Dental Implants | Cosmetic Dental Care

Dental implants are an artificial substitute for a real tooth. They consist of an artificial root and prosthetic crown giving the impression of a natural tooth.  

Dental implants are an excellent option for tooth replacement. They look and feel like your own teeth. They also prevent the bone loss and gum recession, a significant long term benefit to oral as well as general health. Implants are also substantualy longer lasting in comparison to other tooth replacement options, if looked after. This does not only mean that they are cost affective but also a rather more permanent solution for the patient.

On the other hand the process of dental implants is a lot lengthier due to healing time needed between the different phases of treatment. From start to finish a dental implant can take anything between 5 and 12 months. This may not be the quickest but it is the best solution for the replacement of a missing tooth or groups of teeth. 

The confidence gained through acquiring a dental implant can and change a person's life. A nice smile and the ability to use your new artificial teeth as your own without it affecting the speech or day to day food intake would make a great difference to anyone.  

I imagine that in the next few years we may see further developments in the direct dental implant procedures which may reduce the treatment time.

Thoughts On Custom Vs Standard Abutments

     That is a great question. I agree with you that if cost were not an issue we would always use custom abutments however with the increaseing rise of labour and gold costs it is a negative factor of this alternative. In our practice we use standard titanium abutments which our lab technician customises for us... basically we do exactly the same in chair procedure as you would be doing for a custom abutment. ie we take fixture level open tray impressions, we send these to our lab and they customise the titanium abutment to a shape which they favor. Indeed sometimes it is not possible to use these abutments but in those cases we revert back to customised gold abutments. When our technician returns the work to us we simply fit the abutment, torque it down to 25-30 ncm and then cement the crown exactly the same way as you would cement a normal custom abutment and PFM crown. The advantage of doing it this way is no need to prepare titanium in the mouth, less time consuming and predictable outcome. Our clinic has been using titanium abutments for 5 years now and we see no significant advantage in using custom abutments other than cases where screw access is needed through the crown and when angulation is not ideal and neither a straight custom abutment or angled abutments will be sufficient.

Q. I have recently started placing implants and carry out uncomplicated simple treatments which reduces the variety of surgeries I can do, although a colleague is suggesting I push myself further. He's advised me to use CT scans to prepare for more difficult treatments. Is this essential for simpler treatments rather than an OPG?

A. I will start by saying that for a "standard of care" if we have this technology at our disposal then why not use it?

Over the past year I have been taking CT scans of my patients which has altered the way in which I carry out surgery and how my patients view and understand the whole process. Now I am more precise and more confident placing implants. This is also reflected in the patients who value the extra security of knowing I have all the information I possibly can. This may cost a patient more money however it's very rare for them to protest against a CT scan. In more difficult cases where things like the mandibular symphysis, nerves and sinuses are concerned a CT scan is of paramount importance.

Q. I am looking for information regarding the safety and radiation of a CT scan for pregnant women. My wife is having one implant and is 5 months pregnant, her surgeon suggested a maxilla CT scan before hand. Can anyone give me some advice on the dangers of this?

A. It's more than likely you would have no difficulty however you may want to delay the surgery until your wife has given birth. There is little research into the effects of radiation on pregnancy as there are unlikely to be any willing candidates. Is it really worth risking your child's safety for something non urgent. In the mean time you wife could have a partial denture for aesthetic reasons. It is possible your wife could require bone grafting or a sinus lift if you do delay but that's a chance you have to take rather than you babies health.

By ,

Dr Bruno Silva - Principle Dentist