09/27/2010
Secure Mini Dental Implants ~ A System to solve most dental problems
Mini Dental Implants were originally used to Secure lower dentures….but they can be used for much more. This ACE of a system, I am glad to see, is now getting more acceptance for other treatment solutions in dentistry. From replacing a single missing tooth to replacing several missing teeth to a full arch of missing teeth with a fixed porcelain bridge.
Mini Dental Implants ranging in size from 1.8mm~2.0~2.3mm~2.5mm~up to 2.9mm. Anything over 3.0mm gets in my mind into the traditional dental implant range. Some people will state that 3.25mm is the cutoff for a conventional implant to secure a 2 piece abutment system.
To Secure a lower set of crowns on our next patient we used traditional dental implants to do the All on 5 concept.
Pre Implant Pan x-ray
Post Implant Pan x-ray with 5 dental implants in place that will Secure the lower fixed porcelain crowns
Clinical photo day of surgery…full flap was made to find both mental nerve bundles. The lower ridge had to be surgically made wider to accommodate a larger traditional size implant. You can see from the photo the level of surgical skill needed to due such surgery. It is quite different than placing a mini dental implant. It takes a very talented dentist to do this kind of surgery on a daily basis. I commend and compliment any dentist that takes the time to offer this kind of implant dentistry. Although I did this case and several more; I question myself each time….could I have offered a different solution that would not have required so much from my patient?
The mini dental implant solution to Secure a lower set of crowns would be 8-12 of them. With that much surface area the minis have the ability to absorb the force of chewing and can equally distribute that force over the entire lower jaw.
This case illustrates how we can Secure with Mini Dental Implants a lower set of Porcelain crowns. As you can see from x-ray there would have not been room for a larger traditional dental implant without additional surgery. That surgery would have been to flatten the ridge of bone or to lay a full flap similar to the prior picture and expand the bone. Both would increase the cost to the patient….in terms of $$and healing. I have done this same concept on the upper arch as well to replace a denture plate with fixed crowns.
To review, Mini Dental Implants do not replace the need for Conventional or Regular Dental Implants….they just offer the patient another choice in their dental treatment. Technology has made it possible to make a smaller implant out of the same dental alloy with the same surface coating as a larger implant at a reduced cost. With this we now as Dentists should offer our patients ALL the choices from doing nothing and letting millions of patients suffer with missing teeth, to traditional implants that have the longest track history of success to mini dental implants that have over 15 years of success.
Paresh B Patel DDS Secure Mini Dental Implants
Part II of the fixed hybrid bridge post. You can scroll down 1/2 into the web page to see the complete case…
This is the finished product for our patient that came in just gagging on her upper denture. She wanted to have a solution that would allow her to have the roof of mouth not covered with plastic. Cost was certainly a factor. We offered the solution of 4 to 6 locator’s dental implants and a removable over-denture without a palate. I like to place 6 on the upper arch to withstand the lateral stress if we plan to remove the palate in the denture. This certainly would have been the most elegant solution (easy to keep clean and offers a tremendous amount of retention)but was declined.
I put in 8 mini dental implants to support a metal frame (not a tissue supported upper denture). This metal frame would hold and support her new set of teeth made out of acrylic and denture teeth (a fixed hybrid solution). Since there are no two piece mini dental implants (a diameter of less than 3.0mm) we can either cement the teeth over the mini dental implants or we can incorporate a teflon keeper that is processed into the metal acrylic base. Shatkin First has this option if you need further information.
Mini Dental Implants in place
Cast metal frame with Preat E-Fiber under acrylic
connecting bothsides together. I would have preferred to continue that cast framework from one side to the other…but to accommodate the patients bite and other request it did not work out. So the solution to use the e-fiber was decided upon with patient approval. For technical data on the e-fiber you can go to their website. It is 10x more fatigue resistant than fibrekore and 2x as strong in flexural strength. Occlusion is only on the posterior teeth with only light occlusal stops on the lingual of the anterior teeth. This is done to provide the artificial dentition patient anterior incisal clearance during all posterior masticatory function. All four anterior teeth do touch the lower teeth during incising and protrusive function.
View of Fixed hybrid denture in place with no palate
Smile view of fixed hybrid denture in place
There is about a 1/2mm to 1mm of space to allow for floss and water pick to keep the fixed hybrid denture clean. Lingual side has a tight fit against tissue.
