The smile - dental implants
	Dental implants
	Technique
	Discomfort
	A reliable and risk-free technique
	Hospitalisation
	Follow-up is indispensable

Dental implants

If you have lost one or more teeth, or even all of them, and you (rightly) see this as a real infirmity, you will be pleased to know that there are may classical techniques for replacing missing teeth; unfortunately, in many cases these may be to be insufficient and functionally, aesthetically or psychologically unsatisfactory.

This is why dental implants are the preferred therapeutic solution in certain clinical situations:

- to avoid grinding down healthy teeth on either side of the gap, as for a bridge,

- if the remaining teeth are not strong enough or numerous enough to support prosthetic teeth,

- if you cannot accept a removable set of false teeth,

- if your removable set of false teeth is unstable and hurts the gum.

Following a clinical examination and X-rays, the "implantologist" will be able to tell you whether your case can be improved by the use of implants.

Technique

This comprises two phases, one surgical and the other prosthetic.

Surgical phase
These implants are made of noble materials such as titanium or ceramic, which are perfectly biocompatible, meaning that they bind biologically with living tissue (bone, gums) for a long time.
Among the numerous implant systems currently inexistence, the practitioner selects the one best suited to the clinical case.
The implants are covered by the gum; it is said that they are "nursed", allowing the bone to heal around them.
The second stage consists in freeing the head of the implant after a variable period of healing and consolidation (three to six months), to allow it to function, and the prosthetic is then made.

Prosthetic phase
Once the gum has healed, prosthetic teeth are made over the implants using suitable intermediary pieces (false stumps). This technique may be used to replace one tooth, a gap of several or an entire dental arch.

Discomfort

As a general rule, this technique involves precise and meticulous surgery carried out under local anaesthetic, and is therefore totally painless.

Any postoperative discomfort can be controlled using conventional medicines (analgesic or anti-inflammatory).

A reliable and risk-free technique

Dental implantology got off to a shaky start but is now based on serious scientific data, verified over a period of 20 years.

Today the use of dental implants is no longer an empirical treatment with uncertain results; it is a codified treatment obeying very precise rules, compliance with which makes it possible to achieve a success rate on the order of 95% in cases where it is indicated.

Any rare failures, if detected in time, simply require removal of the implant.

In any event, failure is not necessarily definitive and prosthetic construction is not inevitably compromised.

Hospitalisation

The operation may be performed in hospital, using local or general anaesthesia.
It can also be performed under local anaesthesia in a dental surgery.
This, however, requires special organisation, comparable to that needed for other oral surgery.

Follow-up is indispensable

Among the numerous factors involved in the medium- or long-term success of implant surgery, there is one that it directly up to the patient:

Strict and rigorous hygiene. It is indispensable to clean the teeth and gums very well to avoid the development of plaque and the formation of tartar, both of which are very harmful to implants.

Once the prosthetic is completed, the practitioner must be able to monitor the work; this imposes regular visits.