Improving quality of life using removable and fixed implant prostheses.

Removable and fixed implant-retained prostheses can greatly enhance patients' quality of life, improving their speech, appearance, and ability to eat and otherwise function normally. Yet patients may resist this type of treatment due to barriers, including cost, fear, and lengthy treatment times. It is, therefore, important that clinicians engage in discovering and understanding their patients' concerns and expectations in addition to making a thorough and complete diagnosis of their dental conditions. In the case presented, emphasis was placed on patient-clinician communication to correctly facilitate the desired clinical result. The final restoration consisted of a maxillary removable, implant-assisted denture and a mandibular screw-retained, fixed, implant-supported prosthesis.