Can You Get All-on-4 Dental Implants with Gum Disease?

Dental implants are a great option to restore your smile, and All-on-4 Dental Implants are some of the best available. If you are dealing with gingivitis or periodontitis, however, you may be wondering, can you get dental implants with gum disease? The answer is, it depends.

All-on-4 Implants don’t require as much bone mass as traditional implants—which is good news for anyone who has experienced deterioration of the jaw bone—and the recovery time is much shorter. But gum disease can have a big impact on your overall oral health, affecting not just your gums, but your teeth and jawbone too. If it’s mild, your gum disease will likely need to be treated before you start implants. If you’re living with advanced gum disease, you may not be a candidate for dental implants at all.

At Bergen Oral Surgery in NJ, we’ve helped many patients find their smile again, even when their oral health isn’t perfect. We’ve outlined everything you need to know about All-on-4 Dental Implants and gum disease. 

What is Gum Disease?

Gum disease, or periodontal disease, occurs when the tissues around your teeth become infected or inflamed. It’s typically caused by a build-up of plaque due to poor oral health practices, like not brushing your teeth or flossing daily. Your risk of gum disease also goes up if you take certain medications, smoke, have diabetes, or your family has a history of gum disease.

Gingivitis is the earliest, and mildest, form of gum disease. Most patients with gingivitis experience red, swollen, and bleeding gums. It’s important to treat gingivitis early. Without treatment, gum disease often gets worse.

Periodontitis is a more severe form of gum disease. With periodontitis, the gums will begin to recede, exposing more of your teeth and roots. These exposed spaces can quickly become infected by bacteria in the mouth. Tender, bleeding gums and teeth sensitivity are common symptoms of periodontitis.

Tooth loss is common with periodontitis. In fact, tooth loss due to gum disease is one of the reasons that many people seek dental implants. However, gum, tooth, and jaw health is critical to getting—and keeping—your implants, and all can be negatively impacted by periodontitis.

Can You Get All-on-4 Implants if You Have Mild Gum Disease?

Gum disease is not necessarily a deal-breaker for anyone considering dental implants, especially All-on-4 implants. With a mild to moderate case of gingivitis, implants are likely still possible. However, some additional steps will probably be necessary to prepare you for surgery.

Steps to Treat Mild Gum Disease Before All-on-4 Implant Surgery

If you’re showing symptoms of gingivitis—whether dental implants are in your future or not—you’ll want to visit a dentist for treatment. You can have dental implants with gum disease, but the first step to addressing your gum disease is to get the teeth nice and clean.

A professional dental cleaning, including scaling and root planing, will remove the plaque and tartar that cause gingivitis. If your gums are infected, you may also be prescribed a medicated antibacterial mouthwash. Rinsing with salt is another option to whisk away bacteria. If your gum disease is being caused by medication or illness, you may also want to consult with your doctor to see if anything can be done, such as an alternative medication.

At home, it’s critical that you keep your teeth clean with daily oral hygiene practices. Brush at least twice a day, and floss regularly—once a day is ideal. This will help to keep plaque and tartar from building up again. These practices are essential to not only prepare your teeth for implants but to keep gum disease from coming back after you get your bright new smile.

Can You Get All-on-4 Dental Implants with Periodontal Disease?

Periodontal disease often comes with a high risk of significant bone loss. Good bone mass and structure in the jaw are critical for helping your dental implants take root. That makes getting All-on-4 dental implants much more challenging for anyone with severe gum disease. Treatment of your gum disease is critical, and additional procedures such as bone grafting may be necessary before you can consider implants.

Bone Grafting and All-on-4 Implants

One of the benefits of All-on-4 implants is that, because they only use four implants to hold a full set of teeth, they require less bone mass than traditional implants. Even so, a solid segment of bone is still required for the implants to fuse with your jawbone and form a solid foundation.

If gum disease has worn away at your jawbone, you may need a bone graft before any type of implants are an option.

Using natural or manufactured bone grafting materials, bone grafting works to build your bone mass back to its original—or a much-improved—level. Once healed, the bone should be able to support dental implants again. Bone grafting procedures are common, and the recovery time is about a week, but it can take up to a year for your bone to fully heal in order to move forward to implants.

How Oral Surgeons Assess Gum Disease Before All-on-4 Implant Surgery

When you come for an appointment at Bergen Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery in NJ to discuss All-on-4 Dental Implants, our team of board-certified oral surgeons will thoroughly examine your teeth and gums. 

Dental x-rays, CT scans, and clinical evaluations are all used to determine the health of your teeth, gums, and jaw. Our surgeons use the results to determine if your gums and bone are healthy enough to support All-on-4 Dental Implants.

Our custom treatment plans consider how advanced your gum disease is and how much bone density you have remaining as well as your age, overall health, and goals. If treatment of gum disease is needed before the All-on-4 dental implant procedure, we’ll monitor your progress to ensure that your gums are healing well before moving forward.

Can Gum Disease Return After Getting All-on-4 Implants?

All-on-4 Dental Implants can bring back the smile you lost—but they can’t make you immune to gum disease and other dental issues. In addition to gingivitis and periodontitis, patients with dental implants can also develop peri-implantitis, which causes inflammation and infection around implants.

Just like any other gum disease, peri-implant disease can negatively impact your overall oral health, causing pain and inflammation in your gums and even, if untreated, leading to bone loss. Because of the direct contact between your implants and the jaw, implantitis can spread and worsen quickly, too. An infection in the jawbone can lead to bone loss, causing your implants to become unstable or even pull out.

How to Care for All-on-4 Dental Implants

To prevent gingivitis, periodontitis, and peri-implantitis, your All-on-4 implants should be cared for in the same way that you care for your teeth, with daily brushing and flossing as well as regular check-ups and cleanings. Continuous oral care is critical in ensuring that your gums, jaws, and implants stay healthy and secure over the long term.

Benefits of All-on-4 Implants for Patients with a History of Gum Disease

All-on-4 Implants are often referred to as “same day teeth” for their ability to completely transform smiles in a single procedure. Unlike traditional dental implants, which require as many as eight separate implantation points for a single set of teeth, All-on-4 Dental Implants require just four, as their name implies. They’re also a great alternative to dentures for those with gum disease. All-on-4 Implants offer a stable, long-term solution to a missing smile without slipping or gaps that can trap bacteria and make gum disease worse.

With All-on-Four Dental Implants, four titanium posts are implanted into the jaw to hold a full arch of teeth. These implants are more flexible than traditional implants and can be positioned in a way to maximize their hold. That means that All-on-Four implants can be installed with less available bone mass than the more traditional alternative. For patients with a history of gum disease, this is good news—All-on-4 implants are often an option, even when periodontitis has worn away at your jaw health.

Even more, All-on-4 Dental Implants typically require less recovery time, with a lower risk of complications and infections than traditional implants. For someone who has experienced tooth loss due to gum disease, that means the possibility of a fully restored smile, fast. With proper care, All-on-4 implants can even avoid further deterioration of the gum and bone tissue, ensuring a healthy, long-lasting smile.

Final Thoughts on All-on-4 Dental Implants and Periodontal Disease

At Bergen Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery in NJ, we often help patients dealing with the dual frustration of gum disease and missing teeth. 

While patients with gum disease may need additional procedures and care to prepare them for All-on-4 Dental Implants, dental implants and gum disease are not mutually exclusive. The minimally invasive All-on-4 procedure can restore your smile and get you back to feeling good about your oral health.

Our expert team can help you determine whether you’re eligible for All-on-4 or other dental implants and help you develop a custom plan to treat your gum disease and prepare you for the procedure. We have the only dual-degree oral surgeons in Bergen County, NJ with expertise in dentistry and medicine that is invaluable for achieving successful outcomes in complex cases.

Plus, we have more than 70 years of experience providing excellent oral surgery services to the NJ area. From consultation to recovery, our doctors and support team strive to make your comfort and well-being a top priority. We’re here for you before, during, and after your All-on-4 Implant procedure, and our doctors are always on call to answer questions and respond to emergencies. Call us today to learn more!

Personalized, gentle, comprehensive patient care is our number one priority.