In no area of dentistry is that more true than in the area of dental implants. Implants can now solve just about every tooth loss issue with a range of completely customized options. This is an introduction to some of the technological advancements influencing dental implants in Millwoods. If you’re living with tooth loss now or have to face tooth loss in the future, maybe they’ll benefit you, as well.
The beginning of modern dental implants
In Sweden in the 1950s, doctor and researcher Dr. Per-Ingvar Branemark was trying to develop screws that could be removed easily after surgical medical repairs were completed. An experiment with titanium screws that he had placed into bone failed, or so it seemed. The titanium had bonded securely to the live bone tissue in a process now called osseointegration.
The result was useless as far as Branemark’s original project was concerned, but revolutionized the field of dental implants beginning with clinical trials in the mid-1960s. Now, titanium screws are accepted by living jaw tissue as natural replacement roots of teeth. They not only bond securely and permanently to the bone, but those roots also stimulate new bone growth in your jaw.
One of these things is just like the others
One of the biggest reasons people hate to lose their original teeth is that, well, they are their original teeth. They look natural and real because they are natural and real. Patients considering dental implants in Millwoods are understandably concerned that their dental implants resemble their real teeth.
Thanks to computer-aided design and manufacturing (CAD-CAM) systems that produce today’s restorations that are attached to those titanium screws, those restorations are extremely close replicas of your remaining natural teeth. They are sized, shaped, and even colored to blend in with your remaining teeth, and to fit naturally in your jaw and face. There are some differences, though. Including the fact that those replacement restorations are completely immune from tooth decay.
Introducing the ETIII 3.2 Implant
Revolutionary as titanium screws are as the fundamental element of dental implants, they do require sufficient room in the patient’s jaw to take hold. Until the development of the ETIII 3.2 implant, some patients’ jaws were just too small to accommodate an implant.
Developed by Hiossen Implant, the ETIII 3.2 Implant is a game changer for patients that might not otherwise have qualified for dental implants. This mini-implant includes all the core elements of what is now a traditional titanium implant, including bio-compatible titanium.
All-On-4 Dental Implants
For a long time, implants were an increasingly ideal solution for replacing individual teeth with individual implants, or replacing several adjacent missing teeth with a bridge containing replacement teeth and anchored by two implants. For patients facing the loss of all teeth on one or both jaws, though, traditional dentures — with all of their disadvantages — were the most likely option.
With the development of the “All-On-Four” implant, new options have emerged. Now, patients benefit from complete upper and/or lower arches of replacement teeth permanently rooted into their jaw. Not every tooth is implanted into the jaw. Instead, each denture rests on two implants (two upper and two lower). This approach — that can be accomplished in a single day — provides all the benefits of permanent implants with maximum preservation of the natural jawbone.
The future of cosmetic dentistry looks bright as technicians, dentists, and others explore the benefits of new materials and technologies to serve their patients. If you think you could benefit from dental implants and are ready to explore options armed with this current information, get in touch with a dentist in Millwoods.