This patient is fairly representative of a good part of what I do in my practice. She presented with some pretty poor dentures and was desperate for improvement in function. Appearance was not a major factor, but she seemed very pleased with the final result. I placed 4 implants in her anterior mandible and made a ZAAG retained overdenture. This mandibular prosthesis functioned extremely satisfactorily without a bar. In the maxilla, my minimum course of treatment is four implants and a clip bar and that is just what we did. I think the bar is essential in the maxilla for stabilization and to "protect" the implants. There does seem to be a great deal of information that indicates that splinted implants will survive better than lone standing implants, especially in the maxilla. The top photo is about two weeks after uncovering. I used a punch for the second stage surgery so healing was real fast. The bottom photo gives a good look at the adaptation of the clip bar and you can also see the four ZAAG abutments.