Stuff happens.
You fall off your mountain bike and knock out a front tooth. You were in college, got a cavity, but didn’t get to the dentist until it was too late. You bit down on an unpopped popcorn kernel and split your tooth right up the middle. There are a lot of ways to lose a tooth.
Sometimes the loss of a tooth is unavoidable, but nowadays, we don’t necessarily have to work on the adjacent teeth in order to fill the space between them. We can now replace teeth using the same material used to replace knees and hips—titianium.
Above is a diagram of a dental implant. It consists of a titanium root form that is placed in the bone and a crown that is placed over the root form. The bone integrates to the root form in as little as 8 weeks.
I’ve been placing these types of implants for about three years, with great success. After gaining my Certification of Completion from the Misch International Implant Institute (in association with Temple University), I have expanded my implant practice and education, most recently learning how to place implants in the mouth on the same day a tooth is extracted, and how to improve denture retention through the use of mini-implants.
New horizons must be set to keep things interesting, mustn’t they?