A common strategy to manage a loose denture is the placement of two or more implants. Depending on the case, implants can be placed in strategic positions with the denture connected to them via precision attachments. The prosthesis is called an over-denture. The over-denture is firmly locked down, returning confidence to the smile and greatly improved chewing ability. Because of the difficulties involved in wearing a conventional full lower denture most of this type of work occurs in the lower jaw. The World Health Organisation (WHO) define an entirely missing row of lower teeth as a disability and the minimum standard of care they advocate is a two implant lower over-denture
The following are real Appletree cases illustrating the use of different over-denture designs.
In both cases all teeth are missing and replaced by conventional dentures. These patients were unable to tolerate their lower dentures because of instability and lack of retention. The treatment plan was to provide a stable implant retained lower over-denture and design new aesthetic conventional upper dentures. Four implants were the preference in Case A, two were preferred in Case B.
Four Implant Over-denture - Case A
Two implant over-denture - Case B
