Zest Anchors Locator Overdentures
Dr. Shirley Baker
Tijuana Clinic for Cosmetic Dentistry
For those requiring a superior product for complete tooth replacement we now offer the Zest Locator Overdenture Attachment System. We are excited about this new offering in implant and denture technology as it resolves a number of issues in placing overdentures with a simple and ingenious solution.
» Introducing the Zest Anchors Locator Overdenture Implant System
Zest Anchors Overdenture System possesses both superior self-seating characteristics and vertical dimension. This system is the next step in technological evolution beyond current implant denture systems.
Additionally, because these two issues are addressed so effectively, the Zest Anchors Implant Overdenture System has superior durability. This is accomplished by means of a simple yet highly effective difference: The Locator Attachment.
Easy to insert and remove by your patients, LOCATOR Attachments are designed with customizable levels of retention and a low vertical profile. Most important, however, is its innovative ability to pivot, which increases the attachment’s resiliency and tolerance for the high mastication forces an attachment must withstand, allows it to compensate for the path of insertion even with up to 40 degrees of divergence between implants, and provides exceptional durability. This patented pivoting action, along with the attachment’s self-aligning design, also provides ease of seating the denture by the patient.
Advantages to the Zest Anchors Locator Implant Overdenture System
» Price: The price for this Implant Overdenture system with Dr. Shirley Baker DDS is just $4150 per arch. This price includes 4 implants, Locator attachments, and dentures.
» Usability: Zest Locators provide the patient “ease of seating” due to its unique pivoting characteristics.
» Integration: Due to the ability of the surgeon to use wider angles in the implant placement, the Zest Locator System can be used in a much wider range of circumstances and bone condition.
» Durability: As the Zest System moves with the patient, there is considerable less wear and tear on these dentures compared to not pivoting attachment systems.
» From the Zest Anchors website:
Further Reading On Dentures and Overdentures
Standard dentures have long had retention issues. That is, they can pop out unexpectedly. While this has created a cottage industry for cartoonists it is undesirable if you actually need dentures. There are a plethora of factors involved with denture retention--anything and everything from atmospheric pressure, quantity and type of salivary secretions, bone and gum type and structure, et al. Additionally, there are many different partial solutions to the retention problem reflected in the design of the denture. Higher quality dentures will obviously take the myriad retention problems into account, while lower quality dentures will not.
One in four people aged 65 or older have lost most or all their teeth.
-American Academy of Periodontology.
This creates a problem for the patient who is not a specialist in these matters. He or she must choose a dentist who uses dental labs that employ proper techniques and materials in order to deliver the highest quality denture for the price.
Dentures are proprietary products created by these dental labs, that is, each denture is custom made by lab technicians who build them layer upon layer based on the dental impression made by the dentist. The dentist must create a precise impression while taking pre-existing conditions into account (for example: extractions, inflammation). Following this, our dentist must ensure that the final product meets a criteria of quality while properly reflecting the dental impression. This obviously is not only to address the retention problem, but ensure that the denture will fit and function properly.
The Implant Overdenture Advantage
There is one overarching solution to the retention problem. That solution is the "Implant Supported Overdenture". On the surface, this is a simple concept. Dentures, as explained above, are attached to dental implants in order to prevent slippage in a more or less permanent fashion. It is necessary that these be removable in order to clean and maintain the denture.
Implant supported overdentures have other advantages as well. Through the process of stimulating the bone during mastication resorption is slowed or eliminated with dental implants. This means that the patient will retain their healthy and youthful appearance with implant supported dentures. This advantage extends beyond the appearance of heath, however. Implant supported overdentures allow the patient to chew their food more thoroughly thereby promoting better digestion and actual overall health.
A patient must have good bone integrity in order to accept the artificial roots of a dental implant. If they do not have robust jaw bone structure, they may need a bone graft or periodontal treatment in order to eliminate bacterial infections. The Zest Anchors Implant Overdenture System is superior in this regard--in that the implants can be placed at wider degrees off vertical than standard systems allowing the oral surgeon to place them in more delicate bone structures than previously possible.
While the "Implant Supported Denture" nicely resolves the retention issue, it requires our patient to exercise care in the usage of the implant overdenture system itself.
When seating standard dentures the patient must carefully align them before applying pressure. That is, they must be inserted in such a way as to not place undue strain on the denture while mounting them on the implant attachments. Traditionally, this is the time when an impatient patient may break their dental appliance. Complications arise when implants are not aligned in parallel--an implant surgeon's requirement to place the implants in healthy bone often requires them to place them off-vertical. The implant surgeon must angle the implants a bit in order to find the thickest and strongest areas of bone.
Another issue is vertical dimension. Standard Implant Supported Overdentures can often increase the vertical dimension of a patient's bite. The telltale indication of an excessive vertical dimension is the picture of a patient straining to close his or her lips around their improperly sized dentures. While a perma-smile is an asset for professional cheerleaders, this condition is not always desirable for those who are not experts in the use of pom-poms.
The Zest Locator system excells in this as well. The Locator Male stays in solid contact with the attachment as the Denture Cap, being processed into the denture itself, has full of rotating movement over the male for an extremely reliable joining of the prosthesis without any loss of retention resulting.
What you get out of this is a happy and healthy patient, glad to have chosen the best overdenture system offered on the market and delivered at a greatly reduced cost by capable hands.
