What are implants and what are their characteristics?
Implants can be defined as artificial roots that replace missing teeth. They are made of pure titanium material, a material that is used in other fields of medicine such as traumatology, with a fairly long history. The replacement of teeth with implants involves a process in which they are physically and chemically fixed. This is what we call an osseointegration process.
Under what circumstances is it appropriate to resort to implants?
It is good to resort to implants nowadays in almost any case, given that the advances both in surgery and in materials are quite important. We could define them in partial edentations, people who have lost a tooth or several teeth, total edentations, who have lost all the pieces and then we would also make a little emphasis on people who are carriers of removable prostheses that move everywhere, and with this they can be fixed with a minimum of two implants depending on the situation.
The first thing for all this would be to make a radiological study, mainly what is a scanner, in which we would see the length and width of the available bone. If we did not have enough bone available, we would resort to a previous regeneration or to the same intervention of the implants depending on the case. In an edentation of a missing tooth, what is done is a small incision, the implant is placed, a healing cap is placed and it is left to rest there until it osseointegrates, in a minimum period of 2 to 6 months depending on the case.
Subsequently, we move on to the prosthetic phase, in which different measurements are taken and a habitament is placed to join the implant to the future crown. In the case of, for example, several missing pieces, we would previously resort to the traditional bridge in which adjacent pieces had to be filed and the missing piece was placed in the middle. In this case, for example, 3 pieces are missing. Two implants are placed at the ends and the middle piece hanging. In cases in which there are no teeth, they can be replaced by a certain number of implants that will, as we said before, also make the bridge phase, depending on whether it is in the lower or upper jaw, there will be a certain number. And then we should also point out that in patients who have been wearing prostheses for a long time, removable prostheses, generally total prostheses, which move to all sides, a minimum of 2 implants is often enough for these patients to have comfort when chewing, comfort when speaking and esthetic comfort.
What are the advantages of implants?
The main advantages are:
– There is no need to carve the adjacent pieces.
– There is no need for root canal treatment.
– They improve chewing.
– They improve esthetics.
– Avoid premature bone resorption.
– They fix removable prostheses.