Dental implants and oral surgery
Dentessa – Your dental practice
Dental implants and oral surgery
What are dental implants?
Dental implants are titanium screws that are embedded in the bone and represent a replacement for the root of a lost tooth.
Titanium is used because of its biological neutrality, which is very important for bone tissue to accept the implanted foreign body. A titanium abutment (in recent times more often zirconia) is placed on the implant, which serves as a link between the implant and the prosthetic replacement.
Dental implants have the role of supporting a crown if one tooth is missing, or bridges if there is a lack of a large number of teeth. Completely edentulous patients often have problems wearing full dentures. Implants are especially useful in these cases because they serve to anchor (fix) the prostheses, whereby wearing them, especially lower prostheses, becomes much safer, and chewing becomes better.
What are the advantages of implants:
- dental implants are currently the most modern method that solves the lack of one or more teeth
- they are made of solid materials, which ensures durability
- surrounding healthy teeth are preserved and their unnecessary grinding is avoided
- the resorption of dental bone that occurs due to the loss of a natural tooth is avoided
- with implants, a perfect functional-aesthetic imitation of a natural tooth is achieved
- patients with the problem of complete toothlessness are provided with fixed and long-term prosthetic work
Candidates for the installation of dental implants:
- every adult who has lost one or more teeth
- every person who wants to solve the problem of their toothlessness with permanent and fixed prosthetic work instead of bridges (either fixed or mobile)
The installation success rate is about 99%.
Steps of installing dental implants
The path from the installation of the implant to the installation of a permanent prosthetic replacement – a crown, takes place in several steps.
These are:
STEP 1 – extraction of the existing bad tooth (if it has not already been extracted) and installation of the implant. This period is also called osseointegration (the period from the installation of the implant in the bone to the moment when the implant grows with the bone). The period usually lasts from 4 to 6 months, depending on the complexity and type of procedure and the condition of the patient’s bones.
In this phase, a temporary prosthetic replacement is made for the newly formed cavity, taking care not to stress the implant.
STEP 2 – placement of the gingivo pomer. After the period of osseointegration, there is the second phase, which involves opening the implant and placing the gingivo former, which is used to shape the gums in the place where the permanent crown will come. This step takes approximately up to 15 days.
STEP 3 – placement of the superstructure or abutment that serves as a connection between the implant and the dental crown.
STEP 4 – placement of a permanent prosthetic restoration (most often a metal-ceramic or zircon-ceramic crown) on the superstructure, which achieves a functional-aesthetic restoration that perfectly imitates the function of a natural tooth.
If the bone is not of satisfactory quality, it can be improved using various materials available on the market.