Dental implants are high-tech replacement teeth that mimic the entire tooth structure. They come in different types, sizes and heights.
Depending on your needs, your dental implant specialist will help you determine the best option for you. This article will detail some of the different types available.
Subperiosteal Implants
These dental implants are placed under the gum, but above or on the jawbone.
These implants are used for patients who don’t have adequate healthy natural jawbone, and therefore can’t go through a bone augmentation procedure in order to rebuild it.
A metal frame will be placed under the gum and a post will be attached to it. The gum will heal around the frame and hold it in place. The false teeth will be secured to the poles coming from the gum.
Endosteal Implants
These are known to be the most common type of dental implants. They’re suitable for many patients, however they require you to have a good, healthy jawbone where the post will fuse.
Endosteal implants are placeholder posts made of titanium and shaped like screws. They’re placed into the jaw and the false teeth will be fitted onto them. After the procedure is completed, it will take some time to fuse and form a stronghold.
Zygomatic Implants
These implants are different from regular dental implants because they anchor into your cheekbone (zygomatic bone) instead of your upper jaw (maxilla).
They may be used when your maxillary bone quantity or quality is not adequate for the placement of conventional implants.
Other Techniques
The minimal height of the bone for the placement of a regular implant in the posterior region of your upper jaw is approximately 10 millimetres to guarantee acceptable implant survival.
When you have inadequate bone, sinus lift procedures and bone grafting procedures may be performed to increase the bone volume. Here are the techniques that can be used when your jawbone can’t support dental implants:
Sinus lift
Also referred to as a sinus procedure, sinus augmentation or sinus graft, this surgical procedure increases the amount of bone in your upper jaw bone as well as in the area of your molar and premolar teeth.
It does this by lifting your lower sinus membrane (Schneiderian membrane), then placing a bone graft.
Bone augmentation
This procedure involves regenerating or restoring the bone in your jaw when it’s not able to support any type of implant.
Studies have revealed that using growth factors and bone additives to fortify the bone achieves the best results.
Ridge expansion
Bone loss occurs in two dimensions. The first one is typically a loss of horizontal width due to the collapse of the bone surrounding your socket.
The remaining ridge will narrow and won’t allow room for any type of implant. The other one is the loss of vertical bone height, making it impossible to place implants in the affected area.
Your ridge bone has to be augmented to add adequate horizontal width and height to fit implants. During the ridge expansion procedure, your ridge will be divided and the outer and inner segments of your bone will be wedged apart.
This will create a space between these divided sections of your bone that can now be filled using a bone graft.