Implant Dentures – Are You A Good Candidate?

Implant dentures represent a massive improvement over conventional style of dentures.

The range of benefits implant dentures provide over conventional dentures include:

1. Significantly improved retention
2. Significantly improved comfort;
3. Significantly improved speech; Significantly improved confidence;
4. Reduce / prevent further bone loss;
5. Ability to eat foods you haven’t eaten in years… including apples;
6. Improve your nutritional health (due to the fact that you can chew better and eat a more balanced diet)

What’s more, of all the various ways a dental clinician can restore your mouth, implants are by far the most predictably successful. However, while age is definitely no barrier to getting implants, there are three broad categories of factors which need to be assessed before determining whether or not you’re a good candidate to receive implant dentures.

Medical Considerations

The first set of factors that need to be considered all relate to your general health. In particular, there are certain conditions, medications and treatments which can potentially lead to failure of implant integration (i.e. the implants do not fuse to your bone) through infection or impaired bone function. Such factors include:

1. Uncontrolled Diabetes: Uncontrolled Type II diabetes is well documented to impair healing as well as increases chances of infection following any type of surgical procedure.
2. Immune Disorders and Immuno-Suppressive Disorders: Similarly, any disease or medication that impairs your immune system increase chances of infection following surgery.
3. Bleeding Disorders: While not an absolute contra-indication, any disease or medication which significantly impairs your ability to clot (e.g. hemophilia, warfarin but NOT aspirin) increases the likelihood of post-operative complications as well as potentially impairs operator visibility during implant placement.
4. Previous Radiotherapy To Jaws: Any jaw bone that has been exposed to radiotherapy to treat a head or neck cancer remains incredibly susceptible to a very aggessive form of bone infection known as osteo-radio-necrosis.
5. Bis-phosphonate Therapy: There are millions of patients who take intravenous and oral bis-phosphonates (taken for certain forms of breast cancer and osteoporosis, respectively) which may put patients at a higher risk of developing a delayed healing syndrome called osteonecrosis. While implants are usually contra-indicated for patients who have had intravenous bis-phosphonates, itis widely considered safe to insert implants in patients taking oral bis-phosphonate (such as Actonel, Fosamax and Boniva).
6. Phenitoin: If you’re an epileptics chances are you take a medication called Phenitoin which is designed to prevent epileptic seizures. An unfortunate side effect of this medication is overgrown gums. Now that may not sound so bad but overgrown gums harbour more plaque which in turn can lead to infection of your implants.
7. Terminal Illness: While not an absolute contra-indication, a terminal illness with associated short life expectancy needs to be carefully assessed before commencing implant therapy.

Dental Considerations

In addition to medical conditions and medications, there are several oral factors that can negatively impact the success of an implant fusing with your jaw bone. Such factors include:

1. Insufficient Bone Volume/Density: For dental implants to work, there must be sufficient height, width and density bone in your jaws. Fortunately, if you lack sufficient bone, more can be added with a bone grafting procedure called bone augmentation.
2. Proximity Of Nerves: There are two sets of nerves in your jaws that can potentially be damaged during the placement of dental implants. Particularly for the lower jaw there must be sufficient jaw bone above the canals that these nerves run through to ensure a.) there is enough bone to securely hold the implant and b.) you do not experience any tingling or numbness of your gums, chin and lower lip.
3. Proximity Of Sinuses: Above where your top back teeth used to be are two air-filled cavities called sinuses. Following removal of teeth the bone that separates your gums from your sinuses can dramatically shrink, often leaving a thin waffer ofbone totally incapable of supporting an implant. In such instances a procedure known as a sinus-lift can be performed to create more bone in this area.
4. Proximity Of Pathological Lesions: Similarly, any diseases affecting your jaw bones (e.g. bone cysts) may preclude placement of implants until the pathology is dealt with.
5. Failure Of Previous Implants: While not a predictor of future success, the failure of a previously inserted implant should alert your implant specialist for potential causes of future failure.
6. Poor oral Hygiene: Many people wrongly believe that once they’ve got implant dentures they no longer have to keep their implants clean. The fact is, just like natural teeth, implants are susceptible to gum infections. Hence, if you are unable to demonstrate good oral hygiene habits you may jeopardize the success of your implant denture.

General Considerations Many people wrongly believe that once they have:

The third and final set of factors that can have an adverse effect on the outcome of your implant therapy all have to do with you as an individual. Such factors include:

1. Finances: Due to the need for multiple appointments (including surgery), the need for precision componentry and the life-changing benefits, implant dentures command what many would consider a sizable fee. As such, an inability to afford this financial investment can present a barrier to treatment.
2. Smoking: It’s a well establish fact that smoking impairs healing.
3. Substance Abuse: For multiple reasons, people who are addicted to substances are very poor candidates for implants.
4. Touring Job: As the provision of implant dentures requires multiple appointments over several months if you’re constantly on the road and can’t keep multiple appointments then you may not be a suitable candidate.

As part of the planning process, each of these factors are routinely evaluated and assessed prior to formulating a definitive treatment plan. Thankfully, for pretty much each one of the factors listed above there is a workable solution for working around the problem. As long as you have sufficient jaw-bone for the procedure and are in good enough health for routine dental treatment, you can get denture implants. However, if you possess a number of these factors then it tips the balance of success towards greater need for intervention with potentially reduced likelihood for success. Ultimately, it will be up to you and your team of specialists to decide whether the increased time, financial and biological costs of counter-active measures outweigh the benefits of implant retained dentures.

Naturally, we are all unique with different sets of medical, dental and general factors to consider. So if you’re wanting to explore the option of eating what you want without messy glue, pain or embarrassment then the first step is to come in and see us. With our complimentary, no-obligation initial consultation we’ll happily assess you and your dentures and point you in the right direction. To take advantage of our complimentary consultation simply give us a call at any one of our eight conveniently located clinics.

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