Teeth that stay in.
Not a denture that comes out.

They will look like teeth. For most patients this is the best their smile has ever looked — better than the teeth they had before things started failing, because nothing is being patched or matched to damage. The whole arch is designed as one piece, shaped to your face, your lip line and your old photographs.

The reason we can promise that is the laboratory. It is in this building, and the technician and Dr. Mehdizadeh work on your case together rather than posting it back and forth with a lab that never meets you. You wear a provisional set first and approve the shape, shade and length before the final teeth are made. Nothing is a surprise at the fit appointment, and nothing leaves this office looking like a denture.

The surgery itself is done under IV sedation in this office, and most patients remember very little of it. Afterwards, swelling and bruising build for about two days, peak around the third, and settle over the following week. Most people take two or three days away from work and manage on ordinary pain relief.

You eat soft food while the implants integrate with the bone. That is the part that takes time and cannot be rushed — it is biology, not scheduling.

Two different answers, because they are two different things. The implants are titanium posts that fuse to your jaw; long-term studies report survival above ninety per cent at ten years, and they are intended to be permanent.

The bridge on top is a wearing part. You chew with it every day, and over ten to fifteen years it may need repair, refinishing or eventual replacement — which is straightforward, because it unscrews from the implants underneath. Regular cleaning appointments matter more here than they do with natural teeth, because the tissue around implants needs maintaining.

That is one of the most common reasons people give up on this, and it is usually wrong — or rather, it is usually true at the time and solvable anyway. Bone shrinks once teeth are gone, and it shrinks faster under a denture. But it can be rebuilt: ridge augmentation, guided bone regeneration, and sinus elevation where the upper back jaw has lost height.

Where this matters is who does it. A practice that refers grafting out has a reason to call your case too difficult. Dr. Mehdizadeh performs the grafting himself, here, as part of the same plan and often the same sedated appointment. If you have been turned away, a second scan is worth the visit before you accept that answer. Call (310) 770-3335.

Age on its own is not a limiting factor — bone volume and general health are. Most full-arch patients here are between fifty-five and seventy-five.

Smoking does measurably lower implant success, and we will talk about it honestly rather than pretend otherwise; it changes the odds, not the eligibility. Well-controlled diabetes is generally fine, poorly controlled diabetes needs addressing first because it slows healing. Blood thinners are usually managed with planning and coordination with your physician. None of these is an automatic no. They change how the plan is written.

Consultation and 3D scan, where you leave with the written plan. Then the surgery day — extractions if needed, grafting if needed, implants placed, and in many cases a fixed provisional set of teeth the same day. Then a small number of healing checks over the following months while the bone integrates.

When healing is complete, appointments for the design, the try-in of the final teeth, and the fit. Twelve to twenty weeks end to end for most cases. Your plan lists every one of these visits before you start, so you can see what it asks of your calendar.

Because a denture sits on gum and moves, and because the bone underneath it keeps shrinking. That is why it needs relining again a couple of years later, why the fit never stays right, and why the lower face slowly changes shape. Each reline is treating the symptom of a process that is still running.

Implants are anchored in the bone and load it when you chew, which is what stops that shrinkage. Nothing comes out, nothing needs adhesive, and the fit does not drift. If you have relined a denture more than once, you already know which problem you are solving.

It is uncommon, and when it happens it is nearly always early — in the first months, before the final teeth are made, when an implant has not integrated with the bone. At that stage it is a straightforward matter of removing it, letting the site heal, and placing again.

Because the surgery, the healing and the final teeth all happen here, this is handled here too. You are not sent anywhere, and the plan picks up where it left off rather than starting over.

PPO plans frequently contribute, though rarely to the whole case — most have an annual maximum well below the cost of full-arch treatment, and some treat implants differently from other restorative work. We check your specific benefits before quoting, so the number in your written plan is the number you actually pay after insurance, not before it.

Bring your plan details to the call and we will tell you where you stand.