Dental implants are artificial roots used to replace missing teeth. Modern implants are indistinguishable from real teeth. Dental implants are very stable and provide permanent solutions for missing teeth.
Dental implantation techniques provide solution not only for individual tooth restoration but also to support other dental prosthesises like bridges or overdenture.
During the implantation process an artificial, titanium or zirconium cylindrical shape screw is placed and secured inside the jawbones to replace missing tooth root by means of osseointegration, a process in which the biocompatible implant surfaces are fused with bone. Once the implant is stabilised, it can be used to support crowns and bridges to replace missing teeth.
Implantation is a routine surgery nowadays and the risk of rejection and other clinical complication is very low, not higher than in case of other micro-surgical dental treatments.
Who is suitable for dental implants?
If you have good general health then dental implants will almost certainly work for you. Dental implantations are only performed if there is enough bone to support the implants so the jawbone is wide and tall enough to hold the screw. Old tooth deficiency or periodontal disease may lead to bone loss. Bone grafting can be the solution if there is a lack of adequate maxillary or mandibular bone. Bone grafting procedure means that the missing bone is reinstated by an autograft - harvested from different parts of the patient's own body - or a xenograft - a bone substitute which comes from animals. The complete ossification of the bone graft takes a few months in the human body thus enabling dental implantation.
Bone reconstruction in the maxilla often means refilling the bottom part of maxillary sinus to establish enough bone - this is called sinus lift. Although these surgeries may seem daunting at first but they are quick and effective routine surgeries nowadays.
What is the best implant?
There is a variety of different implants on the market (a lot of these imitate big brand products). Usually there is more than one choice: the choice of the solution always depends on the dental problem to solve and the financial options.
Our oral surgery offers various high quality implantation systems. Almost all implantation systems have titanium and zirconium variants. The placement of implants is done with the help of a computer- designed surgical guide based on CT (computed tomography) scan (CAD/CAM technology) if it is necessary.
