Breakthrough Dental Implant for Edentulous and Near-Edentulous Patients Suffering from Jaw Bone Loss

Online, April 2, 2013 (Newswire.com) - 40% of American citizens over the age of 65 have lost most or all of their original adult teeth. One of the consequences of tooth loss is the loss of the supporting jawbone structure, which becomes resorbed as a result of atrophy. This poses a problem specifically to the upper back jaw, which is already located fairly close to the sinus cavity, a vital oral structure. With bone loss, this region of the jaw can become too thin to support dental implants without putting the sinus cavity at risk of damage.

Implant dentists would traditionally recommend sinus augmentation or grafting, which is a procedure designed to augment and encourage the growth of new and healthy bone tissue at the site of grafting. Only once this procedure has been carried out and the jawbone healed can the implant dentist place dental implants and the patient receive new teeth. But, where sinus augmentation corrects this problem, the "All-on-4" protocol diverts it entirely.

What's the benefit of this? We asked Dr. Irfan Atcha...

"Grafting procedures have always been a challenge, for both the clinician and the patient," explains Chicago implant dentist, Dr. Irfan Atcha. "They're tricky, invasive and involve a long and painful recovery. By avoiding the need for bone grafting entirely, we not only save the patient from an expensive and invasive procedure, but we also typically make it possible for them to get new teeth right away. In most cases, the All-on-4 can give edentulous patients new teeth in a single day!"

So, it would seem that the "All-on-4" is able to skip the prolonged treatment time, the need for complex surgical procedures before implant placement, the increased likelihood of implant failures and all the other concerns that used to face implant dentists and their patients.

"With this breakthrough dental implant protocol, we are able to achieve the unprecedented in fixed oral rehabilitation: giving patients new teeth in a few hours," says Dr. Atcha. "Before this was a process that would take anywhere between 12 and 18 months!"

What's wrong with Traditional Removable Dentures?

While the benefits of the "All-on-4" sound great compared with traditional dental implant techniques, wouldn't it be easier to just have removable dentures fitted? It certainly would be cheaper than having surgery! We put this question to Dr. Atcha:

"Removable dentures don't compare with dental implants at all," he begins vehemently. "Dental implants are fixed and permanent whereas dentures rest on the gums and can slip around and fall out. There is nothing holding your replacement teeth in place, so they're free to move around."

But the disadvantages of traditional dentures don't seem to stop there. Dr. Atcha listed the following challenges and problems associated with dentures - all of them reasons that patients should opt for a fixed and more sophisticated solution to rampant tooth loss, a failing dentition and edentulism:

• Difficulty with speech,
• Compromised bite function,
• Poor facial esthetics,
• Messy adhesives,
• Further bone loss in the jaw,
• Oral pain and discomfort,
• Inability to taste your food properly,
• Inability to sense temperature and texture
• Gagging,
• Removal at nighttime,
• Removal after meals for cleaning,
• The need to have dentures refitted every few years or so.

Instead of enduring all of these problems and the need for repeat expenses (anesthetic gels, adhesives and soaking solutions), patients can have all of their teeth replaced with "All-on-4" zygoma implants, which are used to support a customized non-removable prosthetic dental bridge. This bridge is expertly made to look, function and feel more like a patient's prior healthy dentition.

"The All-on-4 dental implant technique allows me to help patients suffering from advanced bone loss and uncomfortable dentures for years," says Dr. Irfan Atcha. "These are patients who have been told by their dentist that they have no other choice but to wear uncomfortable and painful dentures. I am extremely passionate about helping patients and the All-on-4 enables me to do just that - it gives patients a new lease on life with a much better and more varied diet and a confident smile."

"We are the ONLY dental implant center of its kind in the Northwest Indiana and Chicago region that is providing this advanced, sophisticated protocol to denture sufferers and those with a failing dentition," says Dr. Atcha.

About Dr. Irfan Atcha, DDS

Dr. Irfan Atcha is an implant dentist with advanced training and the sole owner of a large group practice in Chicago, Illinois. While Dr. Atcha limits his services to dental implants, intravenous sedation and bone grafting procedures, the greater practice offers the full range of cosmetic, restorative and preventative dental healthcare services.

As a Diplomat of the American Dental Implant Association and the International Congress of Oral Implantologists, Dr. Atcha has has extensive post-graduate training in the restorative, aesthetic and surgical aspects of dental implant procedures, from single tooth replacement to full-mouth fixed oral rehabilitation. He also has the necessary certification to offer particularly nervous dental patients intravenous sedation.

Dr. Atcha has received training from world-renown clinicians, including Dr. Yvan Fortin, Dr. Thomas Balshi and Dr. Paulo Malo, the latter of whom is the man behind the "All-on-4" dental implant protocol. All of these doctors are the international authorities in the fields of dental implantology, fixed oral rehabilitation and zygomatic implants.

When he isn't working with patients at his Chicago New Teeth practice, Dr. Atcha lectures and runs practical courses on the "All-on-4" technique and for Nobel Biocare USA - one of the world's largest manufacturers of dental implant products and technology.

Dr. Atcha can be reached at 888-416-4109 or via his website, www.NewTeethChicago.com/