Full mouth dental implants can restore your teeth and some of their roots if you have lost all of your teeth.

What are the advantages of full mouth dental implants over conventional dentures?

Compared to other options for replacing teeth, such as conventional dentures, full mouth dental implants have many benefits. They look and work like natural teeth, and they are made to last for a long time. They also offer more comfort and stability than conventional dentures, which means you can eat and chew more easily and enjoy foods that are hard to eat with conventional dentures.

Another great benefit is that full mouth dental implants are easy to maintain. Unlike conventional dentures, which need to be taken out and cleaned after every meal and soaked overnight, dental implants only need the same daily oral hygiene practices that are advised for natural teeth, such as brushing and flossing.

Furthermore, full mouth dental implants help preserve your bone health. When you have conventional dentures, the bone that used to surround your tooth roots will start to shrink. This will cause your jawbone to recede and your smile to look sunken and aged. On the other hand, dental implants fuse with your jawbone, which helps keep the bone strong and your smile natural.

How will the full mouth dental implants be placed?

There are three components to full mouth dental implants:

The implants are screw-like or cylindrical devices that are inserted into your jaw.
The prosthetic teeth are artificial teeth that resemble and work like healthy, natural teeth.
The abutments are devices that fit into the implants and enable the new teeth to attach to the implants.

The procedure usually starts with using a scalpel to cut and lift two pieces of gum tissue to show the jawbone below. (Sometimes, a small round opening may be enough to get to the jawbone without moving the gum tissue.) Then, a hole is drilled in the jawbone for each implant, and the implants are put in. This is done for all the implants. You might be able to wear temporary teeth over the implants while they heal. If not, a temporary cap will be put on each implant to keep its inside part away from the mouth. The gum tissue pieces are then trimmed, shaped and moved back over the jawbone and around the implant caps, and stitched together. The stitches will be taken out after about a week.

The next stage lasts from two to six months, during which the implants and the bone join together to make strong bases for your new teeth. After that, the implants are uncovered, the temporary caps (or teeth) are taken off, and the abutments are put on. You will have to wait for your gums to heal for a few weeks before the final step.

The last step is to attach the full bridges or full dentures that look like your natural teeth to the abutments. You will soon feel more confident in your smile and your ability to eat and talk normally.