If you have a missing tooth or missing teeth, there are plenty of options for you to replace them today. Anything from removable dentures to dental implants to full arch dental implants and everything else in between exists depending on your needs.
However, have you ever wondered what dental implants are and what they look like? We have, so we reached out to Temecula Dental Oral Surgery, a specialized dental practice focused on dental implants, all on four and similar procedures. Here’s how they explain dental implants.
What the Implants Look Like
In order to understand what parts the implant consists and what it is made of, we should start with explaining what dental implants are. Essentially, dental implants are replacement teeth that are permanently affixed to your jaw.
This is done by screwing in the implant base into the jaw bone where the tooth used to be. This implant base is then used to add the crown that will replace the visible portion of the tooth. In essence, dental implants look like our teeth with parts similar to and with similar functions to our natural teeth.
Implant Base
The implant base, as mentioned before, needs to be permanently affixed to the jaw bone. This pretty much limits the material and shape of the implant. For a very long time, the only material that was suitable for this purpose was titanium.
This lightweight metal is incredibly sturdy and doesn’t cause any negative reactions from our bodies (such as rejection), making it a great choice for this purpose. Better yet, dental implants made of titanium actually bolster the bone growth around them, making the dental implant even sturdier and more secure.
The Crown
Once the dental implant base is firmly in place, a crown can be added to it to complete the dental implant. These crowns are screwed into the permanently fixed base. This means that while the dental implant itself is there to stay, changing the crown can be relatively easy.
Dental crowns can be made of a variety of materials. In the past, the most popular was the combination of porcelain fused to metal. However, those have since fallen out of fashion for more natural-looking ceramic crowns. And even more recently, there have been more developments with various metal alloys, and even polymer resins serving as the materials for crowns.
How Do All on Four Implants Work?
All on four dental implants are a combination of a dental bridge and a dental implant. As the name suggests, there are four standard titanium dental implants that hold each arch of teeth affixed to a bridge.
These teeth are typically made of acrylic resin to be cost-effective, but can also be made of more novel and exotic materials, such as those mentioned in the previous section, or even some less known materials.
Novel Dental Implant Materials
Even though titanium is a good choice, the advancements in the field of dentistry didn’t stop, and various novel materials have been developed over the years. One such material is zirconia. This is a relatively new and less popular material for dental implants, but it has been in development and it’s started gaining popularity in the past years.
The main difference is that titanium dental implants are made as a two-piece solution – with the base being permanent, and the crown being removable. Zirconia dental implants tend to be one piece – the root and the crown all in one, just as our natural teeth are.
Choosing to get dental implants is an important step in regaining both your confidence and overall health. Don’t delay it any further.
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