A dental implant is an artificial root of tooth made of an appropriate material and placed in the jaw bone in order to provide the function and aesthetic of the missing teeth. It’s a safer and functional alternative treatment to traditional crowns, bridges and plate dentures.
What are the advantages of implementing an implant?
An implant is an easy-to-implement, robust and reliable treatment. A denture placed on an implant constitutes a natural structure by replacing the actual teeth. During completion of the missing teeth no procedure is performed on robust teeth, thus it is durable when compared with all dentures.
It makes people feel confident, therefore negative psycological effects due to lack of teeth are also eliminated.
Are any types of implant?Following their intensive usage, different types of implants have been produced. Among them, “screw-form" implants are the most popular in aesthetic dentistry.
Is implant treatment durable?
Since the early 1800’s, studies for constituting a safe implant are ongoing. Today, there are near-perfect implants on the market, with 35-40 years of clinical follow-up. Dt. İlker ERDOĞAN, MD will give you detailed information about this topic.
In what conditions can the implants be used?When one or more than one tooth is missing, and if there is sufficient amount of bone to place an implant, implementation can be performed under any circumstances.
Can an implant be implemented to any patient?Implant screws are structures with a certain thickness and width. Therefore the jaw bone of the area in which the implant is planned to be implemented should have a height and width in compatible with the implant crew. The current bone structure is one of the factors that effects the applicability of the implant. In addition, gingiva should be completely healthy before the treatment and during the time an implant remains in the mouth. An implant can be implemented to anyone with a well general health condition and there is not any upper-age limit to pose an obstacle to implement an implant for as long as the patient has a well general health condition. But implementation in very young patients with an uncomplete bone development is mostly not prefered.
How long does it take to complete the treatment? Today, it’s possible to complete an implant operation only in as short as 10 minutes. Total duration of the operation may differ by the structure of your teeth and bone and by the type of the operation. Normally, treatment ends within the second month following the first operation. During this period you can continue your daily life with temporary dentures.
Is it possible to place a denture right after implementing an implant? In order to ensure the integration of implants with the bone (osteointegration), the load over the implant is minimized for the first 2-3 months. Your doctor shall prepare an appropriate temporary denture for you for this recovery period and not leave you with missing teeth. Then the treatment shall be concluded following the placement of the permanent teeth onto your implants.
How important is the cleaning of an implant? Considering the fact that implants are foreign bodies in the mouth, you should know that their cleaning is as important as, even more important than that of your own teeth. Cleaning of an implant is not different than normal cleaning of the teeth. Your dentist will give you detailed information regarding the cleaning methods. One thing you should remember is that a regular oral care is the most important factor for such kind of a practice to succeed.
What kind of a denture will be used on the implant? Dentures that shall be placed on the implants may be in different types in accordance with the features of the case. They may be designed in such a way that they would be able to be removed either by the patient to ease the cleaning or by the physician. Both executions has pros and cons and your pysician will indicate the most suitable design for you before the treatment starts.
Is an implant needed for all missing teeth? In case the number of the missing teeth is more than one, a single implant may replace two or three of the missing teeth depending on the area where the implant shall be implemented.
What can happen in case an implant screw doesn’t fuse with the bone (when not osteointegrated)?
By using a suitable implant and a suitable method, such a possibility is diminished to little if any. Such kind of a failure appears generally within the first 3 months following the surgical operation and implant should be removed by a procedure as easy as an extraction of a tooth. Following the recovery of the bone in relevant area, one of the standard types of a denture may be preferred as well as implementing a new implant. But generally in cases with more than two implant replacements, the residuel implant maintains its functionality by re-designing the denture as well.
Is implant treatment an expensive practice? Although it’s considered that the expenditure is not much when compared with the achieved result, people of our country with a certain level of income should allocate a fair budget. The treatment budget is determined by the materials used which are imported and the technology required to produce a healthy implant. But the firm price shall be determined following the examination of the physician, and in accordance with the type of the treatment and the type of the denture you prefer. The complicacy of an implant assembly may vary depending on the inner-mouth condition and requirements of the patient. A survey conducted with 350 patients after placing an implant has demonstrated that the patients were content with the expenditure and that if necessary they would gladly spend it again.
How is an implant implemented? Considering your health, you need to get sufficient and accurate information before the start of the treatment. Our physicians possess all the knowledge you may require. Besides, dentistry faculties are among the institutions where you can get accurate information. An implant treatment is a method which improves the patient’s quality of life and puts a smile on patient’s face when performed fort he right cases and in due form. We believe that, as in the whole world, patients of our country should take advantage of such a succesful treatment method, therefore we do not charge a fee for your applications to get information regarding the implant treatment. In order to figure out whether you’re an eligible patient for this treatment, it's better you to be examined by a physician who can assemble the implants, prepare the dentures and periodically look after your gingiva. During the examination your general health condition will be recorded and if necessary you’ll be asked to have some tests. In this stage, several X-ray examinations and modelling of your mouth may be required.
What are the risks of an implant treatment? A risk other than the risks that can be encountered during inner-mouth or other surgical treatments is out of question. They may appear as infections and allergies in the early period, and as inflammation due to insufficient oral cleaning in the late period which is after the completion of the dentures, and in paritcular during the eraly period smoking may increase the risk for infections.
What kind of advantages does an implant treatment offer for patients in what conditions?
a) Patients who lost their whole teeth in lower jaw and with a denture: These patients complain from continuous pain (dent) and not chewing well due to the movement of the denture. These complaints increase in due course due to the loss of the bone supporting the denture. In these type of patients, an implant treatment may eliminate all of the above complaints as well as stopping the bone loss.
b) Patients who lost their whole teeth in upper jaw and with a denture: Although the upper dentures are more stabile than the lower dentures, the palate-covering design of the denture may diminish the sense of taste and cause nausea.
c) Patients who lost their lower or upper jaw teeth partially: These patients may be obliged to have their healthy teeth cut in order to eliminate the ugly look of the denture hold by the hooks or to constitute a bridge.
d) Patients who lost one tooth: In standart treatments, for the treatment of one tooth at least two adjacent teeth should be sacrificed. With an implant, the adjacent teeth could be saved and more aesthetical dental look and functional results are obtained.
What are the disadvantages of implementing an implant?
• It’s a little bit more expensive than the standard systems.
• It requires an accurate oral care.
What are the advantages of implementing an implant?
• A healthier and more aesthetical dental appearance.
• Beter chewing and eating whatever you like.
• A better social life after gaining self-confidence.
• Healthier and balanced diet due to the ability to consume any kind of food.
Can all implants succeed? There were a lot of factors to consider when deciding for an implant. The patient should be healthy and have a resilience. For example, if the patient is an uncontrolled diabetic then half recovery may cause a complication. In addition, patient should be examined, and a proper implant, and type of assembly should be determined carefully. In case the patient do not perform the implant cleaning and care well, complications may evolve. In addition to those, implants may not succeed in patients who smoke and consume alcohol.
What is the mean lifetime of an implant? It’s been demonstrated that, after placing the implants, they can remain in the mouth for exactly 30 years. Lifetime of an implant may depend on numerous factors. Some of them are the patient's health and implant care. In case the required care and the cleaning is performed and hygienic conditions are provided, implants can be used for life. Your dentist will explain you the numerous factors effecting the lifetime of implants and your risks.
Is age important for implant treatment?
Health is a factor which is more important than age. Surgical risks of most of the patients at their seventies or eighties is lower than that of the patients who is younger but with health problems. In fact, old patients need an implant more than the young patients. Because older patients lose more teeth.
What is the possibility of the body to reject an implant?
Implants are made of materials with no side effects to organism and have been investigated for years. These materials are not a part of any living organism. It’s out of question that the body releases antigens against them and they are rejected by the body as observed in heart and renal transplants.
Can implants cause cancer? In clinical studies and tests, no evidence in which implants causes cancer has been observed.
Can implants be implemented for cosmetic purposes? Implants are used rarely for cosmetic purposes. The main reason for using an implant is providing a support to the denture teeth. By using the denture teeth, cosmetic arrangement can be made. But before starting to such kind of a treatment you should inform your dentist about your expectations.
Can a 100% success be guaranteedin implant treatment? Although the methods used in an implant treatment are well-developed, they may not be successful in many rare cases. In that case, the treatment should start with operations for solving the problems. We may inform the patient regarding the care of the implant and, if necessary, we can examine the patient. We’ll work devotedly in order for the implants to succeed. But you should also do the same.
What is the average duration for placing an implant? This duration is proportional to your health condition, your requirements and the type of the treatment. A single operation may last between 10 min. and a couple of hours. Whole treatment may be concluded only with an operation or may necessitate a series of operations and appointments. It may take 3-4 months for you to become completely health.
How many days should I take for a leave of absence? mostly, we recommend you to have a rest on the operation day and a couple of days following the operation. Swelling, pain and brusing may evolve in operated area and we need to indicate again that, we'll never leave you without teeth during treatment. For most of the cases, one day or a weekend will be sufficient for all of these procedures.
Who are the implants are suitable for?An implant can be implemented to any patient with certain criteria. One of them is a missing tooth, and the other one is the condition of the bone in the area in which the teeth are present. The bone in this area should be sufficient in order for the implant to be implemented and hold in a healthy way. In addition, oral care of the patient should be well and patient should not have a gingival problem and a disease that could have a negative effect on healing. There is no upper age limit for dental implant treatment. Lower age limit corresponds to the years in which the growing and development is completed.
Furthermore, certain anatomical formations should not block the placement of the implants (You may ask additional information to our physicians about the regenerative and reconstructive, advanced implantology methods to predispose the relevant area to implementation of the implant).
It’s a must that the patient who shall have an implant treatment should have a good oral care habit, and should not have a gingival disease (if there is, it should be treated) and an uncontrolled systemic disease.
