My husband is in need of dental implants. We went to see a dentist who said the option for us is all-on-four dental implants. It’s pretty pricey. I was wondering what cases would make it the only option? Should we seek a second opinion?
Katarina
Dear Katarina,
All-on-4 Dental Implants
I’m going to say right off the bat to get a second opinion. I am always leary of dentists who imply you only have one option. That is rarely the case. In fact, he is ethically bound to give you all of your options. I haven’t examined your husband, but I will tell you about some other possibilities that come to mind right away.
First, all-on-4 is designed to help people still get dental implants when they have bone loss by angling the implants a certain way. One of the problems with this method is that if one part of it fails, you cannot just replace that dental implant. The entire procedure has to be redone.
If your husband does have bone loss, another option is to have a bone grafting procedure done. Then, you can have implant overdentures, which may be the better option for him. If he doesn’t have any bone loss then both all-on-four and bone grafting are completely unnecessary and he can go straight to implant-supported dentures.
If cost is an issue there are other options as well such as snap-on dentures or mini implants. My point is, you are probably not limited by one procedure. There are lots of options here and I don’t like that he was not given any of them except one.
Look for an experienced implant dentist to get a second opinion. When you do that, make sure it is a blind second opinion. By that, I mean don’t tell him the recommendation your first dentist gave, nor the name of your first dentist. The dental world is a small world and they may be friends. If he asks, just tell him you’d like his unbiased opinion. He or she should not have a problem with that.
This blog is brought to you by Lexington, KY Cosmetic Dentist Dr. Fred Arnold.