Mini Implants Vs. Full Size Implants Explained by Shelby Township Dentist

Hi, this is Dr. Antolak from thegentledentist.com, located out in Shelby Township, Michigan. Our phone number is (586) 247-3500. Implants are a big part of dentistry now, as most of you have heard about implants. And what I wanted to do is just compare for the situations where we would use to hold a lower denture in place. The difference between a full size implant, which I’m holding right here. A full sized implant here, alright? Compared to what’s called a mini implant, which is right here.

Alright? And we can also use a natural tooth like this in this model. You can see the root of the tooth here, to actually hold these in. The question becomes, how can we differentiate what to use? I had a patient today come in who has issues with all of them. So I came up with a solution. We’re going to use 1 regular root of his natural tooth and place 1 full size implant in to hold the lower denture. But I want to start off with the natural teeth, first of all.

So, the natural teeth are in bone, like this. And we can use an attachment to actually go inside of the root of the tooth. The tooth has a root canal in it. So then, the tooth is dead, itself. But the tooth is contained within the jawbone itself. So we can place an attachment. This very very small little, the brass device here is used as a little clip. And it will hold a denture in place like this. Okay? And inside it, there’s the female of that, where this is the male. And the actual clip over the top and they’ll be nice and stable for a denture to not move around. In cases where there are not natural teeth available and there’s adequate bone, I will usually suggest doing what’s called a full implant. Now this looks large. The larger an implant is, the stronger it is and the more drillable it’s going to be. Also with these types of implants we can place attachments like you see at the end of this root here. Screw them right into the implant and then we have the ability to use a number different attachments like you see inside of here that have different holding strengths.

So this patient today came in and I’m recommending we do a 1 tooth attach, which is working fine. And placing a full implant like this. Not this big but almost, into the jaw bone. Like you could see the teeth there, the implant sits there and then we could screw on where the attachments onto that to make this over denture. Now for people who have denture loss for quite some time and their bone is rather narrow we can use what’s called a mini implant.

A mini implant like this is less than 3 millimeters in diameter, which is pretty small. Compared to a full sized implant like this, which is basically over 3 millimeters. This is 5 millimeters in diameter, and this is 3 millimeters in diameter. So you can see the difference between the 2 of them. If that’s the case, then what we’ll do is we’ll place these implants inside the jawbone. 4 of them, usually in the lower front area here. And then we will use a similar device to snap the lower denture in place.

All these really work. It just depends on the patient’s scenario, and what the patient has to offer. If they have adequate bone, I’m almost always going to recommend that we do a full size implant. Because they’re very versatile. We can change those parts out. Whereas, in the mini, like, a mini implant, this is all 1 solid piece. You can’t change any pieces out. Another benefit of a full sized implant like this is that, in case, let’s say, somebody gets tired of wearing a denture, we can then go through and, change the top of that and put a crown on top of that. Or we can put a number of different teeth and make one that is not removable. So we have a lot more flexibility with a full size implant compared to the mini implant. But these are just some considerations to make for, if you have a, situation where you’re contemplating do you do a full size implant, do you do a mini implant? It could be rather confusing. So it really depends on the case. Once again, if you have enough bone in your mouth and their might be the chance that you’re going to go from something you move like a denture like this, to doing something that’s actually cemented in place and fastened down so you don’t have to take it out. Then I would suggest using a full implant.

If you’re medically compromised, you have some medical issues going on, and you have very thin bone then an implant like this, a mini implant, works out very well in those cases to hold a lower denture in that you’ve never had the ability to snap it in place and hold it in.

And then, for our patients who have let’s say, broken down teeth that are savable as far as doing root canals in them, many times we’ll just remove the nerve on the inside. We fill it with the rubber material. Then, we place these attachments inside of it. And then we can make a denture like this. You have to have lots of tools in your tool belt to be able to know what’s best for you.

Mini Implants Vs. Full Size Implants Explained by Shelby Township Dentist

So if you do want my professional advice. With over 25 years of experience and over the last 10 years replacing my own implants. Please give us a call at 586-247-3500.