The most common reason for losing one’s teeth is through periodontal disease. The slow progression of infection around the teeth leads to the bone which supports the teeth to recede, almost like it’s trying to run away from the disease process that is happening further up!
Implants require as much bone as possible to integrate and become part of the body. Historically we always tried to place implants that were as long as possible! So there is a problem!
Replacing the missing tooth through periodontal disease means there is less bone then normal and we want as much as possible!
There are two ways out of this situation. We can now using shorter and wider implants. We now have the 8mm implant and some companies (Bicon) have produced a 5.7mm implant. This means previously where it may not have been possible to have an implant it is now a very real possibility.
The second method is bone grafting, less predictable but is now standard practice. What the bone graft is made of and how its done is a separate story and another blog!
We know today that increasing the width of the bone is much easier and all sorts of claims have been made by dentists to promise to be able to increase the height of bone.
One needs to be weary of these claims. If the most respected researches in the field find it difficult or impossible how does an ordinary dentist/Implantologist do it?
I don’t believe in miracle cures! We need hard scientific facts.
Today the combination of shorter implants and grafting means that there are very few situations where we can’t place dental implants.
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