Dental Implants

1.What is dental implant?

It is a sterile titanium screw which is placed in the jaw bone at the site of the tooth loss, under aseptic condition, over which an artificial tooth can be placed and used for chewing.

2.What are the uses of dental implants?

It is used to replace single or multi natural teeth. Replaced teeth are of fixed type and the minimize the lost natural tooth in all aspects.

It can be used for:

1. Single tooth replacement- cement retained abutment and screw retained abutment
2. Multiple tooth replacement- Implant supported fixed partial dentures; Tooth and implant supported partial dentures; Implant supported over denture and Implant supported complete denture

3.Who are all eligible candidates for dental implants?

• Anybody can get a dental implants placed at tooth loss site. Even elderly people with diabetes/hypertension diseases other cardiac conditions are also eligible candidates, provided their physical status is good and their systematic problems are in controlled state.
• Person who have lost their teeth due to periodontal diseases (gum & root problems) may have to wait to get a dental implant, until their active diseased state ceases.

4.Is placing dental implant a painful procedure?

No. dental implants are done under local anesthesia. So no pain during the procedure. By following dentists instruction postoperatively and by taking regular follow up medication, there would be very minimal pain after the procedure.

5.Can it be done in single sitting?

Placing dental implant is a meticulous procedure for the dentist. So it must be planned precisely to locate the site for placement of implants. Accordingly you may require 1 or 2 sittings.

6.What are the types of implant surgeries?

It can be either single stage procedure or two stage procedure.

• In single stage procedure, implant is placed within the bone and either healing collar/ Abutment is placed over the implant for immediate loading/ early loading.
• In two stage procedure, implants is placed within the bone and over lying soft tissues are cloud and the left for 3-4 months for the osteointegration to occur. After that period, a second surgery is performed to uncover the screw and then healing/ Abutment is placed. This procedure is called “delayed loading”.

7.What are the advantages of dental implants?

Dental implants when placed in anterior region will create an “emergence profile” which makes it life like tooth appearances thereby give the best esthetic appearance.

When in posterior region, it helps in chewing food more effectively, as more force can be delivered through it while chewing when compared to FPD or RPD or CD.

• Being fixed type tooth, it is easy to maintain.
• In edentulous patients, it helps in preventing further bone loss and help the patient in better chewing.
• In edentulous patients, it avoids the disadvantages of complete denture like frequent loosening of denture, speech disturbances etc.

Pediatric dentistry turn to childrens dentistry pediatric dental definition information pediatric dentist at childrens dentistry Dental Implants