Sooner or later all of us have to admit that we can lose any of our teeth. The edentulous area - no matter whether big or small - has to be filled as soon as possible. A restoration will be necessary.
In order to fill a smaller edentulous area or the space left by a single tooth, neighbouring teeth had to be used previously. These teeth had to be ground even if they were healthy! However, there is another solution now: an implant.
Implants can replace missing teeth including their roots. They are set (implanted) in the place of previous teeth in the mandible jaw. Bone will grow over the implant during the period of healing in an extent so that it will be stably fixed in the bone. During the time of healing, which lasts usually up to three months, implants sit under the mucous membrane (gum) that protects them from load. Afterwards head (felépítmény) is screwed into the implant and finally the "new tooth" is fixed to this head as crown is fixed in ordinary cases. The implant takes over the chewing load instead of the tooth root and transmits it in the direction of the mandible jaw.
Implants have to meet three important requirements in order the artificial tooth root to be able to get fixed in the mandible jaw:
It depends on the given circumstances (indication), which is assessed by a dentist.
We will show you a few examples below when an implant can be applied:
A missing tooth can be restored without having to grind healthy, neighbouring teeth in order to make a fixed partial denture with the application of implants.
The fourth tooth (right after the canine) was missing, so it was replaced by an implant that holds the crown.
The patient's left upper 1 tooth had been injured therefore it had to be treated with root canal therapy. A chronic osteitis had started out in the mandible jaw, which resulted in the loosening of the tooth root. Directly after the extraction of the tooth, the implant was placed, and after another three months the permanent prosthesis was placed. The mucous membrane has also been cosmetically restored during the treatment.
Two teeth behind the canine on the upper right side were missing. The implant was set in the place of the first kisorlo and joined to the first nagyorlo, thus a fixed partial denture could be created without grinding the canine.
If you consider traditional dental prosthesises, the only solution is to apply a removable denture placed on the mucous membrane. On the contrary, if an implant is used, it can form the basis of a fixed partial denture.
All the teeth behind the canine on the upper right side are missing. An adhesive fixed partial denture was prepared on 3 implants after these implants have healed. The finished fixed partial denture is held only by the implants:
In the case of such spaces implants and remained teeth form the abutment of the dental prosthesis together. A removable or fixed partial denture can be prepared depending on the case.
It is clearly visible on the X-ray picture that the distance between the left lower canine and the wisdom tooth is too big, so alone these two teeth are not enough for the restoration of the 4 missing teeth. Therefore an implant is set in the place of tooth 6. This allows the preparation of a fixed partial denture.
Traditional denture lies on the mucous membrane. In the case of implants denture is fixed in a way that it will not hinder chewing or speaking.
The advantage of implants is obvious: Your teeth will be fixed stably, so you will see that your "new teeth" help you to re-gain your self-confidence.
Although prosthesis is necessary even if you have implants, but the size of the denture can often be reduced significantly and the denture can be better adjusted to the starting-point. The prosthesis will hardly be recognizable for you or for an outsider as it is pretty favourable both aesthetically and functionally.
You can wear your "new teeth" just like your natural ones. The stable fixing of denture allows you to chew more strongly, thus you can eat any kind of food. Finally the denture will not disturb you when you speak, so you can laugh heartily again.
First of all the dentist will examine you thoroughly. If there are inflammations in the mouth, they have to be healed before placing an implant. Dental caries and parodonthosis have to be treated first. In case of general diseases it can be necessary to attend a general physician.
Treatment can only be started after your dentist has assessed the extent of the edentulous area and your bite, he has planned everything, he has informed you about the treatment that you are about to receive.
Mandible jaw is opened at the place where the implants will be set into the bone, but first you get a local anaesthesia - or naturally if you wish you can get the treatment in narcosis, which is even positively recommended in certain cases (f. x. simultaneous placing of 6 implants). A bed for the implant is prepared, then implant is placed and finally mucous membrane is stitched. The post-effect of the placement of implantation can mean inconvenience for the following 2 or 3 days. There may occur swelling or a faint pain during this period, however, it can be perfectly ceased with medication. The operation is followed by regular treatments with soft-laser, which accelerates recovery and reduces possibility for occurrence new complications.
Implants are covered by mucous membrane so that it will be protected from unwanted load during the healing period, and thus it will heal undisturbed.
The implant builds in to the bone perfectly in 3 to 6 months depending on the individual case. Afterwards the felépítményt will be screwed into the implant, so the dental prosthesis can be fixed to it.
You can find more detailed descriptions on the materials used during the placement of implants on the following websites:
One single implant can be built in about 15 to 20 minutes. This intervention is often more simple than a tooth extraction as it only means that a screw of accurately designed size is put in a certain place in the mandibular jaw under sterile circumstances. This also means that the wound heals pretty quickly. If there is a suture in the wound, it will be removed on the 5th to 10th day following the operation.
It is not recommended to travel or fly on the day of the operation. However, you can travel on the following day if you can arrange that stitches will be removed in your country. It is, however, always recommended to stay a little longer, so the healing process of the wound can be followed up or even accelerated by applying soft-laser therapy.
No. According to our own statistics 4 implants out of 100 certainly can not be used after the preiod of recovery. This can happen despite the fact that neither pain, imflammation nor swelling occured following the operation, and the average 3 months of recovery has passed without significant incidents. The implant is removed in these cases, and we will try to build in a new implant after another 8-10 weeks. All of the implants placed on second try have integrated successfully so far. However, this does not mean a guarantee for all possible cases.
All in all implantation is successful in 96% of the cases. The 4 % rest can also be successfully solved. It only means the treatment takes a little longer.
Naturally there are cases where it is not possible to use implantation.
For example:
People with diabetes can have an implant if their glycemia is adjusted well and they controll it with extra attention during the time of treatment. It is necessary to have a close contact with the general physician in this case.
It is extremely important to attend teeth and the mouth thoroughly in order to extend the implant's lifetime. It is just as important as in the case of natural teeth. Lack of proper attention results in loss of the implants sooner or later. This is the reason why a dentist can not recommend implantation whenever teeth are not attended in due extent.
Naturally we have only shown you a couple of examples that will not necessarily occur during the course of a treatment.
One of the conditions of a successful implantation is the accurate size and placement of the implant so that it fits the designed dental prostesis. It is also necessary to the success that a proper volume of bone is present on that certain place. Naturally this is not always the case. There are specific surgical techniques that are able to restore the suitable height and width of the mandibular jaw. Less serious lack of bone can be solved in paralell with the placement of the implant. More significant deficiencies can, however, only be ceased by a separate intervention. Certain materials and membranes are often used as they help artificial bone regeneration during the process of bone restoration. Recovery can last up to 4 - 8 month depending on the extent of intervention.
Implants meet the technical demands of durable dental prosthesises.
It is mostly up to you how long you can wear the implant! It is you who can prevent inflammations through thorough oral hygiene as these mean the biggest danger to implants.
There are a lot of patients who have used their implants for years without any complaints. If you can keep your dentist's strict advice regarding oral hygiene, you will find a lot of pleasure in your fixed dental prosthesis.
Ask your dentist how and with what tools you can take care of your teeth the best way. He/she will tell you which products are the best for you from a dentist's point of view. You can choose from several suitable products in the shops: from tooth pastes to optimally shaped tooth brushes and dental flosses.
Please, keep your dentist's recommendations:
Proper tooth and oral hygiene will not only save your natural teeth's health, but it will also ensure the perfect functioning of your "new teeth" for a long time!