr. Marcano attaches your implant-supported dentures to the posts.  

Expedites treatment schedule

Similarly, a quicker recovery means an expedited treatment schedule. Face it, once you finally commit to replacing missing teeth, the last thing you want to do is wait. You just want to get back to eating all your favorite foods again and not be embarrassed to smile. As if replacing missing teeth quicker isn’t enough, what’s even better is that most patients who are missing most or all of their teeth but who have good overall medical health and oral health may be ideal candidates for All-on-6 dental implants even if they suffer from low jawbone density.

If you are missing teeth and would like to learn more about All-on-6 implants and our other teeth replacement options, request a consultation at Orlando Center For Cosmetic Dentistry. Schedule an appointment by clicking the online booking tool or calling the office today at 407-855-1471.