Mini Dental Implants ~ What Patients tell the Dental Assistants

Mini dental implants....something many people may not be too familiar with.  As an assistant in a general dental practice, I was not very familiar with traditional or mini dental implants.  Then one day at our office, the Dr said he had learned of this new product and wanted to give it a try.  After attending a class to familiarize himself with how to place a mini dental implant....here we go.....and 2+ years later, we are still going strong with placing mini implants for various uses. 

Being unfamiliar myself with the procedure, I was nervous when Dr Patel started with his first procedures, but quickly came to realize that this noninvasive procedure reaps many great benefits for our patients. 

Our first procedure using mini dental implants was to stabilize a maxillary denture.  We have used mini implants to stabilize many loose fitting dentures that our patients for years have tolerated.  Ask those patients now, and they all will agree that getting the minis placed has greatly improved their ability to function better with their dentures.  They also tell us they now enjoy lots of the food they could not eat before, smile more, and in general have more confidence knowing that their dentures will not fall out. 



Our first case with six mini dental implants in the upper jaw

The patients upper denture with 5 of the 6 'snaps' in place.  I took the upper denture back to our lab and removed the palate (middle part of the denture) and turned it into a horseshoe shape.  Most of our patients love not having the roof of the mouth being covered.  The denture does go all they way back to the hard bone to keep it from rocking. 

We use mini implants to replace single or multiple missing teeth with crown and bridge work.  We have a patient at our practice, a faithful patient for many years, who was unhappy with his partial.  Not because it didn't fit well but he hated the extra attention he had to give to his partial.  Dr Patel discussed with him the option of placing mini implants with a single crown and a 3 unit bridge.  The procedure was completed in 2 easy visits and the patient no longer had the worry of the partial.  He uses a WaterPik and toothbrush to keep his new mini dental implant crowns clean; just like the rest of his natural teeth. 

3 Mini Dental Implants in place to hold 2 new crowns for our patient who wanted to get rid of his partial denture plate. 



2 new crowns over the mini dental implants cemented in..


As an assistant, I hear a lot of the information from the patient before or after the doctor has left the room.  I can attest that many patients are surprised at the ease of the procedure.  From patients who have been dealing with loose dentures to patients who only need to have one tooth replaced, mini implants have given them the opportunity to be more satisfied with life now having either fixed teeth or a secure denture. 

Shannon CDA II  Mini Dental Implants

To view the Dr.s blog on mini dental implant click on the blue text here  Mini Implant Dentist