Are you tired of those dentures yet…well, here’s an alternative!
San Antonio cosmetic dentist, Edward J Camacho, has teamed up with one of the citys top oral surgeons and an award winning lab to bring patients an alternative to regular dentures!
For many patients saving what few teeth they have left may not be the best option anymore.
As dentists, we used to be of the mindset, states Dr. Camacho that a patient should hang onto every tooth for as long as you possibly can, and we put large span fixed bridges on what few teeth they had left.
Recent research has shown problems with this approach to dental care. When the teeth and the supporting structures deteriorate to a point where the teeth are loose, and long span fixed bridges are put in, this really is quite often not the best option anymore. These weakened teeth just simply are not able to bear the load of these bridges, and they will eventually fail.
Moreover, the teeth supporting these bridges frequently abscess giving you discomfort and an added cost of needed root canals. Or your teeth simply fail altogether and a dentist needs to extract your teeth and strive to cut off sections of the bridge. The gum disease continues to progress and your body is continually fighting infection.
All of this is a big expense to you as a patient and you’ll eventually wind up with some type of denture in the future anyway.
Another trouble is that this load bearing pressure continues to deteriorate the bone so you ultimately have to have all the remaining teeth removed. You see, when there is very little bone still left, it can make it difficult to wear any kind of denture you finally end up with.
There have not been a great deal of options – until recently.
Dental implants have been around for a while, but there are many different types and placement options, but they are costly and extremely time-consuming to manage. Even more disappointing is when the doctor, the surgeon, and the lab may not all be on the same page so the result may not be as ideal as it could be – until now.
To remedy all this for you, I want to let you know that I am very excited to have teamed up with Dr. Robert Lemke, one of San Antonios top oral surgeons who is also a medical doctor, and Oral Designs – an award winning lab, right here in town to offer you a new dental implant technique called “All-on-4.”
About 4 implants are placed on the top and 4 on the bottom, and you will leave with a temporary fixed acrylic bridge the same day or if you have an existing denture it can be modified to be fixed until you heal! You wear this for about 3 months while they are healing and then a new bridge is fabricated. This can all be accomplished in as little as 3 appointments!
With the older and now outdated technique, when implants were placed, they had to heal under the gum and then another procedure was required to uncover them, and in the meantime you didn’t have any teeth.
Now with this new technique, you get the dental implants and leave with fixed teeth the same day, so you do not have to remove them like a regular denture. They also do not cover the palate, so you can taste and feel hot and cold better – which is not the case with traditional dentures.
This new type of implant borne bridge restores 90% of the functional capacity of the jaw! So the increase in your quality of life is dramatically improved in one day.
The best thing about this technique is that the implants act like healthy teeth and preserve the bone so this really is a long term solution for you.
Since I work in tandem with the surgeon and the lab (we are all specially trained in this technique), the procedure is quick and offers a much better, healthier, more cost effective and long term solution for you.
It is very thrilling for me to help a patient who feels hopeless and restore them to almost full functional capacity and give them the beautiful smile they have dreamed of within a short period of time. Naturally, the best part of my work is to see tears of joy when I fix your challenge and assist you to get back into the swing of your daily life.
Give our office a call at 210-493-9944 to see if you might be a candidate for “All-on-4” and schedule a no-obligation consultation at my new office, Cosmetic Dentistry of San Antonio, located at 16535 Huebner Rd (at Bitters) Suite #102, San Antonio 78248
I look forward to helping you with your teeth!
And to get some of the most important information about your teeth from me personally, see the resource box at the bottom of this article.