Dental implants are titanium prosthetic elements that naturally replace and are completely biocompatible with the roots of missing teeth. Titanium is a material which is often used in many medical specialties such as orthopedic surgeryfor the treatment of bone fractures.
The biological principle throughout which dental implants are tolerated by the bone and the physical and chemical bond carried out therewith is called osseo integration.
Osseo integration is a process that lasts between 2 and 6 months, depending on the quality of the bone where the dental implants are placed on and on primary stability achieved during surgery. Oncethe osseo integration process ends, we create the crown on the final implant, which would replace the missing toothcrown.
With dental implants we can replacefrom a single tooth to an entire mouth.In cases where more than 2 teeth have to be substituted, a single implant per tooth is not necessary, as we makefixed bridges on 2 or 3 implants. There are techniques such as All on Four, in which we replace an entire jaw so that it is totally fix using only 4 implants. Yourmouth should be thoroughly studied previously in order to benefit yourself from the best therapeutic option.
Like any other dental treatment, implants require maintenance and control sessions which have to be performed by a qualified professional. Normally we perform controls every 6 months during the first two years and after once a year. In these check-up sessions we perform x-rays andcleaning of the prosthesis.
Dental implants are housed within the patient’s bone and are surrounded by the gum of the mouth. It is very important to place the implant in the correct position in order to achieve bone and long term gum stability. When we lose a tooth, part of the bone where the tooth was staying is lost, too. This bone loss increases as time passes and often greatly complicates dental implant placement. In cases where there is a loss of both bone and gum prior or simultaneous implants are required to implant placement grafts. With this we regenerate the area and obtain thus a proper quality of the peri-implant tissues. For this reason, we always recommend placing the implant as soon as possible after the tooth loss to preserve as much bone and gum surrounding the tooth as possible.
This is especially important in the aesthetic zone of the mouth, as our front teeth become vey visible when smiling. Not only is it important to have nice teeth, but also the surrounding gum must be in a good state. Nowadays, in modern dentistry we refer to these as white aesthetics (tooth) and pink aesthetics (gum). For a total success of a dental implant treatment, we need to get a healthy and adhered gum which is on top of the implant. In 90% of the cases in which we perform implant treatment in the area of maximum aesthetics of the mouth, we carry out the same technique in a small bone graft and we place a gum implant which is obtained from the palate. With this technique we obtain compensation for the bone loss so that it can be generated and at the same time, achieve aesthetic and stable results over the years.
Currently, in many cases, we are able to place fixed crowns over the dental implants from the very first moment. This is called immediate implantology, obtaining thus an aesthetic and chewing function. These crowns which are immediately placed are fixed but provisional, when the osseo integration process has ended is when we start making the final crowns.
Andrea Donat
(+34) 672 08 66 35
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