Implant placement is similar to minor oral surgery. Medical conditions can affect the healing of soft tissues and implants with bone. Once we know your medical condition, the treatment will be modified accordingly to meet your needs. It is extremely rare for us to refuse patients for implant placement. However, we require them to discuss their complete medical history with us, so we are in a better position to make a decision. Our patients must inform us if they have:
- Uncontrolled high blood pressure
- Uncontrolled diabetes
- I.V bisphosphonates
- Recent heart attack or cardiac surgery – usually 6 months, consultation with the cardiologist is required
- Recent INR (clotting ratio) > 3.5
Please remember, our aim is to save your teeth and not to remove them! However, there are certain situations when the few remaining teeth are not conducive to comfort and function. Some patients are simply tired of having loose teeth and dentures. So careful examination and prognosis of remaining teeth are essential. We do not take this procedure lightly and will determine with you the best treatment plan and outcome. You need to realise that teeth are lost for a reason. Implants are not a panacea for fixed teeth. You may have heard about the Paulo Malo technique as if he was the first person to carry out. The reality is that there were others before him. However, he improved on the technique and published useful data. Also, you should be wary of dentists advertising this procedure. The law does not prevent a dentist from placing implants. Being a prosthodontist and implant surgeon, it takes 10 years of post-graduate training. You should check the dentist’s training and post-graduate qualification and make sure the training was not a two-day training course that isn’t sufficient to make anyone an expert. It’s unfortunate to see patients making appointments with dentists and find out that 3 days following initial consultation they are booked for this All-on-Four and Six procedure. A specialist would normally take a few weeks to work out the best possible treatment plan and inform you in detail to help you through this complex treatment and adaptation period.
- Multiple Missing teeth
- Terminal dentition: multiple loose and broken teeth
- Teeth affected by Periodontal disease/gum infection
- Loose dentures, unable to function: chew food comfortably
- It offers stability even in minimum bone volume
- It provides good clinical results
- It is significantly more cost-efficient than individual tooth implants
Designer Smiles was one of the first few clinics in Australia to treat patients with the all-on-4 procedure. Experience and knowledge is everything. Patients who come to us for surgery are sometimes in a terminal dentate state and are usually in a desperate situation looking for a solution. We consider it extremely important to find the best possible solution for each of our patients