5D Smiles8500 Florence Ave., Ste 100, Downey, CA 90240
5D Smiles Dental Implant Center
Editorial composite portrait — Maria, twelve months post-op All-on-6 by Dr. Henry Qiu at 5D Smiles Downey, not a photograph of a real identified patient

Patient Story · All-on-6 · Downey, CA

Twelve months ago
she stopped smiling in photos.

I gave her a full upper arch on six implants. This is her year, in pictures.

Editorial composite — see note at page foot.

The Short Version

Full-arch fixed bridges survive at roughly 88 to 100% over 5 to 10 years when they’re placed and maintained right — and this is one composite All-on-6 journey from my Downey practice that shows what that looks like: a woman in her late fifties, turned away by two offices and quoted All-on-4 by a third, who left with a full fixed upper arch on six implants twelve months later. I place six implants, not four, for a reason — six gives me cross-arch stabilization with no cantilever, so the back of the bridge is braced instead of hanging. Total cost was $20,000, all-inclusive, covered by my 10-year biological warranty. This case is one chapter of our full guide to dental implants; if you are weighing your own options, start with the All-on-4 vs All-on-6 decision and how full-mouth dental implants work, then come back and follow this one in pictures.

Before

Why was she told she wasn’t a candidate?

She came to me in her late fifties after ten years of slowly losing teeth. Two offices had turned her away — diabetic, thin posterior bone, “not a candidate.” A third quoted All-on-4 and called it the same thing. The truth is most of what those offices were missing wasn’t her biology. It was technology and willingness. With a CBCT, targeted grafting, and the blood-flow boost I get from UV-activated implants, a controlled diabetic is, in my hands, close to a routine case.

Editorial composite portrait of a woman in her late fifties seated near a window before All-on-6 treatment — not a photograph of a real identified patient

The Consultation

Can a diabetic with thin bone still get a full arch?

I read her cone-beam scan with her in the room. Without a 3D scan you’re placing implants blindfolded, and I never want a surgeon blindfolded — it tells me exactly how deep and how wide an implant I can place, and where to stay 2 to 3 mm off her nerve. Posterior bone adequate for six implants with targeted grafting, anterior bone intact. Her A1C was 7.4 — and a well-controlled diabetic under about 7.5 behaves, in my experience, almost like a non-smoker. (For where the thresholds actually sit, I wrote implants with diabetes and the A1C numbers that matter.) All-on-6 upper arch. $20,000, all-inclusive. Written before she walked out.

Editorial documentary composite of Dr. Henry Qiu reviewing a CBCT scan with a patient — not a photograph of a real identified patient
The number on the consult page became the number on the surgical invoice.

The Procedure

Why six implants instead of four?

An All-on-4 is a table on four legs — lose one and the whole table starts to shake. Six implants give me cross-arch stabilization: the fixtures brace each other in three dimensions, and I can put an implant at the very back of the arch so there’s no cantilever — no length of bridge hanging past the last implant, levering force onto it. Under her zirconia I set a titanium bar: it splints every implant together and stops a crack from ever crossing the bridge, like a roll bar on a race car. That is the whole reason I almost never place four. If you’re comparing designs, here’s how long All-on-4 actually lasts and real All-on-4 before-and-after cases.

Editorial documentary composite — placement day, patient resting in dental chair under IV sedation, not a photograph of a real identified patient

1 · Placement

Four hours under IV sedation. Six titanium implants. Same-day fixed arch. Home by 1 p.m.

Editorial documentary composite — week-one recovery, patient at her kitchen table with a mug of soft broth, not a photograph of a real identified patient

2 · Week 1

Soft food by day 4. Off prescription pain meds by day 2. Her own platelets carrying growth factors to the surgical sites.

Editorial documentary composite — week-twelve, patient about to bite into an apple in golden-hour kitchen light, not a photograph of a real identified patient

3 · Week 12

Integration verified on CBCT. Final monolithic zirconia delivered. She ate an apple that night.

In Her Words · 12 Months Post-op

“Eating an apple again was the part that made me cry.”

Maria R. · Downey, CA · 12 Months Post-op · Composite

Editorial composite portrait — full open-mouth laugh, twelve months post-op All-on-6 at 5D Smiles, not a photograph of a real identified patient

The Case, In Numbers

What did her All-on-6 cost, and how is it holding up?

$20,000

all-inclusive case cost

~$292/mo

0% APR · 60 months · after PPO, qualified

6

implants placed

12 mo

follow-up complete

10 yr

biological warranty

Six titanium implants, IV sedation, atraumatic extractions, PRP-enriched autograft at posterior sites, same-day fixed arch, final monolithic zirconia over a titanium bar. PPO contribution $2,500. At her twelve-month follow-up her bone levels were stable on CBCT with no complications recorded over that window — which is what I expect, not a promise: a 2014 systematic review in the Journal of Dentistry reported 87.89 to 100% implant survival for full-arch fixed bridges over 5 to 10 years, and the ADA puts implant success at 90 to 95% over ten years when protocols are followed. The way I hold a case to the top of that range is maintenance: yearly CBCT, cleanings and probings, and an occlusal adjustment so the bite stays balanced as her teeth wear — almost like rotating the wheels on a car. That maintenance is what backs the Vampire Implants™ 10-year biological warranty: I warranty the biology — the seal and the bone — because my UV-activated implants and LANAP laser are what let me stand behind it. (It is a 10-year biological warranty, not a “lifetime implant warranty” — no honest practice should claim that.) When you’re ready to compare the math, here’s what a full arch really costs per arch.

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Dr. Henry Qiu, DDS — UCLA-trained dentist focused on implant dentistry

Your Implant Dentist

The doctor in the room is the one who does everything.

When you book a consult, you're not meeting a sales coordinator. You're meeting me. I'll personally read your CBCT, draft your treatment plan, and quote your exact price — start to finish.

— Dr. Henry Qiu, DDS

UCLA Trained · DIO Implant Faculty & Instructor

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Editorial composite case study representing common outcomes across our full-arch patient population in Downey. Patient name, age, identifying details, and accompanying images are editorial composites — not photographs of a single identified patient. The clinical journey, timeline, and outcomes reflect documented patterns across our practice and are illustrative, not a guarantee of any individual result.