Full-arch dental implants
All-on-4 dental implants replace a whole upper or lower arch of teeth with a fixed bridge held by four implants. It is one option if you have no teeth left in a jaw, or if your remaining teeth cannot be saved. However, it is a treatment concept, not a package that suits everyone, so your plan is confirmed only after an in-person examination and a CBCT scan.
All-on-4 at a glance
Typical ranges only. However, your plan, timeline and number of implants are confirmed only after an in-person examination and CBCT imaging.
Your surgeon places four implants in the jaw and then screws a single, one-piece bridge onto them. The two front implants usually sit upright, while the two back implants are often tilted.
Tilting the back implants helps them reach good bone when the jaw has shrunk over time. As a result, some patients may need less bone grafting. For others, however, a graft or a different implant layout is still the safer choice.
These sit upright at the front of the jaw.
Angled to reach the bone that remains further back. In studies, tilted implants survived as well as upright ones.
A single screw-retained bridge carries a full arch of teeth. You don't take it out yourself. Instead, your dentist removes it for check-ups and cleaning.
Suitability is individual. A dentist weighs these points after examining you, so treat them as a guide rather than a checklist.
A 2026 review of 55 studies found similar results for All-on-4 and All-on-6. So the right choice depends on your bone, your bite and the design of your teeth, not on the number of implants alone.
A common pathway uses two trips to Istanbul. Grafting or a complex bite can add stages.
Photos, an X-ray or a CBCT scan let a dentist prepare a provisional plan.
In person, your dentist then confirms or changes the plan, including which teeth truly need to go.
Next, your surgeon removes the teeth that cannot be saved and places four implants.
Fitted soon after surgery, but only if the implants are stable enough. Otherwise, you wear a removable denture while you heal.
The implants fuse with the bone over several months while you eat softer food. Meanwhile, remote check-ins help.
New scans and try-ins come first. Then your dentist fits the final bridge and adjusts your bite.
If you leave your first trip with fixed teeth, they are usually a temporary bridge. Your dentist makes the definitive bridge after the implants heal and your gums settle.
Usually a lighter acrylic bridge, fitted soon after surgery if the implants are stable enough. Acrylic can crack, and in fact a cracked acrylic bridge is the repair most often reported in All-on-4 studies.
Your dentist designs it from new scans once your gums have changed shape. Common materials include zirconia, metal-ceramic and resin on a metal frame. In long-term reviews, solid (monolithic) zirconia had fewer technical problems.
Eat soft food while the implants heal. Once the definitive bridge is in, your dentist tells you when to widen your diet, although very hard food can still chip teeth.
Above all, clean under the bridge every day. Implants cannot decay, but plaque can inflame the gums around them and, over time, damage the bone.
See a dentist or hygienist every 3 to 6 months. At these visits, your dentist checks the screws and the gums around each implant.
Published studies report high implant survival with All-on-4. For example, one review of 25 studies found that 94% to 98% of implants were still in place after 6 to 11 years. Even so, survival is not the same as being problem-free, because repairs are a normal part of owning a full-arch bridge.
For this reason, a good plan explains in writing what happens, and who pays, if something needs repair.
Occasionally an implant fails to fuse, most often in the first months. Smoking roughly doubles the risk of early failure, especially in the upper jaw. Depending on the case, your dentist may adapt the bridge or replace the implant after healing.
The teeth on a full-arch bridge can chip, wear or crack. Acrylic bridges crack most often, and in long-term reviews veneered zirconia chipped in 15% to 35% of cases.
The screws that hold the bridge loosened in 5% to 15% of cases in long-term reviews. For this reason, your dentist checks and tightens them at maintenance visits.
Plaque under the bridge can inflame the gums. When the damage spreads to the bone, dentists call it peri-implantitis, and full-arch reviews found it in 4% to 18% of patients. Daily cleaning and regular check-ups help to prevent it.
Over time, tilted implants lose a fraction of a millimetre more bone than upright ones. However, reviews found no difference in how many implants fail.
Rarely, surgery affects a nerve and changes sensation, and this change can be permanent. Similarly, severe bleeding is extremely rare.
Ask any clinic, including us, for clear written answers before you book.
Often two. On the first trip, your dentist examines you, places the implants and, if they are stable, fits a temporary bridge. After several months of healing, you return for the definitive bridge. Grafting or a complex bite can add stages.
Your temporary bridge can often go in within days, but only if the implants are stable enough. The definitive bridge comes after healing, so for most people treatment is not truly finished in a few days.
Sometimes. Tilted back implants are designed to use the bone that remains. If there is still too little, a bone graft, a sinus lift or a different implant layout may be safer.
Not in general. A 2026 review of 55 studies found similar survival and complication rates for both. Instead, your bone, your bite and the bridge design decide which suits you.
In studies, 94% to 98% of implants were still in place after 6 to 11 years. However, no one can promise a lifetime, and the bridge itself may need repair or replacement. Ask for written warranty terms separately from the medical prognosis.
Clean under the bridge every day and see a dentist or hygienist every 3 to 6 months. At these visits, your dentist may remove the bridge to clean and check it.
Medical review required before publication · General information only; it does not replace an examination, diagnosis or personalised treatment plan.
Send a recent panoramic X-ray or CBCT scan and a few photos of your smile. A dentist will then review them and explain whether All-on-4, All-on-6 or another option looks suitable. Your plan stays provisional until you're examined in person.