'A Better Quality of Lilfe with Implant Retained Overdentures' by Paresh B Patel
Zest Locator Attachements with Mini Dental Implants
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Does your upper denture gag you? Does it feel like a big bulky piece of plastic? Do you not taste your food anymore? Do you talk funny or don't sound like yourself anymore?
These are all the things my patient told me yes to. That is a lot of yes answers to have on one patient. Usually I don't get that many issues with the upper denture. But when we do have someone that just simply can not wear the upper full denture plate its a huge problem; both for function and esthetics.
Upper denture prior to placing 4 Mini Dental Implants with a Zest Locator attachment (different than a o-ball and ring snap typically used on mini dental implants).
Zest Locator attachment. It has a flat surface to make inserting the snap easier on the patient than the o-ball and ring. It also has different nylon rings that can be swapped out by the dentist to offer the patient levels of retention…..so if the denture is not tight enough a more retentive ring can be placed. This feature is not available on the o-ball mini dental implant.
4 ACE Surgical Secure Mini Dental Implants with Locator attachments.
Upper denture marked for location of the ACE Secure Mini Dental Implant.
Space created for the Zest Locator 'snaps' that will be fitted inside the existing upper denture. In a few weeks I will make the upper denture into a horseshoe shape so he can: 'Talk better, taste his food better and gag much less'
Snaps picked up in the upper denture. These rings will be replaced with more retentive rings after the implants heal into the bone. But even today the denture is tight and my patient is impressed with how much hold he has now.
Final Pan X-ray of the ACE Surgical Mini Dental Implants with a Zest Locator Attachment.
In the end I am impressed with the Locator attachment. A bit more skill required to place these mini dental implants than a o-ball type. This is mostly due to the protocol of using a 2.3mm in the front and having to place a 3.25mm in the back. My preference would have been to just use 6 2.3mm minis and give the patient a few extra implants. But as with any product it is up to the dentist to determine what he/she feels is best for the patient. This case could have been done and been successful with any mini dental implant, IMTEC MDI, Intra-Lock, OCO Biomedical mini or micro.
Paresh B Patel DDS Dentist Mooresville NC
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