Teeth are essential for chewing and missing teeth not only cause digestive problems but also lead to movement of healthy teeth, bone loss in the jaws and premature facial aging. The replacement of teeth today reaches a high degree of perfection with the placement of dental implants that mimic the structure of the tooth (root and crown) and therefore allows a very natural rehabilitation.
Today, the success rate of implants exceeds 95% and the few failures that are recorded are usually related to poor bone quality, the presence of infections or excessive smoking. However, even in these cases, it is possible to reposition the implant, obtaining results very close to 100%.
How implants are placed
For an ideal placement of implants it is necessary that not too much time elapses since the loss of the tooth because the bone of the jaws is gradually lost and in some cases almost completely disappears. In these cases of significant bone loss, it may be necessary to use techniques that regenerate the lost bone again.
These techniques consist of using artificial bone or a bone graft obtained from the chin or even, when we need a large amount of bone, from the hip, although currently there are techniques that allow avoiding grafts such as implants placed in the zygomatic bone (near the cheekbones) or the all-on-four technique with very satisfactory results and a quick recovery.
The new techniques and tools available today make the placement of implants a less aggressive surgical procedure, thanks to sedation, the lack of need to make incisions in the gum and the possibility of immediate loading.
Benefits of advances in Implant Dentistry
All procedures performed in the mouth can be performed under intravenous sedation, an anesthetic procedure that allows the patient to be kept in a state very close to sleep and with a high degree of relaxation so that, once the process is completed, the patient can leave the clinic on his or her own feet.
The other technique that has turned implantation into a very non-aggressive process is computer-guided surgery, which consists of placing the dental implants by means of a system of guides that are manufactured by computer and which make it possible to avoid having to make any cuts in the gum.
The advantages for the patient are due to the fact that there are no wounds, so there is practically no pain or inflammation, making the postoperative period very comfortable, being able to lead a completely normal life from the first day of the intervention.
But undoubtedly, the most important advantage of computer-guided surgery is the certainty that the placement of the implants is done by a very precise system that guarantees a millimetric placement in the most suitable place.
This very precise planning makes it possible to have a prosthesis ready to be screwed to the implants at the same time as they are placed, which is called immediate load prosthesis. Finally, this technique makes it possible to place implants in complex cases where there is little bone, since it makes it possible to search for and take advantage of all the areas of the jawbone, which would be almost impossible without this technology.
Thanks to these advances, there is virtually no case where dental implants cannot be placed allowing all patients who have lost one or more teeth to avoid traditional dentures and choose a better option.