Mini implants are a cheaper way of doing an implant retained denture, a way of doing a partial that locks in, fits a lot tighter. It’s a smaller version. Sometimes you don’t have room. The full-size implants take up more bone. They’re bigger. Sometimes you don’t have enough bone to put a full size in. If you don’t, then you may have room for these minis. They screw into the bone. You don’t have to wait four months like you do with the full-size ones to put anything to attach to it. We wait about six weeks, let the bone grow into those, and then we can put a little snap in the denture or in their partial that snaps onto that and it has a little rubber ring that kind of grabs onto the head of this thing and holds the denture or partial down.
If you have a lower denture, typically need four mini implants. Upper, you need six. Implants in general, if you’re diabetic or a smoker, don’t typically work well. Or if you’re a clencher or grinder, if you clench and grind, you’re going to knock them loose, just the pressure of them. So for those patients, I don’t typically recommend them, but they work well when you put them in. You can eat what you want, bite into what you want. The part that gags you in the roof of your mouth, you can get rid of. You no longer have that in the palate, so they’re more comfortable if you have mini implants. And yeah, they’re a great, great procedure.
