Ten Years on Four Implants

He came to us after having major implant failure and experiencing great discomfort with his loose upper dentures. The old implants had caused so much damage that he had little to no remaining bone left for implants in a normal position.

The radiograph shows where that left him: a handful of failing implants, a few remaining teeth, and an upper jaw that had been asked to hold a denture it could no longer hold.

The new teeth were set up first, in wax on a model — shaped by what he asked for and guided by Dr. Reshad's design.

That order matters. The surgery that follows is planned to reach this exact result, not the other way around.

From that design a surgical guide was made — a clear template that carries the plan into the mouth, so each implant goes precisely where the new teeth need it.

Four implants were placed through the guide, and a fixed provisional went in the same day — the All-on-4 protocol.

The temporaries stayed in for four months. That time is not waiting: it is testing. Function, speech, appearance — all proven in his own mouth before anything permanent was made.

The final restoration is translucent zirconia — chosen for how it carries light — milled in stages, then cut back and layered, then stained by hand.

Backlit, the material glows the way enamel does. That is the point of every step here: teeth that read as teeth, in every light he will ever stand in.

The underside is shaped for the tissue it rests against — contact the gum accepts, and contours he can actually keep clean. A restoration that cannot be cleaned does not last, however good it looks on the day.

Then the finals went in.

The photographs above are not fresh from the fitting. This work has been in his mouth for ten years.

That is what the four months of testing, the guide, and the material choices were for — not the day it was delivered, but every year since.