Osseointegration and how it’s vital to Dental Implant Success
At Sheen Dental over the years we’ve successfully placed thousands of dental Implants. In Richmond at our clinic we tell all our patients that provided reasonable care is taken, then there’s no reason why their implants won’t last for many years. Why then does this procedure give the replacement tooth such a long life? The answer lies in a little known process known as osseointegration.
Osseointegration is a key part of the dental implant procedure and without it any implant is likely to fail. It occurs naturally after a dental implant is secured directly into the jawbone and involves the fusing or coming together of the titanium implant and the natural bone tissue. When this happens it creates a super-strong platform where a dental crown can then be positioned.
The initial surgery
Understandably though, most people are worried about the initial surgery and the fact that the jaw bone has to be drilled into. In reality, the jaw bone has very few nerves and isn’t normally susceptible to any pain. Add to this the fact that for an experienced dentist, this is a routine procedure using local anaesthetic, it’s fair to say that from the patient’s perspective, there’s little to be concerned with.
The concerning time however should be the two to three months after the initial implant placement because this is when osseointegration takes place. The problem is that no two people are the same and as such there is no particular time frame for it to occur. For instance in one patient the bone fusion process might happen in 4-6 weeks, in others it can be 6-12 weeks and for people with osteoporosis, diabetes and in those who smoke it could be considerably longer.
How does osseointegration happen?
To put it simply, the brain recognises that there is a tooth root present (albeit a false titanium one) and it tells the bone tissue to start to regenerate and grow. Equally when a tooth is missing, the surrounding bone tissue will start to waste away. You could say that it’s akin to a muscle and will grow or waste away in respect to how much it’s being used.
A word about titanium
Titanium has many properties including the fact that it’s lightweight, non allergenic and doesn’t rust or tarnish. However it’s biggest claim to fame is that bone loves it. The process was discovered by accident. In the 1950’s a Swedish scientist was using titanium rods as splints for rabbits. Due to the high cost of titanium he wanted to re-use them. However when it came to removing them from the rabbit after they had healed, he found that he couldn’t. The reason? Because the bone had grown around the rods making is one solid structure. Titanium is one of the only materials known to do this, but unfortunately it’s also one of the most expensive metals to buy. As an implant is titanium based it means that they don’t come cheap. That said, some unscrupulous manufacturers have tried to make implants using a mix of titanium and other metals to keep costs down. However they’re not as likely to last as long and it’s the patient who suffers in the long run.
At Sheen Dental we want to assure all our patients that when it comes to undergoing surgery for a dental implant in Richmond, we only use the very best implants and as a result our patients should expect that if looked after, their implants will have a long life. Contact us today on 020 8876 5277 or visit our website at www.sheendentalimplants.co.uk to find out more.