• What are dental implants?
• Are dental implants safe?
• Are implants suitable for everyone?
• What does the procedure involve?

What are dental implants?

Dental implants are threaded sections of titanium that are placed in the bone of the upper or lower jaws to act as a support for crowns, bridges and dentures. They may be used in the replacement of single missing teeth, groups of teeth, or all teeth.

The success rate for implant treatment is greater than 90% (cigarette smoking may reduce this) and when successful, implants can be expected to last for 20 years or more.

Are dental implants safe?

Pure titanium implants placed in the bone, using accepted sterile techniques, are very safe. Titanium is a biocompatible material, which means that it does not produce an immune response in the body. This means that the body does not act to reject the implant. If an implant fails it is due to failure of healing and not because the body rejected it.

Are implants suitable for everyone?

For implants to be successful the remaining natural teeth and their surrounding bone and gum tissues should be healthy; oral and dental disease, tooth wear, or fracture or loss of natural teeth can increase the stresses on implant-supported teeth, causing damage or failure.

Sometimes the loss of natural teeth causes changes in the position of some of the remaining teeth. As a result, alterations to these natural teeth may be required as part of treatment or, in some cases, may rule out the use of implant treatment altogether.

Implants are not advised for people under 18 years of age due to changes that are still going on related to growth and maturation.

To assess whether you are a suitable candidate for implants, your dentist will ask about your general health. If you suffer from any conditions that are likely to prevent the implant from working, or make the surgical procedure hazardous, your dentist will discuss alternatives – implants are not the only way to replace missing teeth.

What does the procedure involve?

In the simplest cases implant treatment, including assessment, surgery, a period of healing and tooth replacement, takes four to six months. This can increase up to and beyond a year in complex cases.

In most cases involving one to three implants, you will be given a local anaesthetic to numb the area where the implants are to be fitted. If more than three implants are being placed, or when grafting procedures are being carried out, sedation with local anaesthetic is often used to make the surgery more comfortable. Only in cases where multiple implants in both of the jaws, or extensive bone grafting, are required, is a general anaesthetic the preferred approach.

A simple case of fitting one or two implants takes up to an hour in surgery. More complex cases can take several hours. After the procedure there may be some discomfort but usually little pain.

If you normally wear a denture over the area where implants are being placed, you will be asked to leave the denture out for the week following implant surgery, to reduce problems with healing. In most cases, however, every effort is made to provide adequate temporary dentures, crowns or bridges during implant treatment.