Missing one tooth can be upsetting. But missing an entire arch — either all your upper teeth or all your lower teeth — can alter the way you look, the way you eat, and the way you feel about yourself. A surprising 40 million Americans are missing all their teeth — upper and lower. That includes about a third of adults 65 years of age and older.
For years, dentures were the only solution for missing upper or lower teeth. But today, there’s a more comfortable, more natural-feeling solution called a full-arch restoration that combines the benefits of a full denture with the security and comfort of dental implants.
Brandon Kang, DDS, offers state-of-the-art full-arch restorations to help his patients at Pacific Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery Center in Oakland and San Francisco, California, enjoy better oral health and greater self-confidence. Here’s how to tell if you’re a candidate for a full-arch restoration.
Unlike traditional dentures that rest on top of your gums, full-arch restorations use dental implants to secure a full denture to your jaws. Each implant is placed in your jaw where it fuses with your natural jawbone, forming a very strong attachment for the denture.
The restoration denture attaches permanently to the implants, so you don’t need to worry about slippage, sore spots, discomfort, or infections due to a poor fit.
Many patients can have full-arch restorations with as few as four implants. Once the restoration is in place, you can maintain it with regular brushing and twice-a-year dental visits — just like you’d care for your own natural teeth.
Restoring even a single missing tooth is very important for your oral health and overall health. When you’re missing an entire row of your teeth, it can cause health problems as well as change the contours of your face and interfere with the way the function of your jaw, making you feel a lot more self-conscious about your appearance and even your speech.
A full-arch restoration can be a great solution for just about any patient who’s missing all or most of their upper or lower teeth. That includes people who’ve lost their teeth due to:
Full-arch restorations aren’t just for people who’ve recently lost their teeth. Many people who already wear full dentures also opt to move to full-arch restorations. That’s because a full-arch restoration offers a more comfortable, more secure, more natural-feeling alternative to their own dentures.
The primary requirement for full-arch candidates is having jawbones that are strong enough to support the dental implants used to attach the denture. Natural teeth play an important role in the jawbone growth and replacement cycle. If your teeth have been missing for a while, your jawbones may have thinned over time.
If your jawbones are too thin to support implants, not to worry: Dr. Kang can use bone grafting to build up your jawbones so they’re strong enough to support the implants and your full-arch restoration.
Don’t let missing teeth ruin your self-confidence. Dr. Kang offers both full-arch restorations and individual implants to help his patients restore their beautiful, healthy smiles. To learn more about full-arch restorations, schedule your consultation with Dr. Kang today by calling our office most convenient to you or requesting an appointment online.
