The dental implant is replacing the root of a lost natural tooth. It is made of pure titanium, a biocompatible material which allows the implant to be integrated in the human bone tissue, through a process called osseointegration. In ANDREEA DENTAL STUDIO we use a dental implants system called Alpha Bio, which is produced for over 25 years in Israel by Alpha Biotech. Since 2008 Alpha Biotech is part of Nobel Biocare (USA), one of the top 5 dental implants manufacturers in the world.
Dental implants were designed particularly for the situations when a patient’s only option was a removable denture, or when perfectly healthy teeth needed to be prepared to sustain fixed bridges. The dental implant stops bone resorption, tooth migration and gingival retraction.
Any patient in good health, without any serious general problems and with a good oral hygiene can have implants. Age is not a restriction.
The success ratio is more than 95%. This is influenced by general health of a patient and mostly by oral hygiene. Without a proper maintenance the dental implant can get infected and in the end lost.
A very good personal dental hygiene is necessary. At the same time, regularly checkups with your dentist are mandatory. Your doctor will call you in every 6 months for professional cleaning, checking the implants visual and with x-rays.
There are also alternative methods to replace one or more missing teeth. These are the dentures or the fixed bridges. Treatment with dental implants is more recommended because it does not affect in any way the natural teeth located next to the missing tooth area. When we talk about dental fixed bridges, we talk about preparing these adjacent teeth, in order for them to sustain the bridge. At the same time, a dental restoration sustained by an implant is more esthetic and more comfortable than a bridge.
The first appointment with your doctor consists of an examination, a very thoroughly general and dental history, X rays and a treatment plan. You will be asked to do also blood analysis, just to make sure your general health allows this kind of treatment and to exclude general disease, that would negatively influence the implants. You will need to do a CT scan of the maxillary bones. This is necessary in order to measure very accurate the bone density and the bone dimensions and to choose the implant, that fits your situation best.
In your second appointment your doctor will place the dental implants. The oral surgery will be performed under local anesthesia, so you will not feel any pain or discomfort. After the surgery you will receive antibiotics and anti-inflammatory treatment. You will come back for a check up next day.
Ten days after the surgery the suture will be removed.
The next 3-9 months are meant for the osseointegration. This waiting period varies with the clinical situation. During this time the bone cells attach to the dental implant surface integrating it in your maxillary bone.
The next step is the dental restoration on the implant according to the treatment plan. This can be fixed or removable made of different types of materials, similar to the restorations made on natural teeth.
