Which dental Implants?

For many years, the only possible option for replacing missing teeth was to have dentures fitted. However, dentures, whilst being the best on offer for some time, are far from perfect. many people find them uncomfortable and fear them coming loose or even worse, falling out, while they are eating. They also tend to restrict what a person can or more exactly, cannot eat.

Thankfully, an accidental discovery in the 1950's by a Swedish scientist led to the eventual discovery of dental implants. The basic premise is that by placing titanium roots into the jawbone, a process takes place which is known as osseointegration. This essentially means that the titanium actually bonds with the bone which leaves a very strong base on which to put the false tooth.

As dental implant technology advanced, a new form of dental implant was gradually introduced and is increasing in popularity every day. These are called Mini dental implants, but why would these mini dental implants be preferable to traditional ones?

There are two predominant reasons for this. The first being that traditionally, there was previously needed a three month period of placing the implants and attaching the replacement tooth to allow the osseointegration process to take place. With mini dental implants, this is no longer the case and both implant and tooth can be fitted in a single visit to the dentist enabling a [atient to walk away from a single visit with new teeth. Also with traditional implants, some people had insufficient bone for the implants to be screwed into and mini dental implants simply do not need this and are suitable for virtually everyone.

Another bonus is that mini dental implants cost significantly less than traditional ones. So all in all, mini dental implants come out the winner.

Of course, for some and especially children, the thought of a dentist drilling into their jawbone is enough to send them diving under their latest pop star cute duvet covers or breaking out into a cold sweat out of fear. Thankfully, despite the description of this procedure, with local anaesthetic, this procedure should cause no more discomfort than a normal filling providing that there is no infection present.

So for the sake of a relatively minor procedure (and unfortunately, several thousand pounds), it is possible using mini dental implants to have a new tooth that is as strong and if not stronger than your regular teeth.