All About Dental Implants

A dental implant is a “root” made of titanium that is used in dentistry for supporting restorations that resemble a tooth or a row of teeth in order to replace missing pieces.

Nearly all dental implants placed today are root-form endosseous implants, which appear similar to a real root of a tooth and are placed within the bone. The bone of the jaw receives and integrates the implant and integrates it with the titanium post, which is known as osseointegration. The osseointegration is the part of this implant procedure that makes it recipient seem and feel like that he has a real set of teeth embedded on his jawbone.

Before the root-form endosseous implants were invented, most dental implants were either in the form of blade endosseous implants that are inserted within the bone resembling a flat blade, or subperiosteal implants that are constructed to lie upon and were attached with screws to the exposed part of the jawbone.

Miami dental implants can be used to support several numbers of dental prostheses, which include crowns, implant-supported bridges or dentures. They can also be used to serve as anchorage for the movement of the orthodontic tooth. The use of dental implants allows unidirectional tooth movement without swaying backwards.

A typical implant administered by a Miami dentist consists of a titanium screw that resembles a tooth root with either roughen or smooth surface. A large number of dental implants are made out of commercially manufactured pure titanium, which is available in four grades that depend on the amount of carbon and iron content. Recently, fifth grade titanium was included.

Fifth grade titanium is a titanium alloy that contains 6% aluminum and 4% vanadium. It is believed to offer similar levels of osseointegration as pure titanium produced commercially. Fifth grade titanium offers better tensile strength and fracture resistance. Nowadays, every Miami dentist administer implants that are still made out of commercially manufactured pure titanium, but some dental implants are now using the newer fifth grade titanium alloy. Surfaces of the dental implants may be modified by spraying plasma, anodizing, etching, or sandblasting, in order to increase the surface area and the integration capability of the implant.

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