What is it?
A dental implant is normally a threaded metallic object, which is crewed into a jaw or skull bone. An implant will normally act as an anchor for some dental prosthesis, e.g., a tooth, denture, or crown; or for a facial prosthesis. Implant dentistry meets dual objectives of oral health and cosmetic improvements.
History
The concept of dental implants is not new. Humans have always had thirty two teeth in a complete permanent dentition. They have always had dental disease, accidents, and wars. Hence loss of teeth must always have been a problem. It is unthinkable that human ingenuity would not have thought of some ‘add on’ teeth. In fact, archeological scientists have found[1] skeletal remains of Mayan civilization (starting about 750 BC)[2] with shells inserted in place of missing teeth. It is also quoted in the same text that early Egyptians used shells in place of missing teeth.
Some Popularity Statistics
The use of dental implants is steadily increasing as shown by the statistics given below. These statistics have been taken from the data published by the American Academy of Implant Dentistry (AAID) [3]:
- Three million Americans had one or more implants in their oral cavities as of early 2015.
- The count is increasing at nearly half a million per year.
- 10 percent of all US dentists place implants but that is increasing`
- Implants performed by US dentists (2006 data)………………………..5,505,720
- Implants performed by US general dentists(2006 data)…………….3,103,930
- The success rate of dental implants has been reported in scientific literature as 98 percent
- The estimated US and European market for dental implants is expected to reach $4.2 billion by 2022
Impact of technology
If the idea of dental implants has existed even prehistorically, and it is so popular today, what factors prevented it from becoming so popular till recent years? The brief answer is technology. The ancient people did not have the support of metallurgical sciences, nor did they have the developed micromachining and nanotechnology that we have today. Sea shells were color compatible, aesthetically attractive, reasonably hard, able to resist a moist environment, and readily available. That is what they used.
Biocompatibility-Osseointegration
The current practice is to use a metal screw, almost always of titanium. A metal screw is a foreign element in the human body, and one would naturally have concerns about biocompatibility. However, the titanium is quite biocompatible. In fact, these titanium implants have the ability to fuse naturally with the bone tissue over a period of time. This process is called osseointegration (integration with the bone). The credit for discovering this very useful property of titanium goes to the Swedish Orthopedic surgeon P I Branemark who observed it in 1952, and later commercialized his finding.
A Limitation
While dental implants have proven to be superior to bridges they are not without limitation. Their limitation is that there must be sufficient bone already present, and physically strong enough to support the implant, and the prosthesis the implant supports. In case of insufficient quality or quantity of jaw bone for implant placement, the dentist may have to perform additional surgical procedures, in order to provide bone augmentation.
Right for you?
Why all this information? It’s always a good idea to research something as you consider it. Implants are an expensive and nearly permanent solution to many teeth issues. We’ll be continuing this blog series later this week to give you even more facts on the procedure, and would be happy to discuss your current oral conditions and whether we can implement implants to restore your smile and improve your oral health. Give our Carrollton office a call today if you’d like to ask more questions or have an exam to determine if dental implants are right for you.
[1] www.aaid.com/about/press_room/dental_implants_faq.html
[2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maya_civilization
[3] www.aaid.com/about/press_room/dental_implants_faq.html
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