In this answer
Where this treatment came from
Full-arch implants were first designed for people who had already lost all their teeth.
Many of those people didn't have much bone left, so regular implants weren't an option. The answer was to place a few implants where good bone remained, angle them to reach it, and hold a full set of teeth on those few anchors instead of one implant per tooth.
Everyone expected denture wearers to sign up right away. Most didn't, and the reason is worth knowing if you're deciding.
Why denture wearers often wait
A denture can be like a shoe that doesn't fit. It pinches while you eat, talk and sit with friends, and you can't kick it off when it hurts.
Over time, people adapt. They learn which foods work and how to angle a bite. The plate starts to feel normal because they've become good at living with it.
Then surgery feels like a big step away from something familiar. So the people with the most to gain often wait the longest. People who still have failing teeth tend to decide faster than people who lost theirs years ago.
That's completely understandable. If you've worn a denture for ten years and feel unsure about this, you're not being stubborn. You already solved this problem once.
Chewing, measured against natural teeth
After 40 chews (natural teeth = 100)
After 20 chews (natural teeth = 100)
People get very good at living with a denture. On this chewing test, though, the fixed lower teeth did about twice the work of a denture.
Chewing was measured with a standard test food, not real meals. The fixed teeth were lower-jaw implant bridges only. The study summary does not say how many people were tested.
- Mendonca DB, Prado MM, Mendes FA, Borges Tde F, Mendonça G, do Prado CJ, Neves FD. Comparison of masticatory function between subjects with three types of dentition. Int J Prosthodont. 2009;22(4):399-404. PMID 19639080.
A good denture is hard to make
We have a lot of respect for a good denture.
Making one that fits well, holds suction and suits a person's face is one of the hardest skills in dentistry, done mostly by hand and by feel. In training, our doctor watched a man who'd spent his whole career making dentures. Work that took a student two hours, and came out poor, took him about six minutes and came out excellent.
Fewer practices do enough of this work to build that skill now. So if your denture fits well, that's worth a lot. And if yours never has, the problem may have been how it was made rather than dentures in general.
What changes day to day
What people talk about most isn't the look. It's not having to manage their teeth anymore.
A denture means little decisions all day. What can I eat in front of people? Do I need adhesive today? Will it hold through dinner? Do I take it out at night?
Fixed teeth take all of that away. You clean them in your mouth, they don't move when you bite, and you never take them out. We take them out once a year at your checkup.
Uppers bring a special bonus. An upper denture has to cover the roof of your mouth to stay in, and that's where a lot of your taste and sense of temperature lives. Fixed upper teeth leave the roof of your mouth open. People often tell us food tastes like food again, and they're surprised how much that means to them.
I do not wake up every morning thinking I have fake plastic dentures in my mouth.
When staying as you are makes sense
This is surgery, it's a real investment, and once your teeth are out and the implants are in, there's no going back.
If your denture is comfortable, you eat what you like, you aren't avoiding anything, and the cost would be a strain, staying where you are is a perfectly good choice. Nobody here will push you.
The question to ask yourself is whether you're working around your teeth every day, and what that's costing you.
What the reveal videos don't show
The reveal videos are real. Seeing someone with teeth again for the first time is a wonderful moment, and it's why many of us do this work.
What they don't show is what often came next with older methods. Months in temporary teeth, visit after visit to adjust something that wouldn't settle, and a long, tiring stretch for everyone. The result was usually good. Getting there often wasn't.
Most of the improvements in this treatment came from fixing that middle stretch. When you compare practices, ask what happens between surgery and your final teeth. That's where they differ most.
Quick answers
I've worn a denture for years and I manage. Is it worth switching now?
For some people, no. If your upper denture is comfortable and steady and the cost matters to you, staying put is a fine choice. Switching tends to mean the most to people still fighting a lower denture, or who avoid certain foods or situations because of it.
Is a lower denture really that much worse than an upper?
Usually, yes. An upper denture covers the roof of your mouth, which gives it suction. A lower one has nothing to grip. It sits on a ridge with your tongue underneath. Many people do fine with an upper and never get used to a lower.
Can I try a denture first and switch later?
Yes, and lots of people do. Wearing a denture first doesn't rule you out or make treatment harder by itself. What matters is what's happened to the bone in the meantime, and the scan shows us that.
Do implant teeth ever come out?
Not by you. We take them out once a year to clean and check them, then put them straight back. The rest of the time they stay put.
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Can I do just one arch? And should it be the top or the bottom?
Yes, and lots of people do. If cost is the reason, the upper usually makes the bigger difference, because it's the one people see. There's one important exception. If you already wear dentures top and bottom, the lower is often the better place to start, because a lower denture moves around and an upper one stays put. And if the gap between arches will be years rather than months, that changes the advice again.
Answered by Dr. Daniel R. Noorthoek
Read the full answerWhy does insurance treat teeth as cosmetic, and is dental insurance a scam?
No, dental insurance isn't a scam. It's built differently from medical insurance because almost everyone uses their dental benefits every year, so the coverage has a yearly cap. As for "cosmetic," the thinking goes that a denture lets you eat, so anything fixed counts as a preference. That holds up on paper. We think it's wrong in real life.
Answered by Dr. Daniel R. Noorthoek
Read the full answerWhat can I eat after full-arch implants? How long is the soft diet?
Soft food for ninety days, starting the day after surgery. The rule is anything softer than a hot dog, or anything you could cut with the edge of a plastic fork. That covers far more than people expect. It's not three months of soup. We also don't want you on liquids. Chewing a little helps your jaw relearn, and it tells us what needs changing while there's still time.
Answered by Dr. Daniel R. Noorthoek
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