All-on-6 Dental Implants in Dubai

Two more implants change three things: how the load is spread, how much of the arch is supported at the back, and what happens if one implant is lost.

Load distribution. A bridge on six supports transfers chewing forces across more points. Where bite forces are high — a strong bite, a heavy opposing arch, a history of grinding — that matters.

Support at the back. With four implants, the rear of the bridge extends beyond the last support as a cantilever. With six, the support sits further back and the cantilever is shorter or absent.

What happens if one fails. Losing one of six leaves five carrying the bridge, which may be recoverable without remaking the whole restoration. Losing one of four is a more serious problem.

None of this makes six automatically better. Six implants need enough bone in six places. Where the back of the upper jaw has resorbed under the sinus, a four-implant plan using angled placement can avoid grafting that a six-implant plan would require. That is a real trade-off, and the honest version of it is discussed at the consultation.

Planning is done on a cone beam scan taken at the clinic on a Planmeca Viso G5, with fields of view up to 20 × 17 cm and voxel size to 75 µm. The scan shows bone height and width at each intended site, the position of the inferior alveolar nerve in the lower jaw, and the floor of the maxillary sinus in the upper.

On top of the scan we plan the finished teeth first and the implants second. Where the teeth need to sit for your face, your lip support and your bite determines where the implants can go — not the other way round. That order is what separates a bridge you can clean and live with from one that is technically well placed and awkward in the mouth.

The scan is also what tells us honestly whether six implants fit. Sometimes it says they do not, and the plan changes before anything is done. Imaging is provided by our dental diagnostics department.

Assessment. Examination, cone beam scan, review of medical history and medication, and a discussion of what the result can and cannot look like.

Surgery. Any remaining teeth in the arch are removed, the bone is prepared and six implants are placed. This is done in a licensed day-surgery theatre; the patient goes home the same day.

The temporary bridge. A provisional bridge is fitted so you are not without teeth. Whether it goes on the same day or after a healing period depends on how firmly the implants sit at placement — measured, not assumed. If they are not stable enough to load, they are not loaded, and that decision is made in theatre.

Healing. Implants integrate with bone over a period usually measured in months, and longer where grafting was needed. The interval varies from patient to patient and is confirmed by the treating dentist at review, not fixed in advance. During this period the temporary bridge is in place and the diet is restricted.

The final bridge. Made in the clinic's own digital dental laboratory, fitted, adjusted and reviewed. Material and tooth arrangement are agreed before it is made.

Six implants need bone in six places. Where the jaw has been without teeth for years, bone resorbs — most rapidly in the period following extraction, and most noticeably at the back of the upper jaw, where the sinus expands downward into the space.

Options where bone is short: bone grafting and sinus lift to rebuild the site, a different implant distribution that uses the bone that remains, or a removable overdenture clipped onto fewer implants. Grafting adds months to the timeline and its own risks; avoiding it by changing the plan is often the better answer, and sometimes it is not.

A fixed bridge is not a set of teeth you stop thinking about. It is cleaned under and around every day, with interdental brushes and an irrigator, and it is reviewed and professionally cleaned by the dentist at set intervals. A recognised reason for late problems with full-arch work is not the implants themselves but inflammation of the tissue around them, associated with plaque that is not removed.

Patients who will not maintain it are usually better served by a removable overdenture, which comes out and can be cleaned in the hand. That is a legitimate treatment, not a lesser one, and for some people it is the more durable choice. Gum health before and after treatment is managed by our periodontology department.

Implant placement is surgery and it has risks, and your surgeon explains them to you in full at the consultation, before you give consent.

Several factors are recognised as affecting the outcome. Smoking is a recognised risk factor for implant failure. Uncontrolled diabetes affects healing. Untreated gum disease, heavy grinding, and some medications — including certain medications affecting bone — change the plan or rule the treatment out. Every one of these is reviewed at the consultation, and some patients are advised against implants.

Individual results vary. A full-arch bridge is not a lifetime device: it will need maintenance and, in time, repair or remake.

All-on-6 is one answer to a missing arch, not the only one.

• All-on-4. Fewer implants, often less grafting, lower cost. Suitable where bone allows and bite forces are moderate.
• Implant overdenture. Removable, clips onto two to four implants, easier to clean, less expensive, and often the more durable choice where bone is limited or hygiene is difficult.
• Conventional denture. No surgery. Less stable, particularly in the lower jaw, but a valid treatment and sometimes the right one.
• Saving what is there. Where teeth are questionable rather than hopeless, periodontal treatment and conventional prosthetics may postpone or avoid a full-arch plan.

Each implant fixture at ELEMENTAL costs from AED 5,000 (Osstem) or AED 6,000 (Straumann, Astra or Nobel); the full-arch bridge, any grafting and the anaesthesia are quoted in writing after the consultation and the scan. Prices updated: September 2026.

The cost of full-arch treatment depends on the number of implants, whether grafting is needed, the material of the final bridge and the anaesthesia required. It is quoted in writing after the consultation and the scan, not over the phone — a figure given before the scan is a guess.

A consultation with the treating dentist starts from AED 650 and includes examination and discussion of the options. Imaging is quoted separately and confirmed before it is taken. Individual results vary and a consultation is required before any treatment is planned. Prices current as of 15 August 2026.

Treatment is carried out by DHA-licensed dentists within their scope of practice, at ELEMENTAL Day Surgical Center, 113 Jumeirah Street, Jumeirah 1, Dubai. DHA licence 5323888.