Implant Dentistry – A Routine Procedure!
For a greater part of the period of their existence dental implants had been regarded as an experimental treatment modality and their future as a routine successful dental procedure, in their earlier years, seemed questionable. Today implant therapy has become so popular and affordable they are routinely performed as frequently as any other common dental procedure. Dental Implants are titanium fixtures, which are placed within the jawbones to replace lost or missing teeth. The fixture once placed in time, by way of osseointegration, integrates with the jaw and becomes a viable part of it. This fixture is then fitted with an artificial tooth or denture. This form of artificial tooth replacement is the most advanced and sophisticated available today.
The earlier treatment modalities for complete tooth loss used to consist of removable types of dentures made of acrylic resins, though these used to serve and perform their limited functions satisfactorily they were still deemed hopeless by millions unsatisfied. The reasons for their pitfall are numerous but the main ones being – a lack of comfort and the lack of patient acceptability. For other forms of single or multiple teeth replacements, a traditional removable partial denture or the conventionally accepted porcelain fixed partial denture replacements (bridges) were designed. No doubt ceramic bridges are the treatment of choice for a variety of edentulous situations, are still the preferred treatment option for partial tooth loss. They have their own limitations and drawbacks. The removable partial denture is not a very good treatment option thought it is the only treatment option available in some cases. These are difficult to adapt to; hygiene & comfort are compromised; functional efficiency is highly restricted; and esthetics may not be achieved. While the fixed ceramic bridges make up for most of the drawbacks of the removable partial dentures, these can only be fabricated if the area of missing teeth (edentulous area) is bound on either side with healthy natural teeth. If there are no teeth present on one side of the edentulous area then a bridge is not possible. These are designed to take support from the adjacent teeth and require the grinding of perfectly good adjacent teeth. This may seem justifiable in some ways but definitely a no – no in today’s dentistry.
With the advent of the implants a whole new rationale of treatment options have emerged for every basic replacement procedure. Replacement situations, which were once not possible with a fixed bridge, can now be restored with superior comfort and esthetics with implants. Or, unsatisfactory removable dentures can be made into fixed prostheses with the help of implants. Now, there is no requirement for grinding any adjacent teeth to fabricate a bridge – just the placement of a single or multiple implant/s in that site is enough to fabricate a crown or an implant assisted fixed restoration. The phonetics, esthetics, function, and patient comfort etc. achieved by the use of implant-assisted prostheses are unparalleled. It is even possible to have fixed complete dentures now. The quality of life for the edentulous has greatly improved and enhanced
Dr. Murali Srinivasan, MDS.
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