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Essentially a dental implant is a commercially pure, titanium screw which substitutes for a tooth root. It is placed painlessly into the bone where teeth are missing. Following placement, we attach specialised implant components to offer a beautiful prosthetic restoration resembling the tooth or teeth you have lost. The magical quality of the dental implant is attributable to its unique biocompatible surface. Bone cells will grow up against this surface and fuse with as if it were part of your own body. This miraculous phenomenon is referred to as ‘osseo-integration’ and has improved the quality of life of many people all around the world. |
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The major benefit of implant treatment is that it is very successful, long-term and predictable. There have been studies to show the life expectancy of implant-supported restorations to be generally longer than similar tooth-supported restorations. For those patients with their own natural teeth there is sometimes considerable benefit in not having to ‘cut-down' these teeth to restore missing teeth. For those patients without natural teeth who have not been able to cope with full dentures having implant-supported removable dentures or implant-supported fixed bridges is life changing! |
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Provided that you have stopped growing (at least 18 years of age), are not pregnant and are healthy enough to undergo the procedure then you will be most likely eligible for implant treatment. Age is not a contra-indication (our oldest patient has been 86 years old) nor is osteoporosis, in fact there has been documentary evidence of increased bone density around implants in osteoporotic jaws. There is however, some evidence that implants are less successful in patients who are heavy smokers or immuno-compromised (e.g. leukaemia, insulin-dependant diabetes) and in patients undergoing chemotherapy or radiotherapy for cancer or bisphosphonate therapy for bone cancer or osteoporosis. |
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