What happens if I have lost all my teeth?

When people have lost all their pearly whites they become what in Dentistry we call an “edentulous patient“. Edentulous comes from the Latin edentulus, which means missing or absent teeth. You will hear dentists talk about this because there is a large percent of the population over 60 years old that have lost every single tooth on their mouths. You will also hear the term “partially edentulous“, obviously meaning you still have some teeth left in your mouth.

In any case, loosing your teeth can have grave repercussions to your health and lifestyle. Even the loss of one single tooth can change the way you bite and chew, also allowing the neighboring teeth to shift from their positions. The most important effect that you should look out is the loss of bone volume. When you have lost all your teeth, the bone of the gums doesn’t get stimulation and this results on an effect called resorption. Just like a muscle that looses volume if you don’t exercise, the bone starts getting thinner. This is why is important that people who have lost a significant number of dental pieces get them replaced as soon as possible with dental implants.

For people who have already lost every tooth, All-on-4 is one of the best solutions available for them. All-on-4 is perfect for patients with little bone left and has the advantage over other implant techniques like All-on-6 because it has “immediate load“. Immidiate load means that after placing the implants, you can get them rehabilitated right away with a titanium bar with teeth. Regular implants and All-on-6 require at least a few months for osseointegration so the bone gets bonded to the implants, but because All-on-4 uses engineering principles to stay in place, you will have new teeth in only 10 days.

The technique has one of the highest success rates over five years for full mouth restoration techniques. This is why you should get in touch with our dental planners right away to check on your case.