Implant-retained dentures in Tirana: the clipped-in full arch

An implant-retained denture is a full-arch replacement that clips onto two to four implants and comes out in your hand for cleaning. The implants are priced from 300–450 euro each at Medicus Molaris, so the fixture cost of a two-implant lower arch is the smallest entry into implant dentistry there is. What it gives you is a denture that does not lift when you laugh or eat. What it does not give you is a bridge you never take out.

What it is

A removable denture held down by attachments that clip onto implants placed in the jaw, instead of resting on gum and suction alone

Implants needed

Two for a lower arch, usually four for an upper

Time in the chair

45 to 75 minutes of surgery for two implants

Visits

Two trips to Tirana, with the healing months in between

Price from

300–450 euro per implant, plus the denture and its attachments

Removable

Yes. Out at night for cleaning, in during the day

Guarantee

5 years in writing on the implant fixtures

What “implant-retained” actually means

There are three ways to replace a whole arch of teeth, and the words used to sell them blur together in quotes.

A conventional denture sits on the gum and stays up by suction and muscle control. On an upper jaw it usually works. On a lower jaw, where the tongue is constantly working against it and there is no palate to grip, it often does not.

An implant-retained denture, the subject of this page, is the same kind of plate with metal housings set into its underside. Those housings snap onto studs screwed into the implants. You push it down until you hear the click, and you pull it out at night. The gum still carries some of the chewing load; the implants stop the plate moving.

An implant-supported fixed bridge is screwed in and stays in, which is what All-on-4 dental implants describes. The bridge carries the entire load and you clean around it with brushes and a water flosser instead of taking it out.

The middle option exists because it costs a fraction of the third and solves most of what is wrong with the first.

Two implants, four implants, or a bar

** The standard and most-studied configuration. The two fixtures go into the front of the lower jaw, where bone is nearly always available and grafting is rarely needed. Retention is transformed; a little rocking at the back remains, because the gum still carries the molars.

** Upper bone is softer and an upper plate is larger, so four attachment points are usually needed to hold it evenly. In return, the denture can often be made without covering the whole palate, which most patients notice within a day: food tastes of something again.

** Instead of separate studs, a metal bar is made to join the fixtures and the denture clips over the whole bar. It grips harder, distributes the load better across the arch and is easier to keep clean for patients with limited hand strength. It costs more because it is a custom-milled component.

Which of the three fits you is decided on the CBCT scan, not from a photograph, and it is the same scan used to plan any dental implant treatment here.

What it costs

The list price of the fixtures is the part we can publish today.

Worked example, lower arch: two implants at 300–450 euro each, plus the denture and the two locator attachments. Set against a fixed full arch at 5,000–7,000 euro, the saving is substantial, and the routes are compared side by side on the page about the cost of replacing a whole mouth.

Without them this page cannot state a total]]

Your visit

Living with one

You take it out at night, brush it over a basin of water, and brush around the studs in your mouth with a soft brush. The plastic inserts inside the housings wear down with use and are replaced periodically; that is normal maintenance, like brake pads, and it is the one recurring cost an overdenture has that a fixed bridge does not. Ask about it before you choose, in any clinic.

Most patients describe the change as being able to forget about the denture during a meal. Biting into an apple at the front is the classic test, and a two-implant lower denture usually passes it.

FAQ

Is an overdenture a step down from All-on-4?

It is a different design with a different price, not a lesser version of the same thing. A fixed bridge is stronger, feels most like natural teeth and needs no removal. An overdenture costs considerably less, needs fewer implants, is easier to clean by hand, and can be converted later: the same implants can sometimes carry a fixed bridge in the future if your circumstances change. For someone whose main complaint is a lower plate that floats, it solves the actual problem.

Can my current denture be clipped onto new implants?

Sometimes, if it fits your gums well, the plastic is thick enough at the front to house the attachments and the teeth are not worn flat. More often a new denture is made, because the old one has been adjusted over years to compensate for movement that will no longer exist. We tell you which applies after looking at it, and we price both.

Will I need a bone graft?

For two implants in the front of the lower jaw, usually not: that region keeps its bone longest even after years without teeth. For an upper arch, a graft or a sinus lift is more often needed, especially if the back teeth went many years ago. The CBCT answers this before you travel, and any graft appears as a priced line on the plan rather than a surprise on the day.

How long do the implants last if the denture comes out every night?

The fixtures are integrated into bone and are not affected by the plate being removed. What affects them is cleaning around the studs and keeping the gum healthy, because an implant collar with plaque sitting on it every night will lose bone. The written guarantee on the fixtures runs to 5 years and is conditional on the check-ups, which is fair to both sides.

*