We are not all lucky enough to keep our natural teeth for our whole lives – but dentistry has revolutionized this with dental implants. Apparently, the first known dental implants were placed by the ancient civilization of the Maya in 600 AD; in 1952 Dr. Per-Ingvar Branemark discovered osseointegration of titanium in his research. By 1965 he had placed the first titanium dental implant in a human patient.
The beauty of dental implants is that they are very compatible biologically with human bone and can be used to replace individual teeth or used to support an arch full of teeth. The process of getting the dental implants is variable – some situations are healthy enough to warrant immediate replacement of a tooth with a dental implant, but it is very common that a tooth will need to be extracted first and have the socket preserved with bone graft material and heal 4-6 months before a dental implant can be placed. Once the implant has integrated with the bone, then it can be restored with a crown or a bridge or a denture.
For more information and case studies on dental implants, visit https://caugheydds.com/reconstructive-dentistry/