Yes, it’s true. I started my dental practice from scratch without taking any practice loans. I’m not talking about student loans, I have a boatload of those. Its actually because of my insane student debt that I decided I do not want to get further in debt by taking a business loan. I’d like to take some time and share with you exactly how I was able to do that.
I’m sort of in a sentimental mood, so I’d like to share with you a bit of my story. Here’s some trivia to know about my life: I left Peru with my parents when I was 2 years old because of terrorist attacks & Molotov cocktail explosions in front of my house (true story) On Saturdays, my parents and I would go to a warehouse and stack newspapers for 1
Hey! So I got a lot of questions about this topic I put up on IG a few days ago. The Nasopalatine Fossa has constantly been an annoyance for me in planning implants at the maxillary central incisor area. Sometimes the ridge will look super fat and then I take a CBCT and the NP Fossa takes up 50% of the area where I want to place my implant! Let’s
I’ve gotten this question a lot recently from new grads. They say something like, “I had an implant course in school but I still don’t feel confident to actually place implants. There seem to be so many training courses but I feel a little overwhelmed because I don’t know where to start. Any tips?” I totally get it. I went through the same thing. I had an implant course in dental
Clinical Application Summary: I regularly use implants as short as 8mm in my practice without thinking twice about it. I would use 6mm implant in some cases but I like to keep things simple and stick to one implant system (I’m currently using Zimmer TSV) My caution to anyone placing short implants is to keep in mind the height of the crown you will build on top of that implant.
Clinical Application Summary: If a perforation has already happened inside of an implant preparation, I assess if I can still get a decent length implant placed and that this implant will NOT be any more than 3mm into the sinus. An implant 1-2mm into the sinus should heal uneventfully. If the sinus is perforated, I have my patients take Augmentin during the healing process. Be carefull with irrigating inside of
“Help! I placed a dental implant too close to the IA nerve!” This is not an uncommon thought for a dentist placing dental implants in the posterior mandible. Sometimes, it is not clear on the panoramic image exactly where the Inferior Alveolar nerve is. Other times the patient may jump up in the chair when you are only a couple of millimeters deep. It is a commonly accepted best practice
Hey guys, As promised, here is the step-by-step walkthrough of converting an All-on-4 denture. In my upcoming ebook, The Implant Ninja All-on-4 Handbook, I will cover this process in more depth and will discuss different approaches & materials, and most importantly, complications. (It will become available in Spring 2017. Pre-order to reserve your copy! ) If you’re interested in learning my technique, we are also offering All-on-4 learning webinars. This is the
This is a continuation of The All-on-Four Complications Part 1. Again, I’m not writing this to scare you off from this treatment. I am not saying that I don’t believe in this treatment. On the contrary, I think it is a fantastic solution. However, I would like to shed some light on some of these issues which are not regularly discussed in an open forum. By sharing these limitations, we
Full Arch implant bridges (All-on-4, permanent dentures, etc) are a wonderful thing. They quickly turn around a patient’s self-confidence and get them back on track with their diet and overall health. I have had a very positive experience providing my patients with this treatment. …but, if done the wrong way, they can lead to pretty disastrous outcomes. Although failure of osseointegration of dental implants does sometimes occur, is not the major
Someone asked me the other day, “What is the most overlooked aspect of All-on-Four Dentures?” By and large, I think the answer is lip support. Too often, after hearing a patient say they want “permanent dentures” the case is hastily planned as an All-on-Four case. The implants are placed, the case is restored, and Viola! But every so often, (especially if the case is not planned properly) a patient will
A photo posted by Ivan Chicchon DDS (@implant_ninja) on May 2, 2016 at 10:56am PDT I’ve been getting this question a lot recently so I decided to make a quick reference list for you. Below are all the items you need for a All-on-Four Denture Conversion. I wrote the components as if the dental implants are Nobel Biocare Active because that’s what I use. (The picture above is from my
I recently posted a picture of a failed mandibular full arch zirconia prosthesis that got a lot of feedback, especially from lab technicians. The prosthesis was a mess, really. (It not done by me, thankfully). Some implants had screw retained attachments, some cement retained, many screws were fractured, and the zirconium bar was split right in half. This is the prosthesis: ???Catastrophic fracture of a zirconium framework can and does
How Many Implants for a Full-Arch Prosthesis? There are staunch advocates for both sides of this debate. On one side of the extreme there are the minimalists who ask “What is the minimum number of implants that we can place?” The other side asks, “Why not place as many as possible just in case one fails?” The Minimalists: This picture is from a study by Rivaldo et al. 2012 at
It’s always a good day when a delivery goes well. Just earlier this week I delivered an upper and lower porcelain veneered zirconium implant denture. The prosthesis sits on 4 implants in the upper arch and 4 implants in the lower. The prosthesis seated perfectly and the patient was shocked at how nice it looked. I always celebrate delivery days–and especially for bigger cases that exceed even my own expectations.
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