What are dental implants?

Dental implants are substitutes for the roots of missing teeth. They act as an anchor for a replacement tooth or crown or a set of replacement teeth.

Dental implants are so natural-looking and feeling, you may forget you ever lost a tooth.You know that your confidence about your teeth affects how you feel about yourself, both personally and professionally. Perhaps you hide your smile because of spaces from missing teeth. Maybe your dentures don't feel secure. Perhaps you have difficulty chewing. If you are missing one or more teeth and would like to smile, speak and eat again with comfort and confidence, there is good news! Dental implants are teeth that can look and feel just like your own! Under proper conditions, and diligent patient maintenance, implants can last a lifetime. Long-term studies continue to show improving success rates for implants.

Following the work and publications of the Swede P.I. Brånemark in the 1970-80s, dental implantology has become a discipline wholly separate from dentistry. It aims to replace one or several missing teeth by inserting one or more artificial roots in the bone on which the prosthesis is fixed. This operation, apart from esthetic replacement of one or several missing teeth and offering a more comfortable solution and alternative to moveable appliances, may also be used in orthodontics as an anchorage point. The implant then acts as an anchorage point to replace one or several teeth. In some people who have no teeth, a moveable prosthesis can also be stabilized by surgically inserting two implants.