Dental Implants Trends

Posted by Sowjanya Dental on September 26th, 2019

Tooth loss is very common and it can occur as a result of illness and trauma; so, the use of Dental Implants to deliver support for replacement of missing teeth has a long and multilayered history.

Study on dental implant designs, materials and methods have increased in the past few years and is probable to increase in the future due to the recent development of the worldwide market for dental implants and the intensifying in the demand for cosmetic dentistry.

 Dental Implant Evolution

Dental implants have a history of several centuries starting with the early civilizations more than 2,000 years ago in South and North America and regions of Middle Asia and the Mediterranean. Archeological findings have indicated that these civilizations replaced missing teeth using carved stone, shells, bones, and gold

In the middle Ages, dental implantation was performed by using allografts and xenografts. Conversely, this preparation didn’t become very popular since it was identified as the reason for infectious diseases and even deaths.

The upgrading of up-to-date porcelains started in early 1991 and after that time on, dental implant firms have incorporated ceramic surface treatments and ceramic-like elements to implants with the purpose of further enhancing Osseointegration.

Today, approximately 450,000 Osseointegrated dental implants are being placed every year, with an expectation of a 95% success rate (in the case of single tooth replacement with an implant-supported crown), with minimum risks and associated complications.

 Dental Implants Types

There are have been four main types of dental implant designs that have been developed and used in clinical dentistry, including a subperiosteal form, blade form, ramus frame, and endosseous form. Conversely, the huge scope of this review will emphasis on endosseous implants which are the utmost used in dentistry nowadays.

 Macro features of endosseous implants

 Dental implants are intended to achieve main mechanical constancy and to promote a strong bone-implant interaction over time through osseointegration.  For endosseous implants, there are three major macro-aspects: 1) screw threads, 2) solid body press-fit designs (cylindrical, conical), and/or 3) porous-coated designs.  Every conformation affects the long-term biomechanical possessions at the bone-implant interface and they largely determine success or failure of the implant. Bone acclimatizes to stress absorptions from the implant interface by inducing either hypertrophy or atrophy.  Thus, an optimal shape will allow for equal distribution of stress to the surrounding bone matrix and to promote bone growth.

 Implant-abutment connection

 The implant-abutment joining can be supposed of as the head of the implant; the function of the connection is to provide a means to apply torque to screw the body of the implant into the bone and to deliver a second-stage linking for the abutment.

 Current Implant Design Trends

1.    Finite element analysis

2.    Computer-aided design and computer-aided manufacturing technology.

3.    Micro casting

4.    Electron microscopy

5.    Nanotechnology-based implants

6.    Functionally graded materials.

Conclusion

With an extended history of dental implantology and ever since up-to-date dental implants were introduced more then 40 years ago, the development of the ideal implant has been a major research topic in the arena, thereby changing the exercise of implant dentistry. Over and done with research, dental implant technology has been continuously cultivating in recent years, providing patients with unparalleled levels of effectiveness, convenience, and affordability.

Several design parameters have been evaluated and many designs have also been tested. Although design and implantation requirements such as biomaterials, biomechanical behavior, the geometry of the implant, medical condition of the patient, and bone quality have been defined, it is still necessary to additional estimate and understands the correlation of those variables in the long term success of the dental implant. As such, more research on better dental implant materials, design parameters, surface treatment technologies, and analysis techniques is still required to improve the outcomes.