Full mouth rehabilitation involves using dental implants to replace all of your natural teeth. You may have lost all of your natural teeth due to tooth decay, gum disease or infection, or you may have been told that your teeth need to be extracted.

While once a full arch of dentures was the only solution, dental implants now offer an increasingly popular alternative. Implants have several benefits in such circumstances: they offer a solution that is predictable, safe and – with proper aftercare – long-lasting.

If you have been wearing traditional dentures for any period of time, you will be well aware that while they are beneficial, they come with their own set of issues. Imagine a life free of pastes, adhesives and laborious cleaning routines, a life where you can enjoy all of your favourite foods and laugh or smile with confidence, without fearing your dentures will slip. Full mouth rehabilitation with dental implants is making this life a reality for increasing numbers of patients.

Advances in dental technology and materials means that we can now help more patients than ever to restore their smile, using fixed implant-supported restorations.

If you are interested in full mouth rehabilitation, the first step is to book a consultation with Dr Madruga, a highly experienced implant practitioner.

Every patient’s needs will be slightly different, so after your initial assessment, a great deal of personalised planning is involved. This may include using CT scans and, if bone has been lost, additional procedures such as bone augmentation or sinus lifts to give your implants the best chance of success.

Implants are then placed in the jawbone in a minor surgical procedure, carried out here at the practice under local anaesthetic or sedation. You may be given provisional restorations, such as temporary bridges or dentures, to allow your implants to fully integrate with the bone. This ensures a stable base for your permanent restorations.

After a healing period of a few months, your final restorations will be placed. You will walk out of the practice with a brand new smile that you’ll want to show off, and will be given detailed aftercare instructions. With good oral hygiene, your implants will last you many years – perhaps even a lifetime.

Missing teeth should always be replaced. Ask any dentist and they will tell you the same thing. There are many tooth replacement options available at our Marylebone dental practice, provided by leading cosmetic and implant dentist Dr David Madruga.

Here, we look at why dental implants are often the perfect solution to missing teeth.

Why missing teeth should be replaced

When one or more of our natural teeth is lost, through accident, injury, tooth decay or gum disease, our remaining teeth are put under additional strain when biting and chewing food. These teeth are also prone to movement, shifting into any gaps and becoming crooked in the process. This makes them more difficult to clean, which in turn raises the risk of further tooth decay and gum disease and, ultimately, further tooth loss.

Whether you choose dental implants, a standard bridge or traditional dentures, replacing your missing teeth will help to prevent these problems. We offer a wide range of tooth replacement solutions at our Marylebone dental clinic, so the choice of restoration is yours.

Why implants?

Implants have numerous advantages over other tooth replacement products, with one of the key ones being that implants are the only permanent way to replace your missing teeth. These small titanium screws are placed directly in your jaw bone in a minor operation here at our Marylebone practice. After a healing period your clinician will then attach permanent new teeth on top.

Implants are the only way to replace missing tooth roots, which are vital to jaw bone health. Without the roots in place, your jaw bone is likely to shrink back, which can make traditional dentures loose.

Dental implants stop the problem of bone loss, keeping your new teeth firmly in place. They also enable you to eat a full, healthy diet, and to smile with confidence.

Dental implants are a thoroughly modern solution for patients who have lost one or more of their natural teeth. Dr David Madruga is a leading implant dentist based in Marylebone, London, who has helped countless patients to restore both aesthetics and functionality to their smile with the help of implants.

Why choose dental implants?

Dental implants are the only permanent way to replace missing teeth. Implantology is one of the fastest-growing areas of modern dentistry, and since implants first started being used some 30 years ago, more and more patients are benefitting from using implants to replace their missing teeth.

At his Marylebone dental practice, Dr Madruga is able to treat even complex cases in patients who have experienced bone loss. In the past it was common for patients who did not have sufficient bone density for implant treatment – perhaps after wearing traditional dentures for some years – to be turned away and told they were unsuitable for dental implants. Some dentists still do this today.

However, implantology is continuously advancing, and Dr Madruga is able to offer a number of additional treatments at his Marylebone clinic, including bone regeneration and sinus lifts, to rebuild jaw bone density to a level that is sufficient to support dental implants.

Bone loss commonly occurs when the root portion of the teeth is not replaced. Standard dentures and bridges replace the crowns of the teeth, but with no replacement for the root the jaw bone begins to resorb or shrink back. Dental implants are bionic tooth roots, made from titanium, which is highly supportive of bone growth. Placed directly in the jaw bone by your dentist, the implants help to stop bone resorbtion and provide a firm, stable anchor for new teeth in the form of implant-secured dentures, bridges or crowns.

With good aftercare and regular dentist and hygienist visits, your implants and new teeth could last you for life.

From a professional standpoint, extraction is always the last resort. Dentists exhaust all options to preserve the existing tooth and repair it with a crown or other restorative measure. But some teeth are beyond repair. In such cases, extraction is absolutely necessary.

The reason dentists avoid extraction is because losing the natural tooth prompts a series of dental problems, including loss of function and bone resorption, a process that naturally happens after a tooth has been extracted or lost.

The reason behind bone loss

The bone requires activity and stimulation to maintain its volume and density. In the case of the alveolar bone, the necessary stimulation comes from the teeth.

Our teeth create multiple contacts with each other every day, causing small tensions that enable the continuous rebuilding of the bone. This stimulation occurs through the periodontal ligament that holds the tooth in its socket.

When you lose a tooth, you can be losing some of this stimulation. As a result, the alveolar bone loses weight, height, and volume. Around 25% of bone width will be gone within the first year. Over the next few years, the bone height shrinks by about 4-mm. If not addressed on time, bone volume will continue to decrease as gum tissue will also gradually decrease.

The impact of bone loss

The most apparent effect involves the tooth’s functionality, interfering with the person’s ability to chew and speak. As it continually deteriorates, your tooth loses more and more functionality. In addition to functional problems, it can also result in life-changing cosmetic issues, especially in edentulous or toothless patients.

The solution to keep the bone healthy

To arrest bone loss, patients need to recover the stimulation of the remaining bone tissue. Revival of stimulation is possible through dental implants, which merge and fuse with the tissues and re-stimulate them. Implants act as strong and stable foundation to support a crown, bridge, or overdentures.

Your new teeth will not only look natural, but implants can also improve bite support, restore chewing efficacy, and prevent shifting of the vital teeth, thus reducing stress on the remaining teeth.

To know if dental implants are a viable option for you, book a consultation with Dr David Madruga Gonzalez today.

If you’ve chosen to replace your missing teeth with dental implants, you’ll want to ensure they remain in good condition. Implants are the only permanent solution to replace your natural teeth and, with proper care, will last you a lifetime. Dr David Madruga has treated many patients with implants at his Marylebone dental practice, and is keen to stress the importance of proper aftercare.

How to look after your implants

Dental implants have a very high success rate – up to 98%. If you’ve lost teeth and gone through the process of having implants fitted, the last thing you’ll want to happen is to lose your teeth again. Here is a guide to looking after your implants, including the importance of regular reviews, regular visits to the dentist and hygienist, and a good home care routine.

Once Dr Madruga has fitted your permanent restorations here at our Marylebone dental practice, you will be provided with detailed aftercare advice. This will include specially-tailored oral hygiene instructions and advice about diet, to help you maintain a healthy mouth for life.

If you follow this advice carefully, your implants are unlikely to fail. However, in the event that any problems do arise, Dr Madruga will be able to identify any early signs of failure with regular dental examinations and x-rays. By addressing any issues promptly, further complications are often avoided.

You should maintain regular dental hygiene appointments and implant reviews at our Marylebone clinic. Dental implants and their restorations are much like natural teeth, and are susceptible to plaque and tartar build-up without proper dental hygiene. Untreated, this build-up can cause gum disease, which increases the risk of implant failure.

Further advice will be provided to you at each visit to our Marylebone practice to ensure the best possible outcome and long-term success is achieved.