Implant Supported Dentures in Vestal, NY

An implant-supported denture is a complete set of teeth that clips securely onto a small number of dental implants. It holds firm while you eat and speak, and it lifts out easily for cleaning and overnight.

For anyone who has struggled with a conventional denture that moves, this is often the single change that makes the greatest difference to daily life. It achieves that with fewer implants, and at a more accessible cost, than a fixed full arch.

How an Implant-Supported Denture Works

Two to four implants go into the jaw. Attachments are fitted to them, either individual studs or a bar running between them. The denture has matching housings in its underside and snaps onto those attachments. It comes out for cleaning and it comes out overnight.

This is a different treatment from All-on-4, where the bridge is screwed to the implants and stays in permanently. Both are secured by implants and both preserve the jawbone, and your dentist will help you decide which suits you better.

A removable design brings real advantages of its own:

• Fewer implants. Two can transform a lower denture. A fixed bridge needs four to six.
• Easier to clean thoroughly. It lifts out, so you clean it in your hand and brush the gums and attachments directly, which makes day to day care simpler to keep on top of.
• More lip support where it is needed. After long-term tooth loss the ridge has usually shrunk, and a denture flange can restore the profile of the lip in a way a bridge sitting only on the teeth cannot.
• Straightforward to maintain. Relines, clip replacements and tooth repairs are quick, routine appointments.

What to Expect Over Time

A few things are worth knowing in advance so nothing comes as a surprise.

The attachments wear. The nylon inserts inside the denture housings are consumable parts and need replacing every one to two years depending on how you use them. That is a small, routine, planned cost, not a failure.

Bite force improves a great deal over a conventional denture but does not reach what a fixed bridge on six implants delivers. If chewing power is the thing you care most about, that matters.

The denture still needs relining periodically where it rests on the ridge, because the unsupported parts of the ridge continue to change shape even while the bone around the implants holds.

And it does come out at night. Many patients find that reassuring and straightforward; others would rather have something permanently fixed. Either preference is easy to accommodate once we know it, so do tell us at your consultation.

Upper Arch, Lower Arch

These are different problems. A conventional upper denture holds reasonably well by suction against the palate, so the reason to put implants under an upper is usually to remove the palate coverage rather than to stop movement. Doing that takes four implants rather than two, because without the palate helping, the implants carry the load.

The payoff is taste and texture. The palate contributes more to how food feels than most people expect, and patients who have the coverage removed notice it immediately.

A lower is the reverse. Two implants for retention transforms it, and the palate never came into it.

The Sequence

Assessment. A cone beam scan on our Orthophos SL unit to measure bone volume and locate the nerve, plus an assessment of the denture you have now, because its faults tell us what to avoid repeating.

Planning. Implant positions are set in digital implant planning software before the appointment, against your actual anatomy.

Placement. Implants placed under local anesthesia, with sedation available and monitored throughout. Where bone volume is short, grafting is staged first.

Healing. Three to six months of integration, during which you wear your denture, adjusted so it is not loading the implant sites.

Connection. Attachments fitted, the denture adapted or remade to receive them, and the bite checked and adjusted. This part is quicker than people expect.

The denture is designed against your own records: how the jaws meet, where the bite should sit, how much tooth shows when you speak. Rushing that stage is why some dentures never feel right.

Planned with Dr. Fritz Zietsman, board eligible prosthodontist. Read about the team.

Looking After It

Out at night, every night. The gum tissue underneath needs the rest, and sleeping in any denture raises the risk of inflammation and fungal infection.

Brush the denture daily with a denture brush and mild soap or denture cleaner, never regular toothpaste, which scratches acrylic. Clean the attachments on the implants with a soft brush morning and evening, exactly as you would natural teeth, because the gum around an implant develops disease the same way and faster once it starts.

Come back on the recall schedule we set, which will be more frequent than a standard checkup for the first year. We will check the clips, the fit against the ridge and the health of the tissue around each implant.

Implant Denture Questions We Hear

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  Does it come out, or is it fixed in?
  It comes out. It lifts out for cleaning and overnight, which is part of what keeps it simpler and more affordable than a fixed bridge. If you would prefer teeth that never leave your mouth, that is a fixed full-arch bridge, which our All-on-4 page covers. Any estimate we give you will state clearly which of the two it is for.
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  Can I keep my existing denture?
  Sometimes, and it is worth asking. If your current denture fits well, the teeth are not worn and the bite is sound, it can often be adapted to take the attachments rather than remade. Where it is old, worn or was never right to begin with, adapting it just locks in its problems on a more expensive foundation. We will give you an honest answer at the assessment rather than defaulting to a new one.
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  How often do the clips need replacing?
  Every one to two years for most people, sooner if you take the denture in and out frequently. It is a short appointment using a small replacement part, and it restores the original snap. What you should not do is live with a denture that has loosened, because a loose overdenture rocks on the attachments and wears them faster. If it does not click in the way it used to, book in.
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  Will the roof of my mouth still be covered?
  On an upper, not necessarily, and this is often the reason people pursue the treatment. With enough implants carrying the load, the palate can be left open, which changes how food tastes and feels. With only two implants on an upper, some palatal coverage is usually still needed for support. We will tell you which applies to your bone before you commit, because it is a large part of what you are buying.
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  What can I eat?
  Far more than with a conventional denture. The retention means the denture is not lifting when you bite, so foods that were previously impossible become ordinary. It is not quite the chewing power of natural teeth or of a fixed bridge on six implants, and very hard or very sticky items still warrant some care. Most people describe the change as no longer thinking about food before eating it.
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  What does it cost compared with the alternatives?
  It sits between a conventional denture and a fixed full-arch bridge, and the gap in both directions is significant. Cost depends on the number of implants, the attachment system, whether grafting is needed and whether the denture is adapted or remade. Insurance coverage for implants is inconsistent and usually capped by an annual maximum. We work out your actual benefits and give you a written figure for each route, including the full-arch options, so you can see all of them together. Our payment options page covers the financing available.