Benefits of Snap-In dental implant dentures:

Secure your teeth, no more floating (or flying out of your mouth when you sneeze), greater confidence in social situations

• Significantly improved chewing
• Easier to speak thanks to stable dentures
• More natural appearance
• Reduce or eliminate gagging
• Taste food better
• Increased stability = reduction of sore spots
• Bone retention
• Easy cleaning and maintenance
• More affordable than you might think

What are Snap-In Implant Dentures?

These are dentures with special fittings that allow them to attach (snap-in) to the dental implants your doctor places.

Why should I choose implant dentures over traditional dentures?
While traditional dentures typically look nice and are the most cost-effective way to replace bad or missing teeth, they can leave a lot to be desired in terms of overall function, stability, and chewing ability.

Shortfalls of traditional (non-implant) dentures:

Limited chewing power – very little chewing power due to movement of the lower denture; usually only 10-20% of what a person had with natural teeth. The movements of a denture wearer’s tongue and cheeks continually pushes and pulls on the lower denture keeping it unstable.

• Speech – speaking can be difficult due to the movement of the lower denture.
• Embarrassment – caused by the inability to eat around other people, laugh loudly, and converse confidently due to fear of dentures becoming loose and falling out.
• Discomfort – since traditional dentures, especially lowers, often move around, they can rub and chafe the gums causing irritation and discomfort.
• Poor nutrition – again, due to the loss of chewing power, patients may be unable to eat a balanced diet and chew food sufficiently for proper digestion.
• Bone loss – after a person’s teeth are removed, they typically lose a great deal of bone and will continue to lose it for the remainder of their life. This means that traditional dentures become more and more difficult to wear over time.
• Gagging – traditional upper denture covers the roof of the mouth to provide suction and stability. Unfortunately, for many people, the denture covering the roof of their mouth causes them to gag. Trimming the denture to reduce this gagging leads to a decrease in stability and loss of natural suction.

Combining dental implants with dentures helps to improve all of these issues tremendously.

Anchoring your dentures with dental implants allows you to:

• Enjoy more of your favorite foods – By securing your denture with dental implants, patients are able to chew with much greater power and confidence.
• Speak confidently – speak in front of crowds or amongst friends and family with the confidence of knowing your denture is securely snapped on to your implants.
• Smile and laugh without worry of your dentures falling out
• Live more comfortably – dentures not moving as much, less rubbing and chafing
• Receive better nutrition – chew up food better
• Reduce bone loss – while a person may continue to lose bone after having their natural teeth removed, dental implants provide stimulation down into the jaw which encourages the body to continue to produce bone.
• Reduce or eliminate gagging – since your upper implant denture will be secured in place by the implants, a significant portion of the palate can be removed exposing the roof of the mouth. This reduces or eliminates gagging caused by your denture.
• Increased comfort – dental implants help reduce or eliminate the irritation caused by movement of the dentures.
• Taste your food better – most patients with implants can have part of their upper denture’s palate removed. This allows you to taste your food better.

Am I a candidate?

The good news…most patients are candidates! We’ll just need to see you for a quick consultation to say for sure. At this appointment, we’ll take a 3-dimensional scan of your jawbones, the doctor will perform an oral examination of your mouth, and they will go over your medical history in detail with you.

How does the process work?

• Procedure – after any remaining teeth are removed and any other necessary oral surgery procedures are performed, the implants are placed into the jawbone. After this, the implants are typically not visible. They will remain in your jaw untouched for at least 4 months while your bone attaches to them (osseointegration).
• Post op – we will see you back for a quick post-operative appointment, which we usually schedule for the day after your procedure. At this appointment, we will evaluate your mouth, ensure that any dentures are fitting as comfortably as possible, and answer any questions you may have.
• Soft liners / soft re-fittings – soft liners are cushions that we place in your denture periodically as you heal. They fill in the spaces between your gums and dentures that are created as you heal, and they also give your gums some cushioning. They help your dentures fit and feel better.
• Uncovery – this is a smaller surgical procedure where we expose the implants and place small healing abutments on top of them to properly shape your gum tissue and prepare you to finish your snap-in dentures.
• Attachment of implants to dentures – we will change our your healing abutments for your denture abutments and we perform the steps necessary to attach your dentures to your implants. This step can usually be done in one day, but sometimes can take slightly longer.

How many implants will I need for my dentures?

• Upper – an upper implant denture requires at least 4 implants.
• Lower – a lower implant denture requires at least 2 implants, although 3 or 4 typically provide a significant improvement in retention and stability.