Hello friends, today let's talk a little about implant-supported prostheses.
What are these implant-supported prostheses? "I had an implant placed, isn't it made of a single piece? If it is not made of a single piece, how many pieces does it consist of and what are they?" Let's talk a little about these. Implant-supported prostheses are artificial teeth placed on top of implants, made of titanium or zirconium, that is, the screws in the jawbone, made to replace missing teeth. These implant-supported prostheses can be made fixed or removable.
Fixed Implant-Supported Prostheses
Fixed implant-supported prostheses can be a single crown in the case of a single missing tooth, or we can make them as a bridge in the case of more than one missing tooth. Or one of the best technologies of recent times, the "All on Four" or "All on Six" structures.
Single-tooth crowns: These are single crown structures placed on a single implant. They can generally be zirconium or metal-supported porcelain, and depending on the case they can also be monolithic zirconium. The way they are attached (which applies to all fixed prostheses) is described as screw-retained systems or cemented systems.
Bridge-type prostheses: In the case of more than one missing tooth, we place the implants at intervals, create structures we call pontics in between and design our prosthesis on top as a bridge. It can again be attached as a screw-retained system or it can be cemented.
All on Four / All on Six: We place the implants within certain rules, in certain designs. It comes into play when we cannot obtain the number of implants needed by placing them at certain angles. That is, normally in completely edentulous patients we recommend 8 implants in the upper jaw and 6 in the lower jaw; however, sometimes the bone is not enough for this and we need to reduce the number of implants. Here the "All on Six" or "All on Four" systems come into play. We place the implants according to a certain design and make special prostheses on top, again prostheses we place on a titanium bar. These can again be screw-retained or cemented systems.
Removable Implant-Supported Prostheses
These are called snap-on prostheses in everyday language, and their medical name is bar-retained (overdenture) prostheses. So what are they? If the jawbone is not sufficient and we cannot place enough implants, we place 2 to 4 implants and on top we place structures that include the pink aesthetics (that is, the tissues imitating the gums, supporting the cheek and tongue tissues, and the teeth as well). This prosthesis clicks onto the implants. The patient can easily remove it whenever they want, clean it and use it again.
The difference of these implant-supported prostheses from normal removable, take-out prostheses is this: They do not move. Because they take support from the implant underneath and are fixed. Both when there is insufficient bone and when we do not want the prosthesis to move, we take support from the implants underneath and place these "overdenture" prostheses on top. Thanks to these fixed and removable implant-supported prostheses, we give the patient back the function they lost, the way they want.
When Are Implant-Supported Prostheses Made?
First we place the implant in the jawbone. We wait for the implant and the jawbone to fuse together; this is called osseointegration. Then, which differs for each implant brand, we wait 2 to 4 months. When the process is complete, we uncover the top of the implant, attach our healing caps, take impressions as if there were teeth in the mouth in the classic way, and make our implant-supported prostheses.
Periodontology Specialist Dt. Nergiz Hamamcı
Özel Klinik 99 Oral and Dental Health Polyclinic
0540 640 6006
Güvenlik Cd. No:99 A-B