Songpa Station Dentist: Have You Been Using Dentures for a Long Time? <Digital Guided Implants>

Welcome.

Songpa Station Dentist, 연세다감치과

I am Seo Ho-yeon, the director.

“​My dentures keep moving, and eating is uncomfortable.”

I often meet patients in the consultation room who say this and are considering implants.

When dentures are first made, they fit the gums well, and many people find that eating feels more comfortable than before.

This is because dentures are made to match the shape of the gums and the condition of the remaining teeth at the time they are created.

However, as time passes, the condition inside the mouth gradually changes.

The jawbone in areas where teeth have been lost may decrease, and repeated chewing forces are transmitted to the teeth that support the dentures.

If this burden accumulates over a long period, the teeth supporting the dentures may become loose, or may even break at some point.

However, the important point here is that we should not make a judgment by looking only at the single broken tooth.

I will explain this in more detail through today’s case.

(November 10, 2025)

This patient had also been using dentures for a long time.

Recently, the tooth that had supported the dentures broke, making it more difficult to eat, and the patient visited us for an implant consultation.

On the panoramic image, the tooth supporting the dentures appears to still be present.

However, upon examining the oral condition, we found that the tooth had already fractured. With only the remaining teeth and the long-used prosthesis, it was difficult to receive chewing forces stably.

In particular, there was almost no occlusion in the molar area, so it was difficult to determine the standard for where and how the upper and lower teeth should meet.

At that time, forces were concentrated mainly on the front teeth, so it was necessary not only to determine where to place the implants,

but also to plan together where the upper and lower teeth should meet in the future.

A method that can be used in this situation is digital guided implant treatment.

What Is Digital Guided Implant Treatment?

Songpa Station Dentist, 연세다감치과

When people hear “digital guided implant treatment,” most think of it as “the process of deciding in advance where to place the implants.”

Of course, planning the position, angle, and depth of the implants is important, but what I consider even more important is examining the position where the patient will chew in the future.

First, we determine the position where the teeth should ultimately be placed so that the patient can chew naturally, and then plan the implants in positions that can stably support those teeth.

For this patient as well, we first took impressions of the upper and lower teeth and made plaster models.

These models reproduce the patient’s oral condition and serve as a basis for planning where the teeth should meet in the future.

(November 14, 2025)

Next, we made a device for the CT scan.

This device is used to take the CT scan based on the position of the teeth to be made in the future.

When the patient wears this device inside the mouth during the scan, we can examine the relationship between the position where the teeth will be placed and the jawbone.

Because this patient’s molars were barely meeting, we first fixed the occlusion so that the upper and lower teeth could meet at the desired position.

When a CT scan and an intraoral scan are performed in this condition, the implant placement position and prosthesis shape can be designed on a computer.

During the virtual surgery, we first planned where the prosthesis would be placed.

Next, we checked and determined the position, angle, and depth of the implants one by one so that they could stably support the prosthesis.

Once the virtual surgery was complete, we made a dedicated digital guide customized to the patient’s oral structure and treatment plan.

(December 16, 2025)

A digital guide is a device that helps apply the plan established on a computer to the actual surgical procedure.

By determining the direction of implant placement based on the holes made in the guide, the implants can be placed according to the position and angle planned at the outset.

The advantage of digital guided implant treatment is that various factors can be checked and planned before surgery.

We can examine the condition of the jawbone, where structures requiring caution, such as nerves or the maxillary sinus, are located,

and where the final prosthesis should be placed.

We can also adjust the surgical area, with a focus on the necessary regions, because the planned positions are established in advance.

This can reduce the extent of gum incisions and may also help lessen the burden of postoperative discomfort or swelling.

In particular, when several implants must be placed at the same time, the direction and position of each implant must correspond with one another.

That way, when the prosthesis is placed later, it can be connected as a single structure according to the initially planned occlusion and tooth positions, rather than being joined forcibly.

At this stage, the digital guide also helps establish the implant placement plan based on the position and occlusion of the final prosthesis.

(April 20, 2026)

Here, you can see the implants placed in the positions planned in advance.

Because the digital guide was made based on the positions and directions planned on the computer before surgery,

we were able to proceed while checking the site, angle, and depth for each implant within the range determined in advance.

To summarize today’s discussion, when occlusion has changed after using dentures for a long time, it is not enough simply to decide where to place the implants.

We must also plan where the teeth should meet in the future, at what height and with what occlusion they should be restored, and in which direction chewing forces should be transmitted.

This can help reduce discomfort when chewing food after treatment and allow the implants and prostheses to be used more comfortably.

Songpa Station Dentist, 연세다감치과 examines the unseen jawbone structure and occlusal relationship,

and works to establish a treatment plan suited to each patient’s current condition.

In the next post, I will continue by introducing the process of how the full-arch implant treatment proceeded through to the final prosthesis.

Thank you for reading this long post. I hope you have a happy day today as well. ^^

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Songpa Station Dentist, 연세다감치과