Dental anxiety affects about 36% of the population. Fear of pain seems to be one of the most common reasons people dread sitting in the dentist’s chair. Phrases like “dental implants” and “dental restoration” can evoke mental pictures of complicated and invasive procedures that involve a lot of surgery and reshaping. It’s easy to assume that pain is part and parcel of these procedures, but is that necessarily the case?
If you’ve been searching for a solution for missing teeth, you’ve likely come across the All-on-4® treatment concept. It’s possible that your curiosity has risen, but your anxiety has too. It may sound like there’s a considerable amount of discomfort involved. But how painful is the All-on-4® treatment, really? And just as importantly, how effective is it?
Next Smile Australia is committed to putting your mind at ease and ensuring your treatment process is comfortable. This is something we’ll prioritise every step of the way. There are many reasons why the All-on-4® treatment is nothing to fear, especially when Next Smile is the one delivering your treatment. Our industry-leading All-on-4® Super Clinics are designed to make the whole process easier for you.
The fact is, you have more to fear from leaving missing teeth untreated than you do from All-on-4®. Aside from the visible impact on your physical appearance, missing teeth can lead to a host of other dental and health complications. Even a single lost tooth can cause shifting, irregular biting and bone loss. Bacteria that cause gum disease can infiltrate open pockets in the gum and spread to other parts of the body, leading to conditions like cardiovascular disease and endocarditis.
All-on-4® is a method for attaining a brand-new set of teeth. It’s safe, medically advanced and has a proven track record of success. So how painful is the All-on-4® treatment?
What is All-on-4®?
All-on-4® teeth are different to traditional dental implants. Under ordinary circumstances, the procedure involves inserting a series of titanium screws into the gums to replace each missing tooth individually. All-on-4® takes a quicker approach that’s even more effective. An entire “bridge” or arch of new teeth rests on just four implants: two at the front and two angled at the back. With All-on-4®, you can gain a new set of teeth in just 24 hours.
Dr Paulo Malo pioneered the All-on-4® treatment in 1998. Dr Malo has personally trained many dentists and surgeons at Next Smile’s All-on-4® Super Clinics, and we use his original and effective treatment process: ‘The Malo Protocol’.
The Process of Getting All-on-4®
The process of getting All-on-4® is a relatively straightforward one. Although Next Smile has established procedures based on proven results, we also consider your medical and dental history. Your journey starts with a personal consultation during which we assess whether or not All-on-4® is genuinely the right treatment for you. If it is, we treat you using ‘The Malo Protocol’, Dr Malo’s revolutionary two-bridge process.
You’ll receive your first set of teeth or ‘provisional bridge’ in stage one. Often, this is ready as soon as you wake up from implant surgery, but always within 24 hours. You’ll wear this bridge for three to six months as the dental implants fuse with your jawbone. Once the integration process has finished, you’ll be ready for your ‘final bridge’, or new set of long-lasting teeth.
Using Nobel Biocare components, Next Smile Australia laboratories will create your new set of teeth. But the question remains: “how painful is the All-on-4® treatment?”
Do Your New Implants Hurt?
With dental implant surgery and two stages of artificial teeth involved in the process, it may sound like there’s a fair amount of pain involved in All-on-4® or at least some discomfort. How painful are your new implants, really?
The procedure can be performed under general anaesthetic, so the operation itself won’t hurt. Many patients report no pain at all during any stage of the process. There can be some minor discomfort during the first few days of your recovery, but it’s certainly nothing intense. It’s a dull soreness that you can easily treat using over-the-counter remedies.
If you’re lucky, you’ll experience no pain either during treatment or recovery. In fact, All-on-4® tends to hurt a lot less than other restorative dental procedures.
Next Smile wants to reduce pain and discomfort for you as much as possible, which is why our All-on-4® Super Clinics place such a high emphasis on your relaxation, well-being and peace of mind.
Compared to other treatments, All-on-4® reduces the chance of discomfort during or after the procedure in a couple of different capacities. There’s the shorter healing time of the procedure itself, but also the fact that All-on-4® eliminates the need for bone grafting. Dental bone grafting, an operation carried out when the jawbone lacks sufficient density to support implants, stretches out healing and recovery time even longer than usual. All-on-4® eradicates the necessity of bone grafting, keeping the time required to get used to your new teeth to a minimum. One of the biggest benefits of All-on-4® is that you can be out working, socialising and displaying your new teeth to the world almost immediately after your treatment.
How painful are your new teeth after the All-on-4® treatment? We can minimise pain by providing good anaesthetic and post-operative care. Some swelling and bruising can be expected, although most patients’ experience is minimised by following the Next Smile postoperative care instructions.
Most of the time, minimal discomfort is generally restricted to the first few days of the recovery period. As we’ve already established, leaving gaps in your smile can lead to far more dire consequences in the future.
If you’re ready to move forward with a brand new set of teeth and believe All-on-4® might be the right treatment, Next Smile is waiting for you to get in touch.
Transform Your Smile at Next Smile Australia
At Next Smile Australia, the comfort of our patients is our number one priority. So it only makes sense that we do our best to make every one of our treatments as pain-free and stress-free as possible.
During your All-on-4® treatment journey, we’ll make sure you get the support you need in a judgement-free environment as we tailor a solution that’s right for you. When you place your trust in the hands of our team, you can expect honesty, empathy and dedication at all times.
Our All-on-4® surgeries – and all of your appointments – take place in our state-of-the-art All-on-4® Super Clinics. These clinics are staffed with the most skilled and competent dental professionals you’re likely to come across and come equipped with hospital-grade surgical facilities, in-house dental laboratories, X-rays and CBCT scans. If you live a long way from the city, our Accredited Partners offer the same standard of ongoing care and maintenance closer to home.
If you’d like to learn more about the All-on-4® treatment or even book a personal consultation, get in touch with Next Smile.