Dental Implants Center in Jacksonville Florida

The Trial Smile™ bridge is made from a lightweight yet strong resin that is 3X the strength of PMMA. It has a slight flex to absorb forces but rigid enough to splint the implants together for protection during healing.

The Natural Teeth™ bridge is made from titanium and zirconia. Your teeth will be extremely durable and highly esthetic. The hardness of the material makes it resistant to fracturing or chipping. The smooth, non-porous and biocompatible surface makes it resistant to stains and it won’t absorb odors or attract plaque and bacteria.

There are three big reasons. Really big reasons. Don’t settle on one final bridge!

1. After implant placement, the titanium implants must adhere to the jawbone through a biologic process known as osseointegration. If the Natural Teeth™ zirconia bridge were placed a week after surgery, there is a potential to disturb the process of implant healing. We have designed the Natural Teeth™ system to lessen risk and improve predictability, all the while having fixed, non-removable teeth.
2. When you wear the Trial Smile™ bridge, we constantly re-assess the esthetics and function. If there are any changes that are needed, you have not committed to your final yet. We can simply incorporate these changes into the design of the Natural Teeth™ zirconia bridge.
3. The tissue will shrink after surgery which creates gaps under the bridge. If we placed your final Natural Teeth™ zirconia bridge a week after surgery we would have to patch up or fill in this gap with a temporary material. Instead, we craft your Natural Teeth™ zirconia bridge to the tissue in its final settled position.

Technically, yes. We have the technology and ability to produce a final zirconia bridge in about 7-10 days. But we won’t do it.

Here are the top reasons why we advise against a final, permanent zirconia bridge right after implants have been placed:

1. After your implant treatment, your jawbone must adhere to the titanium implants through a biological healing process known as osseointegration. One of the reasons that we prefer to use the Trial Smile™ bridge is that it has a more forgiving property on the bite and can absorb some of the forces. In contrast, zirconia has high rigidity and it may transfer the impact of the bite through to the implants, thus, potentially disturbing the process of healing.
2. Zirconia can take about a week to construct and we never want our patients to be without fixed teeth during the fabrication process.
3. The Trial Smile™ bridge allows us to assess the esthetics and function while healing and eating. If changes are needed, we can incorporate these into the design of the permanent Natural Teeth™ bridge.

The All-on-4® procedure, as its name implies, uses 4 implants in each jaw to provide a plastic, acrylic bridge, or PMMA bridge. Unfortunately, if 4 implants are not adequate for a given patient and one implant fails, the entire process has to be redone. The old adage applies:  “All on 4, none on 3!”

Natural Teeth™ uses typically uses up to 8 implants per arch. There are rare instances where we will place only 4 implants but this is not the norm. During your examination and plan review will discuss how many implants you need and why. In addition, Natural Teeth™ is reinforced with a rigid substructure to provide support to the zirconia teeth above while giving a lightweight, natural feel.

Natural Teeth™ is a permanent implant-supported bridge to replace all of your missing teeth. It is the strongest, most functional, and aesthetic nanoceramic available. It provides exceptional rigidity while still having a slight flex to absorb stress. This combination results in an incredibly durable, beautiful tooth replacement option that will both look and feel like natural teeth.