So I had a 62 years old female patient who wanted more retention for her dentures and she’s had her dentures for a long long time. I suggested overdentures for her but referred her out because her bone is soooo thin everywhere (on both arches) that I don’t know where I can place implants without needing some sort of GBR. But it got me thinking, how would you plan for GBR in an edentulous case? I can’t tell the patient to not wear the dentures for four months right?

Answer:

Great question, that's actually exactly what you tell them. There are a few ways to do this:

A) Tell them not to wear their dentures at all

B) Cut the flange of their dentures at the grafted site and tell them to only wear the dentures WHEN ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY

C) Do option B, but also place 2 mini implants that are used during the transitional healing period.