What is dental implant?
Dental implants are tooth roots made of titanium that are designed to relieve tooth deficiencies. Implant consists of 3 parts as titanium screw, abutment and prosthesis. The part of the implant that is made of titanium and which carries out the tooth rooting task is the part that remains in the bone. The denture abutment forms the prosthetic support that is screwed on and tied to the titanium root in the bone.
Today, dental implants are manufactured from titanium. Titanium is a material that has the strength to fuse with the bone without creating any allergic reaction in the body and with the resistance that can resist the chewing forces.
Who are good candidates for implants?
Treatment options for single tooth missing are implant or bridge treatment.If the implant is applied, treatment can be provided without any treatment to the teeth next to the gap.
Treatment options for multiple tooth missing include implants, bridges, or mobile dentures. If implant treatment is preferred, the number of implants to be used may vary depending on the size of the gap to be closed. The use of the implant eliminates multiple tooth defects without the need to perform any procedure on the adjacent intact teeth and without using a denture.
Total edentulism is a condition in which there are no teeth in the mouth. Treatment options include implant treatment or total denture (palate). A fixed prosthesis can be applied by placing 4 or more implants in the point where the post-imaging sites are detected in the total edentulous patients. In some cases, moving total dentures can be applied with support from 2 or 4 implants. These implant-supported dentures are more comfortable than total denture (palate), although they are mobile.
Implantation in dental deficiencies provides a more comfortable, aesthetic and functional treatment than other alternative methods.
Implant application
Implant application is usually performed under local anesthesia. During the procedure you will not feel any pain or discomfort. If you follow your doctor’s recommendations, you will not have any pain to disturb you after the procedure.
Depending on the patient’s wishes, the implant procedure can be performed under sedation or general anesthesia.
First examination: the first examination will determine your general health, your general oral condition, the location and number of missing teeth, and your gingival health. Later on, various imaging tests are performed to learn the amount and quality of bone. In this way, it is decided that at what points of the maxillahow many implants will be made and how a denture will be applied.
Implant operation is performed under local anesthesia, sedation or general anesthesia. In this operation, implants are inserted into your maxillabone, and the implants are usually covered with gingiva and passed to the process of waiting (ossification) is called osseointegration. This waiting period varies from 2 to 6 months, depending on the structure of bone and procedure. This can be extended if bone insertion or sinus lift is performed. At the end of the osseointegration period, implants that are fused to the bone are attached with parts called healing heads to shape your gingiva. In this way, after about a week of waiting for your gingiva to form, construction phase of the denture begins.
The success of implant treatment
The success rate of implant treatment is as high as 98%. This ratio is around 90% in the 15-year follow-up period. In order to achieve this high success rate, the patient should care about the implants and regular doctor check. Another point that should not be forgotten is that this high success rate decreases 70% in smokers.
If the implants do not fuse to the bone, the implant is removed and the area is cleaned and replaced with a new implant. Sometimes additional surgical procedures may be required during this procedure and the waiting period may be prolonged.
Implant care and controls
As with your natural teeth, your implants should be treated with care and good oral hygiene. Although there is no caries in the implants and prosthetic structures, infection may develop in the gums around the implant and if this infection does not treated it spreads to the bone around the implant and leads to loss of the implant. This infectious condition that occurs around the implant is called as peri-implantitis. Depending on the stages of perimplantitis, various treatments may be necessary, but removal of the implant may be necessary in advanced cases. It is very important that you take care of your implant in order not to encounter such adverse conditions and come to the controls at the intervals recommended by your doctor.
