Dental health and smile appearance matter a lot for every human being. Over the years, dentistry has seen many technological advancements to help people transform their smiles and improve their oral health. One such modern dental care innovation is the Dental Implant. It is popularly used today for the lifetime replacement of one or more missing teeth.

Brief History of Dental Implant Technology

The history of dental implants dates back to the ancient period, about 2,000 to 4,000 years ago. At that time, people with missing teeth attempted to fill the gaps in their smiles. They tried using bamboo pegs, copper pegs, iron false teeth, animal teeth, and even other human teeth.

The major revolution in dental implant technologies occurred in the 18 and 19 centuries. That’s when dentists experimented with the use of gold and metal alloys to support a prosthetic tooth. But, these attempts were ineffective as the body didn’t accept these implants. Next came the doctors of the 1930s and1940s, they used orthopedic screws to secure fake teeth in place. However, all these attempts failed.

In 1952, Dr. Branemark discovered osseointegration- the process of fusion of titanium posts with the jawbone. He did this while studying blood flow in rabbits. After discovery, he spent some years in research to confirm that titanium is biocompatible and can fuse with the jawbone. In 1965, he placed the first successful two-stage dental implant in an alive patient. This implant took 6 months to heal and could last for 40 years. Since then, many innovations occurred in implant dentistry. Currently, there are new implant types and new oral surgery techniques that increase implant stability and improve patient recovery.

Digital Imaging and Planning

Dental implants last for a lifetime. The construction of an optimal dental restoration is possible only with proper implant positioning and angulation. There is ongoing technological evolution in digital imaging and prosthetic-driven implant planning. This allows restorative dentists to more accurately, efficiently, and precisely install dental implants.

Nowadays, dentists make use of model-free, completely digital prosthetic-driven implant planning pathways. The digital pathway can help significantly lower the number of dental visits and eliminate the requirement for a laboratory-designed radiographic template. It starts with CBCT imaging and intraoral scanning to create a virtual model of the patient’s mouth.

The implant planning software is one of the most promising and the best dental implant technology. It helps visualize details of the remaining dentition, surrounding intra-oral soft tissues, and underlying craniofacial hard tissues. The dentists see all this in a single virtual entity. The dentists can perform digital waxing or virtual teeth arrangement in this single virtual entity.

Next, the digital pathway involves milling or 3D printing of the CAD/CAM surgical template. The dentist uses this template along with computer-guided surgery.

Computer-Guided Implant Surgery

In a computer-guided implant surgery approach is the new Dental Implant Technology. In this dentists use digital information on implant position and angulation to place dental implants. The static transfer of information takes place with CAD/CAM surgical templates.

The technique for dynamic transfer is the real-time navigation system. This helps the computer guide the real-time placement of dental implants. Its key is motion tracking technology. This can track the positions of the drill and patient during implant placement. Using the 3D position information, the computer can promptly calculate and display the virtual position of the implant and instruments.

Digital X-rays

Digital X-ray is the advanced technology used to capture and store digital images of the mouth on a computer. It helps dentists instantly view the images and enlarge them to easily detect dental issues. This innovative diagnostic tool can help restorative dentists check for gums health and jawbone mass, prior to implant surgery. It can help dentists accurately and safely detect hidden dental problems such as:

• Decay between the teeth
• Unusual tooth positioning
• Jawbone loss
• Cancerous and non-cancerous tumors
• Cysts of Abscesses
• Problems with tooth pulp or issues below the gumline
• Developmental abnormalities.

Patients considering dental implant surgery need to take digital X-rays of their mouth as a part of their oral evaluation. This is necessary to confirm their candidacy for the operation or help them prepare for implant surgery.

Cone-Beam Computed Tomography (CBCT)

The implant treatment planning also makes use of state-of-the-art digital imaging systems like 3D Cone Beam Computed Tomography. This imaging system is critical to use when dentists place the implant around vital anatomic structures or aesthetic areas. The CBCT scans produce a DICOM file that merges with the STL file of intraoral scanners to create a virtual entity.

This facilitates entirely digital prosthetic-driven implant planning. CBCT imaging provides an accurate assessment of jawbone quality for pre-implant treatment planning. It aids in determining the actual width, height, and ridge anatomy of the alveolar bone. Moreover, it helps figure out the relationship between the edentulous sites with nearby anatomical structures.

Therefore, CBCT imaging is necessary before dental implants placement to predict the need for bone grafting.

Implants Designed for Immediate Loading

In Implant dentistry, the most advanced type of implant is a same-day implant or immediately-loaded implant. It is one of the latest innovations and one of the best dental implant technologies.

The All-on-4 implant is a unique type of implant to reconstruct a complete smile in a day. It is specifically designed by experts to immediately restore biting and chewing forces. It helps in full arch rehabilitation with a temporary fixed denture. This is preferred by patients having low jawbone density and completely edentulous dental arches.

In the case of Immediately loaded implants, the placement of implants and prosthetic teeth is over in a single dental visit. In a traditional implant system, dentists require a lot many implants for full arch rehabilitation. But, in All-on-4 implants, dentists use only 4 implants. After the placement of these implants, the patients can receive temporary teeth instantly.

They just have to go through 2-3 months of healing for osseointegration to take place. During this healing period, there is no need of removing the temporary prosthetics. After the final teeth set is ready, the patients can use them as replacements for temporary teeth sets. Thus, immediate-loaded dental implants help reduce the treatment time. Many dentists encourage the use of such implant systems for full mouth rehabilitation among anxious and/or busy patients.

The latest and the new dental implant technology is available at EON Clinics.

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