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Implants are certainly the most comfortable dental solution for missing teeth and bring you back a real chewing sensation and quality of life, because implants actually feel almost like your own teeth and you can use these dental aids to secure unsightly clasp dentures or long dental bridges.

But what exactly are dental implants?

Apart from a few exotic species, today's implants are usually small titanium screws with lengths between 4 and 16 mm. Titan is still considered the best material today because it is very hard and robust and, on the other hand, very biocompatible - incompatibilities are extremely rare.

The classic implant has, on the one hand, an external thread so that it can be firmly anchored in the jaw and, on the other hand, an internal thread for attaching the later abutment.

The outer surface of the implant is usually coated with a special surface so that it is easier for the bone cells to attach and grow on.

Dental implants - a novel invention?

The idea of the dental implant is very old. For example, a pre-Columbian skull was found in Honduras that had a kind of implant. A black, honed stone was used to replace a lower lateral incisor. Even the Mayans tried a few thousand years ago to replace lost teeth with teeth carved from human or animal bones.

The first concrete implementation of an intra-osseous, i.e. anchored in the bone, implant was achieved by two French dentists in 1807 using a conical gold tube.

As a result, research was carried out on countless types of implants made of a wide variety of materials and in the most varied of shapes until the current shape of the conical and cylindrical screw implants crystallized out more and more and was able to establish itself.

But what exactly does an implantation look like?

After the discussion with us in the practice and the joint planning as well as the assessment of the X-ray image, the appropriate implant type and size is selected.

After appropriate anesthesia, a small access is carefully created in the bone to match the implant. If the bone conditions are clear, this can be done minimally invasively through the gums, which means that there is no need to cut or sew. The benefit for the patient is obvious - fewer postoperative discomfort and generally no swelling whatsoever.

Once the so-called “implant bed” has been created, i.e. the pre-drilling has been carried out, the implant is then carefully screwed in. The most important basic rule of implantation is to achieve what is known as primary stability - this means that the implant must be firmly anchored in the bone so that the bone cells can calmly attach to the implant in the following weeks. Movements of the implant would prevent this and lead to the loss of the implant. For this reason, it is only possible in exceptional cases - namely when several implants are interlocked - to attach the denture to the implant immediately.

Normally, the implant has to heal in peace for 3-6 months before the dentures can be made on it and the implant is loaded.

But what can you do with implants after they have grown in?

As an artificial tooth root, an implant can perform several tasks. The classic indication is the loss of a single or multiple teeth. In the days before implantology, in order to close the tooth gap (s) it was either necessary to grind the neighboring teeth in order to fill the gap with a bridge, or one even had to wear a prosthesis. Modern implantology makes it possible to do without it and to insert a single tooth crown into the implant after the implantation. If several teeth are missing, just like your own teeth, implants can be used as anchors for dental bridges.

The second major indication of the implants is the stabilization of removable dentures. If there are no more teeth available without implantation, the only option is a full denture, which is attached to the upper and lower jaw and has to be held by its own muscles. Often it is no longer possible to consume all food with this denture, as the hold is restricted by the suction mechanism.

Implants now make it possible to stabilize the prosthesis using a wide variety of techniques.

The most common system works like a kind of push button: a small, individual abutment is screwed onto each implant and the counterpart is incorporated into the prosthesis. The patient inserts the prosthesis with slight pressure, it clicks, and the patient can finally bite hard again without the fear of his prosthesis slipping.

Dental implants therefore not only protect the other teeth, but also significantly improve the quality of life.