Today, dental osteointegrated implants are the most progressive method of restoring lost teeth. It has a lasting and perfect aesthetic effect. The implant is a titanium alloy, placed in the jawbone as a replacement for the dental root. The implant is firmly joined to the bone, and later on the superstructure is placed, which reproduces the shape and color of the lost tooth. Today, implantology shows success rates, at a five years base, over 98%. This percentage, compared to any other insertion in the human body, is indeed impressive.
Swedish orthopedic professor Branemark in the early 1950s found that titanium forms a very strong bond with the surrounding bone, with a process called osteointegration. Thus, after many years of preclinical research, he placed the first osteointegrated implant in a patient in 1965. The first implants were like lamellae and required large surgical interventions to be placed. In the 1980s, bolted implants were presented, which simplified the placement process and gave great impetus to implantology, and in the mid-90s the dental community began to overwhelm its techniques, paying particular attention to detail and ultimate aesthetic result.
Implants are a wonderful alternative to tackle toothlessness. Their most important advantages are:
They do not require grinding of the adjacent teeth.
They have the highest success rates compared to all other treatment options.
The teeth made up of them look and function as if they were natural.
They can give patients with dentures either a stationary restoration or at least a much more stable denture.
They help protect the jawbone. Their placement prevents their absorption as is the case with conventional dentures.
They are, therefore, rightly considered superior to the conventional solutions used by dentistry in the past. Titanium, a metal biocompatible and easily accepted by the body, is a guarantee for the success of the surgery.
The implants are placed in the jawbone by creating a well, always under local anesthesia, left there for a period usually ranging from 6-8 weeks to complete osteointegration, followed by prosthetic restoration.
This time, of course, according to modern protocols can be minimized and so we can talk about implants directly restored,but into very strictly chosen incidents.
So we arrived from the 6 months waiting as originally suggested and with the implant progression to the current situation where the edentate patient comes to the surgery and leaves in a session with new teeth.