All-on-Four® refers to one brand. Other brands such as Southern Implants, Neoss and MIS have full arch rehabilitation treatment plans all with slight advantages and disadvantages so it is important when discussing All-on-4® that Dr John Webster also discuss with you the other options you have to achieve teeth in a day.
The other option many people have tried before presenting for initial consultation regarding All-on-4® treatment is traditional dentures. Once you have tried a denture you will quickly become familiar with the limitations of what you can eat, how the dentures slips and slides when talking and eating, how it can irritate the gums and how over time it becomes loose and hard to keep clean. The problem with dentures from a Specialist Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeon perspective is that dentures put downward pressure on the bone and they hasten and stimulate resorption of this bone that use to surround your teeth. This is why dentures over time lose their fit and begin to get loose.
Dentures also wear out, need to be replaced and have a cost on quality of life with people with dentures may find it difficult to eat raw fruits and vegetables and foods that require a lot of chewing. Denture wearers often have less fibre intake which can affect digestive tract, bowel cancer rates and overall health and well-being.
At the Oral Facial & Implant Centre we believe each denture wearer should factor these health costs and replacement costs when comparing to the higher initial financial investment required for fixed teeth solution like All-on-4®. The longer you wait to decide for implant and fixed treatment options the more bone that resorbs away from the jaws and can increase the need for more costly grafting procedures.