Should Dental Implants Be Placed Side by Side?

You have received excellent answers by Dr. Tischler, so I will just reiterate some of the points he made. You said you are not interested in having any movement while you eat, however the removable overdenture in your situation is likely to move a little if forces are placed in the molar areas since it rests on soft tissue there. You can diminish the movement with a bar overdenture where the bar extends posteriorly to the first molar area. If the first implants were already placed, more than likely you will not be able to get the all on four anyway, because it requires a different placement protocol. Placing the implants in place of 23 and 26 does make more sense since it increases the anterio-posterior spread of the implants and makes for a more stable implant supported denture (the legs of the chair are further apart). You do not give any details of the overdenture, will there be a bar? what attachments? where? You should ask your dentst to describe and explain these, and maybe you will feel more confident about the treatment you choose. Good luck! Dr. Carlos Boudet

Spacing of dental implants can be done in various ways. It sounds like the sequence suggested will allow the two implants to integrate then add more implants. That should work fine. Will you be able to eat well? The answer is that you will be able to eat better than if you had a denture without implants, but there are options that offer more support. The tradeoff is that those other options are more expensive and involve more implants to be placed. A bar overdenture for instance stabilizes the denture better, but it is a much more involved treatment. There are other non-removable options, but these too are even more involved to do and more expensive in general.