Dental implants are widely used in modern dentistry, both for aesthetic reasons and otherwise.
The systems and techniques used these days are very advanced and use much more high quality materials than were used in the past.
Their purpose is to replace the roots of the teeth so that they can provide an anchor for a single crown, or several crowns, a bridge or a denture which is to be fixed into the mouth to replace damaged teeth which have been removed.
As we know them today, dental implants are screw shaped implants and they are made from 100% pure titanium.
The reason that this metal is chosen above any other material is its quality of fusing directly to the bone, in a process known as Osseointegration.
Interestingly, titanium is almost unique in the world in its ability to perform this process.
On average, the implants are between three and six millimetres in diameter and anywhere between seven and eighteen millimetres long and they are made up of three parts.
The first, known as the implant fixture is the part that is inserted directly into the bone.
Secondly, the abutment is the interconnecting part which crosses the gum.
Finally there is the crown or denture which is made from titanium, gold or ceramic, with ceramic becoming more popular thanks to its ability to blend into the mouth.
This form of implant became widely used for the first time in the early 1980s, following research from a Swedish professor, Per Ingar Branemark, who discovered titanium's ability to fuse with bone around forty years ago.
The systems and techniques used these days are very advanced and use much more high quality materials than were used in the past.
Their purpose is to replace the roots of the teeth so that they can provide an anchor for a single crown, or several crowns, a bridge or a denture which is to be fixed into the mouth to replace damaged teeth which have been removed.
As we know them today, dental implants are screw shaped implants and they are made from 100% pure titanium.
The reason that this metal is chosen above any other material is its quality of fusing directly to the bone, in a process known as Osseointegration.
Interestingly, titanium is almost unique in the world in its ability to perform this process.
On average, the implants are between three and six millimetres in diameter and anywhere between seven and eighteen millimetres long and they are made up of three parts.
The first, known as the implant fixture is the part that is inserted directly into the bone.
Secondly, the abutment is the interconnecting part which crosses the gum.
Finally there is the crown or denture which is made from titanium, gold or ceramic, with ceramic becoming more popular thanks to its ability to blend into the mouth.
This form of implant became widely used for the first time in the early 1980s, following research from a Swedish professor, Per Ingar Branemark, who discovered titanium's ability to fuse with bone around forty years ago.