Hi, everyone.
Today, let's talk about mini
dental implants
and are they
just a super cost effective
way of replacing teeth?
So my name's Gurs.
I'm a cosmetic
and implant dentist
based near London in the UK and
a lot of people
get in touch saying, Hey, look,
I want mini implants.
I've got
one or two missing teeth,
what can be done?
So this prompted me to
make this video
because there seems to be
a lot of misconception
around this treatment.
And yes,
they are less expensive
than normal dental implants,
but they're much more limited
in what they are able to do.
Okay.
Now
there's a lot of different types
of mini implants available
from different companies
and the vast
majority of them
only have one connection.
So what I mean by
this is once the implant is in
you can only put
one type of false tooth on there
and that is your denture.
Okay.
So a removable denture,
that thing
that nobody seems to like
and that's
what clips
into the mini implants.
Now before you turn off
dentures,
have a bad name
because typically they are done
in the UK,
they're done
under the NHS system
where almost every corner
has to be cut
in order to make that treatment
even remotely profitable
for the dental practice.
So when you do this, you end up
with a denture,
which doesn't fit very well,
typically doesn't
look very nice,
is really thick and bulky,
but dentures
don't need to be like this.
See, I think that dentures
are still a really good solution
when you've got
lots of missing teeth
and even when you've got
all of your missing teeth.
The biggest problem with
a denture
is typically the thickness
and the fact
that it moves around
quite a lot.
So with the thickness
we can use different materials.
So under the NHS system
in the UK
you would never get a
what we call
a cobalt chrome denture,
which is really thin.
It's got metal on the inside
and the beauty of metal is
that one
is thin like I've mentioned.
But secondly it transfers heat.
So a lot of people who have say
a full top denture
with the roof
of their mouth covered,
you can't experience food
because you can't feel
the texture so well.
And quite often
you'll have a hot drink
and you won't realize it's hot
until it's right at the back.
And that's because the thickness
of the material
on the roof of your mouth
is stopping that heat transfer.
If we have cobalt chrome,
we can engineer a little window
into the roof of the mouth
and that
will let you experience food.
It will keep the
strength of the denture
and you don't have the
heat problem that you have.
So even in
like the broad category
of dentures,
there are really good ones
and there are really bad ones
unfortunately the vast
majority are really bad
and therefore a lot of people
hate this as a solution.
Now the material isn't
going to change how
well this denture sticks in.
Okay.
It kind of kind of depends on
how many of your natural teeth
and healthy teeth that you have.
But let's say it
has no no bearing on that.
What we can then do is
place mini implants. Okay.
If you've got a full
set of teeth missing,
say the full
tops that we usually place
six many implants.
If you are just
using mini implants
to stabilize a denture
and you have
most of your own teeth
and you just need
to hold this denture in
we use less,
and the mini implants
engage to the bone
quick and easy into place.
We let them heal
and then we make the denture
which clicks into these mini
implants.
There's different strengths
of clips
that we can fit in the denture,
so it is quite a sturdy solution
and the nice thing is
as soon as you start
using mini implants
rather than natural
teeth to clip into,
you don't have the clips
that go around the teeth.
We might still do it,
but we need to rely on them
a lot less.
So that's that's quite nice.
Now some people
will get in touch saying,
Look, I've got one
missing tooth.
Can I have a mini implant?
And I think the
the real motivating reason
for asking
this question is
many implants are less expensive
than a normal implant.
So can I save on cost
and still get
the same kind of results?
Well,
one reason
is the kind of fitting.
You can't have
just a single tooth
that clips in
and out on a mini implant.
That single tooth
would just rotate around.
It would be really annoying.
It would move around.
For this to work,
you need more than one
mini implant. You need several.
The the
second issue is even
if we could get an implant
and it would
hold a single tooth,
the problem is the
the amount of surface area
the mini implant
has isn't a lot.
And when you've got
a small surface area
on an implant
holding a normal tooth,
a normal tooth
is going to have normal
fighting forces on it.
And eventually
you're going to get problems
with the mini implant.
The implant can fracture,
you can get bone
loss around the main implant
because it's being overloaded.
And this is another reason
we need several of these mini
implants typically
to hold a set of teeth
in position
is to help
spread the load over
more mini implants.
Now
we do provide this treatment.
Most practices,
most dentists
who do implant treatment
will be aware of many implants.
And if cost is a big factor
in your decision making,
definitely explore
this treatment option.
Okay.
Especially if you're going
to combine it
with a removable denture,
which like I said,
you know, once it's
clipped into many implants, it's
not so removable. Okay.
It does often take quite
a lot of force
to to remove these things.
And we've got different
tightening series of inserts
which go to the denture.
I never
I've never used
the tightest inserts so far.
Okay.
So these things, once they're
in, they're pretty stable.
If you eat an apple
on your front teeth,
it's possible to back
might disengage
if it's not as solid
as an all on four.
But it is a completely
different process,
a different kind
of treatment solution.
So I think I hope this clears up
what a mini implant is.
What it's used for
is advantages and disadvantages.
I think it's a great treatment
option.
It's got a lot of advantages
of the removable teeth.
Are you being able to clean
effectively and keeping
costs low?
But it's got the limitations
on what it can support.
So as always, people,
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If you like this kind of stuff,
I will see you soon. Take care.