All on 4 treatment is a concept in which the clinician places 4 implants without the need for a bone graft and angulates the implants on the back region to achieve a better spread of implants, using only Nobel implants (company founded in 1981).
However, in recent times, when clinicians say they provide all on 4 treatment, it may not mean that Nobel implants are being used or the protocol followed as bone grafting may be involved.
All on 4 (or sometimes called ao4) has now been used by all dental clinicians as a generic/ broader term to describe any procedure that relates to having 4 or more implants in a jaw with fixed bridges with or without bone grafting. As such, terms such as All on X, All on 6 (not related to All on 4 treatment concept) relate to having 4 or more implants and not necessarily using the Nobel branded implants.
As a parallel example to this:
Keep Cup was the brand that established the name for a reusable coffee cup, if someone were to say to you, “please pass me your keep cup”, you would automatically pass them the coffee cup, even though it may be a different brand.
Roller Blades is another example of a brand that is synonymous with in-line skating. When someone says “let’s go rollerblading”, they mean let’s go in-line skating and not referring to the brand of in-line skates they are on.
At Dental Boutique, we have our own brand and concept of full arch fixed bridge solution called the All on Implants treatment concept. The reason why we have branded our very own concept is that we do not believe in pigeonholing our surgeons to a specific implant IF the implant system or brand may not be the best for the patient and IF the patient needs bone grafting for better stability and long-term success.
All on Implants ™ also describes the procedure better as it refers to “all teeth on implants” disregarding the number of implants or brand of implants, while the all on 4 treatment concept would strictly mean that the clinician should place only 4 implants (hence all on 4) and only using Nobel branded implants, even if this is not the best for the patient. There is no difference or limitations to the type of teeth or the bar that links all the implants together regardless of the implant brand and type.
The difference between implant brands would be based on the componentry, material and surface quality. We use predominantly 2 implant systems from the Straumann Group depending on the amount of bone, quality and positioning of the implant needed to achieve the best possible outcome for the patient. The Neodent implants have a hydrophilic surface and highly successful Acqua (SL Active) type surface, developed to achieve successful outcomes even in challenging situations, such as soft bone or immediate protocols, while the BLX implants have the Roxolid® implant material, which helps to reduce the invasiveness of your surgery. Due to the features of the Roxolid, we can use smaller implants, preserve vital structures and vascularization¹,² and reduce the need for invasive grafting procedures¹,². This increases your treatment options in difficult anatomical situations, bone deficiency and quality and narrow interdental spaces²,³
The SLActive®, which is Straumann’s high-performance surface with extensive healing potential. It stands for high predictability and accelerated osseointegration. Recent studies show outstanding clinical performance of SLActive® implants even in very challenging treatment protocols and in patients with compromised health.
Research shows that the Straumann implant survival rate in immediate loading after 10 years is 98.2% (3). It has a reduced healing period from 6-8 weeks down to 3-4 weeks in all indications, enhanced bone regeneration at compromised (weak and soft bone) sites (4) and even with patients who have been irradiated with compromised bone have a 100% survival rate over 5 years (5,6).
Straumann is also one of the very few companies in the world that has a PURE ceramic implant system for patients who have metal allergies and want another option to have a metal implant placed in the jaw.
Founded in 1954 in Basel, Switzerland, the Straumann Groups’ develops, manufactures and supplies dental implants, instrument and biomaterial. The Straumann Group also has a strong training and education component, which is provided in collaboration with the International Team for Implantology (ITI)[3] and the Instituto Latino Americano de Pesquisa e Ensino OdontolÓgico (ILAPEO).
Dental Boutique is also proud to be the NeoArch Centre of Excellence for the Asia Pacific Region, awarded by the Straumann group to be a training centre for clinicians in the region and the gold standard clinic for any implant and surgical-related dentistry.
Find more about All on Implants at Dental Boutique.