Living with a Full Arch
A full-arch bridge is fixed in place, but it isn't maintenance-free. This guide follows the first weeks to the years ahead: what to eat, how speech settles, how to clean under the bridge, and the signs that mean you should call us.
What Is It Like Living with Full-Arch Dental Implants?
Most people find that full-arch implants feel and work much like natural teeth once healed: you can eat most foods, speak clearly and smile without worrying about anything moving. The first few weeks need a soft diet and some patience, and long term the bridge needs daily cleaning underneath and regular professional care. At Comely Bank Dental in Edinburgh, full-arch treatment is from £12,500 per arch and includes a clear aftercare plan.
What Is Everyday Life Like with Full-Arch Implants?
For most people, life with full-arch implants is close to life with a healthy set of natural teeth. The bridge is fixed to the implants, so it doesn't move when you eat, talk or laugh. There's no adhesive, nothing to take out at night, and no plate covering the roof of your mouth.
That said, it helps to be realistic about three things: - The first two months are a recovery period. Your implants are bonding with the bone, and you'll eat softly and take things gently. - Cleaning matters more, not less. Implants don't decay, but the gum and bone around them can become inflamed if plaque builds up, and that is the main long-term threat to them. - The bridge needs servicing. Like anything that works hard every day, it needs checks, cleaning and occasional repairs.
The rest of this guide covers each of these in turn, based on how we look after full-arch patients at our Edinburgh practice, so you know what to expect before you start.
What Can You Eat in the First Few Weeks?
During healing, the implants need to stay as still as possible while bone grows against their surface. Biting hard on a fresh implant can disturb that process, so the first six to eight weeks are about soft food that needs little chewing.
The first few days. Cool or lukewarm, very soft food: soup, yoghurt, smoothies (no straw for the first day or two), scrambled eggs, porridge, mashed potato.
Up to about eight weeks. Food you could cut with the side of a fork: pasta, fish, risotto, well-cooked vegetables, minced meat, omelettes, soft bread without crusts, ripe bananas.
Avoid during this period: - Crusty bread, pizza crusts, steak and other tough meat - Nuts, seeds and hard sweets - Biting into apples, carrots or corn on the cob with your front teeth - Very hot food and drink on the first day
You'll get written aftercare instructions, and our aftercare page covers the general basics. If you have IV sedation for the surgery, you'll need someone to take you home and stay with you, so plan easy meals in advance.
Thinking About a Full Arch?
Book a free implant consultation. We'll explain what treatment and everyday life would involve for you, and set out the fees in writing.
What Can You Eat Once You Have Your Final Teeth?
Once the implants have integrated and your final bridge is fitted, most people return to a normal diet, including many foods they had given up with failing teeth or dentures: salads, steak, crusty bread, apples.
A few sensible habits protect the bridge for the long run: - Don't use your teeth as tools. Opening packets, cracking nuts or biting thread puts sudden loads on the bridge. - Take care with very hard items. Ice cubes, boiled sweets and olive stones are common causes of chips and broken screws. - Cut very tough or large foods into pieces rather than biting them off with the front teeth.
Implants don't have the tiny shock absorbers that natural teeth have in their ligaments, so you may not feel how hard you're biting. Many people tell us it takes a few weeks to learn a gentler bite.
Will It Affect How You Speak?
Expect your speech to sound a little different for the first days or weeks. Your tongue is used to a particular shape, and a new bridge changes it slightly, especially behind the upper front teeth. Sounds like 's', 'sh', 'f' and 'th' are the most commonly affected.
The tongue adapts quickly. Reading aloud, chatting on the phone and simply talking more all help. Most people sound like themselves again well before healing is over and the final bridge goes in.
If you have fixed temporary teeth on our Premium zirconia package, they are also our chance to fine-tune things. If a sound still isn't right after a few weeks, tell us: a small change to the shape or thickness of the bridge behind the front teeth often solves it, and we carry that change into the final design.
If you're moving from a full upper denture, you'll probably find speech easier than before, because there's no plate covering your palate.
How Do You Clean Under a Full-Arch Bridge?
This is the part that matters most. Plaque collects where the bridge meets the gum, and on the underside of the bridge, which you can't see. Left there, it inflames the gum around the implants and, over time, can lead to bone loss.
A routine that works for most people, twice a day: 1. Brush all the visible surfaces with a soft or electric toothbrush, angling the bristles where the bridge meets the gum. 2. Water flosser under the bridge, running the tip slowly along the underside on the cheek and tongue sides. It flushes out food and loosens plaque from areas a brush can't reach. 3. Interdental brushes around each implant where the bridge sits on it. We'll show you which sizes fit your bridge, and the gaps can differ around the arch. 4. Single-tuft brush or super floss for any area you find hard to reach.
Use a low-abrasion toothpaste; some whitening pastes can dull the surface of acrylic.
It takes a few minutes at first and becomes quicker. At your fitting appointment we'll go through the routine with you in front of a mirror, and we'll check how well it's working at every review.
How Often Will You Need Professional Care?
Expect to see us more often than someone with natural teeth, at least in the first year.
Hygiene visits. Four a year, one every three months, with our hygienist and therapist, Katie Ventisei. With the bridge left fixed in place, she cleans around the implants and underneath the bridge using instruments that won't scratch them, checks the gum health and coaches your home routine. Keeping to these visits is one of the conditions of your implant guarantee. A standard hygiene visit is £90; longer appointments may be recommended for full-arch patients.
Reviews with Dr Kalsi. Your implants are reviewed in Edinburgh by the dentist who placed them: regular checks of the bite, the bridge, the screws and the gums, with X-rays when they're needed to monitor bone levels around the implants.
If a repair is needed. The bridge is held on with screws, so if it ever needs mending, the dentist can take it off at the practice and refit it with new screws. That isn't part of routine care, though: your regular professional cleaning happens with the bridge where it is.
Routine care like dental examinations and hygiene visits can be covered through our dental plan membership, and members save 10% on most private treatment.
Do You Need a Night Guard?
If you grind or clench, yes, we'll almost certainly recommend one. Night-time grinding puts large forces through the bridge, and because implants lack the natural cushioning of a tooth's ligament, that load passes straight to the screws, the bridge and the bone.
A custom night guard made from a scan of your teeth spreads those forces out and takes the wear instead of your bridge. It's a small, inexpensive way to protect a large investment.
Signs that you might be grinding include waking with tight jaw muscles, headaches at the temples, a partner hearing you grind, and the bridge feeling slightly different in the morning. If you're not sure, mention it at your review and we'll look for wear on the biting surfaces.
What's Normal, and When Should You Call Us?
Normal, especially early on: - Some swelling and bruising for a few days after surgery - Mild tenderness when chewing during healing - Food getting trapped under the bridge, which is why the water flosser matters - The new teeth feeling large or unfamiliar for a week or two - Speech sounding slightly different at first
Not normal; call us on 0131 332 3971: - The bridge feels loose, moves or clicks - A tooth chips or the bridge cracks - Bleeding, swelling, pus or a bad taste around an implant, particularly months or years after treatment - Pain that is getting worse, not better, after the first few days - Your bite suddenly feels different
A loose screw is usually simple to fix, but leaving it can overload the other implants, so don't wait for your next routine visit. Our emergencies page explains how to reach us, and we're open Monday to Friday, 9am to 5.30pm.
Questions
This guide is general information, not a diagnosis. A dentist needs to examine you to say what is right for your teeth.