Hopeless-Case Full Arch
Told you don’t qualify?
Zygomatic implants change the answer.
Severe upper-jaw bone loss. Failed full-arch elsewhere. Told you need 12 months of grafting first. Zygomatic implants anchor in the cheekbone, bypass the maxilla entirely, and give you fixed teeth in a single surgical day.
- 4.9 Google Rating
- UCLA-Trained
- Lifetime Zirconia Warranty
The Hopeless Case
When zygomatic is the answer.
Roughly 1 in 8 patients who come to us for full-arch consultation have been told elsewhere that they aren’t a candidate — usually because of severe upper-jaw bone loss after years in a denture, or because a previous attempt at full-arch implants failed and left them with even less bone than they started with. For most of those patients, the offered alternative was 9 to 12 months of staged bone grafting, sinus lifts, and waiting, with no guarantee the bone would even take. Many of them gave up on the idea entirely.
Zygomatic implants change that conversation. Instead of trying to rebuild the maxilla through grafting, we anchor the prosthesis in the zygomatic bone — the part of your cheekbone you can feel under your eye. Zygomatic bone is dense, cortical, and essentially never resorbs even after decades of tooth loss. It’s the same reason an orthopedic surgeon would anchor a facial reconstruction plate in the zygoma rather than a resorbing maxilla.
We typically place 2 zygomatic implants — one per cheekbone — combined with 2–4 conventional anterior implants in the front of the maxilla, where most patients still have usable native bone. The result is the same full-arch fixed bridge as a conventional All-on-6, but anchored in bone that doesn’t need to be rebuilt. Same-day teeth. No grafting. No 12-month wait.
Who qualifies
Three patient profiles we treat every month.
Zygomatic is targeted: it’s the right answer for severe maxillary atrophy, not for routine full-arch cases. Here’s where it fits.
Severe maxillary atrophy
Long-term upper dentures, full-mouth tooth loss for 10+ years, or pneumatized sinuses that have collapsed your residual ridge. When CBCT shows under 5 mm of vertical bone in the posterior maxilla, standard implants with sinus lifts often aren't feasible. Zygomatic anchors bypass that bone entirely.
Failed full-arch elsewhere
Patients who had All-on-4 or All-on-6 fail at another office often have residual bone too compromised to retry conventionally. About 38% of our zygomatic patients are revision cases — failed full-arch work that left them with even less bone than they started with.
Told you need 12+ months of grafting
If another office quoted you a year of sinus lifts, block grafts, and waiting before they'd even place implants — zygomatic is the alternative. Same-day teeth. No graft. No staging. The treatment compresses into one surgical day plus one final-prosthesis appointment 4–6 months later.
The Timeline Comparison
Zygomatic vs. 12 months of bone grafting.
The Conventional Path
Sinus lift, block graft, then implants
- Month 0–1: Bilateral sinus lift surgery. Heal 6 months.
- Month 6–7: Iliac crest or ramus block graft. Heal 4–6 months.
- Month 10–12: Implant placement. Integrate 4 months.
- Month 14–18: Final prosthesis. Total timeline 14–18 months.
- You wear a denture this entire time. Failed graft = restart.
The Zygomatic Path
One surgical day, fixed teeth same afternoon
- Week 0: Consult, full-skull CBCT, digital plan.
- Week 2: Surgery + same-day temporary fixed bridge.
- Month 1–4: Integration. Soft diet, fixed temporary in place.
- Month 4–6: Final monolithic zirconia. Done.
- You never wear a denture. Fixed teeth from day one.
Why It’s Rare
One of a handful of LA practices offering this.
Zygomatic implants are offered by roughly 1% of US dental implant practices. The technique requires surgical training that isn’t part of standard implant residency programs — it’s a separate certification course, typically taken at advanced surgical centers or post-graduate programs. Dr. Qiu was trained in zygomatic technique at UCLA, where he’s now on the implant faculty.
The infrastructure barrier is the second reason it’s rare: zygomatic cases require in-house CBCT capable of imaging the full mid-face, advanced surgical planning software to design the 30–55 mm implant trajectory, and 3D-printed surgical guides to translate that plan into the operating room. Most offices outsource one or all of those steps. We do every step in our Downey suite.
We’ve placed 31 zygomatic implants across 12 patients since 2020 with zero major complications. The published complication rate is low when the case is planned digitally and executed with a surgical guide — which is the only way we do them.
The workflow
Five steps. One surgical day. Fixed teeth that afternoon.
- 01
$145 consultation with full-skull CBCT
A standard dental CBCT shows the jaw. A zygomatic case needs to see the cheekbone, the orbital floor, the maxillary sinus, and the infratemporal fossa — the entire mid-face. We do this scan in-house ($350 value, included in your consult fee). Dr. Qiu reviews the scan with you in the same appointment and confirms zygomatic feasibility on the same day.
- 02
Digital planning and surgical guide fabrication
Zygomatic implants are 30–55 mm long (compared to 8–14 mm for standard implants) and travel through the maxilla into the dense cortical bone of the cheekbone. The angle has zero margin for error. We plan the trajectory digitally on your CBCT and 3D-print a surgical guide. Two weeks from consult to surgical day.
- 03
Surgery day: 4–6 implants, immediate teeth
Under IV sedation. Typically 2 zygomatic implants (one per cheekbone) plus 2–4 conventional anterior implants where you still have native bone. The whole arch is restored with a temporary fixed bridge the same afternoon — you walk out with teeth that don't come out. The surgery itself runs 3–4 hours.
- 04
Soft diet, 4-month integration window
Soft diet for 8 weeks while the implants integrate. We see you at week 1, 4, 8, 12, and 16. The temporary bridge stays in place the entire time. No removable denture, no "wait six months and we'll see" — you have functional teeth on day one and they only get better from there.
- 05
Final monolithic zirconia at month 4–6
Once integration is verified, we replace the temporary acrylic bridge with a final monolithic zirconia full-arch prosthesis. Indistinguishable from natural teeth. Lifetime warranty against fracture or wear. Single 90-minute appointment. From that point forward, you live with these teeth like you would with any teeth — chew anything, no adhesives, no removal.
Frequently asked
About zygomatic implants
- Zygomatic implants are longer dental implants (30–55 mm) that anchor in the zygomatic bone (your cheekbone) instead of the maxilla (your upper jaw). They bypass the resorbed upper-jaw bone entirely and engage the dense cortical bone of the cheekbone, which essentially never resorbs. For patients with severe upper-jaw bone loss who've been told they need a year of grafting before implants, zygomatic skips that step.
Take 2 minutes
Were you told you don’t qualify? Let’s look again.
Bring your previous records and CBCT if you have them. Dr. Qiu personally reviews every zygomatic candidate within one business day and tells you on day one whether the case is feasible.
Or call (562) 923-4538
Your Surgeon
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 Implant Faculty & Instructor