Mini Dental Implants ~What I use them for ~Just about anywhere in the mouth
Mini Dental Implants have a wide variety of uses. I find more and more uses for this as a General Dentist. I think in a matter of time mini implant dentistry will become everyday dentistry. As routine as getting a filling.
Mini Dental Implants in the lower jaw. With 4 mini implants in place you can secure a lower denture. Even with a thin ridge most of the time these can be placed without cutting the gum. If the gum is not cut then no blood supply to the bone is disrupted. The bone heals faster around the mini implants allowing the patient to function with a implant retained denture immediately.
Mini Dental implants in the upper jaw. The upper jaw bone is softer and not as dense as the lower jaw. With 6 mini implants in place you can secure an upper denture. With a good well made denture that covers the hard bone at the very end of the upper arch (maxillary tuberosity) you can remove the middle of the denture. Most patients appreciate the palate of the denture being removed. With this horseshoe shape design patients can taste food better, have better speech, decrease in gagging and less bulk of plastic. With more implants sometimes it is hard for patients to 'line up' all the o-balls and housings in the denture. What I would like as a dentist is if someone would make a Zest Locator mini dental implant. The Zest Locator is the 'gold standard' in attachments for the traditional or conventional implants. It is much smaller in height and guides the patients denture into the retentive rings. The retention rings are also made of nylon so the rings last much longer than the rubber ring used in the o-ball attachment. Right now OCO Biomedical i- mini and i-micro implants, IMTEC MDI, and Intra Lock mini implants all use the o-ball with no locator attachment available.
Zest Locator attachments with metal housings shown in picture. You can see how close to the gum they are. Increase in patient comfort, less vertical and horizontal stress to the implants due to less of a lever arm.
Image of the Zest Locator implant attachment. You can see the 'flat' top surface. The male snap that fits on the outside and inside of the Zest Locator acts as a guide for ease of inserting the denture. When you have multiple mini implants this would be a welcome advantage.
Mini Dental Implant to retain lower partials.
With just a few mini implants you can take a lower partial denture and remove the metal clasp, fit the retention housing in the partial denture and now the patient does not have any visible metal on their teeth. If the partial is well made and has proper stops in the back of the lower jaw (retromolar pad) the partial will not settle and the implants will not get overstressed.
Mini Dental Implants to retain an Upper Partial Denture
Once again even with a few of these minis you can make a case that works. Over time if the patient's desires change and they want to add more its always possible.
Mini Dental Implants to secure a fixed bridge (Multiple teeth connected together)
In this case multiple teeth were failing and mini dental implants were placed the day of extraction to support a acrylic temporary bridge made in our dental lab. I used some pink acrylic around the front teeth to help hide the extraction sites while they were healing. A final porcelain bridge was made to fit over the mini dental implants once all the gums heal. This case is now been in function for over two years.
Mini Dental Implants to replace a few missing teeth with a crown
Here mini dental implants were placed to support 2 premolar crowns. They are the two teeth in the middle of the picture behind the large canine tooth. The last tooth in the picture is a crown on a natural molar.
Paresh B Patel dentists Mooresville NC