What Is Osseointegration?
And why is it so important to the dental implant procedure?
The term ‘osseointegration’ may be unfamiliar to most of our Burton patients, but it is an essential component of the dental implant placement procedure. Without the osseointegration process, dental implants would lack the strength and security that they offer and would, ultimately, fail altogether.
With implants increasingly becoming a very popular solution to the problem of missing teeth, we thought that our patients might be interested to discover what this process is and why it is so important.
Per-Ingvar Brånemark
In 1952 Per-Ingvar Brånemark was conducting a non dental experiment using titanium rods in live rabbits. On the conclusion of the experiment, he attempted to remove the rods for re-use as titanium is an expensive metal. To his surprise, he found that this was very difficult to do. On further investigation, he discovered that the titanium rods had fused firmly to the bone and it was this which was preventing their removal.
This new discovery led to further research, including the possibility of using titanium as an artificial tooth root to be secured into the patient’s jawbone by this process which he named ‘osseointegration’.
Dental implants
Although dental implants may have improved and become more refined since they were very first used, osseointegration is still at the very heart of their success. Because of this, it is necessary to ensure that the patient has sufficient bone structure available to place the titanium implant into. Where this is not present, a bone graft may be provided, although this will extend the total treatment time.
Once the titanium implant has been placed into the bone, approximately three months is needed for nature to run its course. During this time, the bone and titanium implant will gradually fuse together, providing an extremely strong ‘anchor’ for a dental crown to be attached to. Because osseointegration is a gradual process, it is important that patients at Mike Allen’s Dental Practice who have had an implant placed, eat cautiously for a while until the implant is more secure. We will discuss this in more detail during the personal consultation process.
Although this process may seem time consuming, and perhaps a little frustrating initially; once completed, you will have a replacement tooth that can last for twenty plus years, providing that you look after it with diligent cleaning and professional monitoring.
If you would like to discuss the possibility of having a dental implant placed at our Burton practice to replace a missing tooth, please call Mike Allen’s Dental Practice for an initial consultation on 01283 845345.