When to choose tooth implantation?

Tooth implantation is recommended when a patient suffers from lack of teeth for some reason, which either hinders him functionally (because of reduced power to chew) or aesthetically, or that is inconvenient when chewing or speaking.

Aesthetic and adequately long-lasting dental prosthesis can be made with the help of implantation. It is important to know, however, that not every dental deficiency can is be solved with implants, and that dental prosthetis via implantation is not recommended in all cases. The skilled and accurate planning of dental prosthesis implantation is crucial for the final result to be completed without complications.

In which cases can we plan dental prosthesis implantation?

• In the case of one missing tooth
• In the case of several missing teeth
• In the case of complete absence of teeth, for the sake of fixing a removable dental prosthesis

In which cases is dental prosthesis implantation especially recommended?

• when the size of the tooth gap is sufficient (it is not considerably bigger or smaller than the space of the absent tooth)
• when the natural teeth adjacent to the gap from both sides are completely intact
• when the bone is sufficiently wide and thick at the gap
• when dangerous anatomical elements (veins, nerves, maxillary sinus) are at a safe distance from the implant

In which cases is it advised to choose a solution other than prosthesis implantation?

• If the tooth gap is smaller than 4 mm, tooth implant cannot be placed in. In this case, orthodontics or other bridge implantation is necessary.
• In case of severe periodontium damage, since then the bone where the implant should be placed in is too thin with respect to both width and thickness, usually making the placement of the implant impossible.
• If the teeth adjacent to the gap are severely damaged, in which case aesthetic crown is recommended for these teeth. This kind of gap is to be filled with a bridge.
• In the case of bad general health condition, diabetes and cardiovascular problems, dental prosthesis implantation is not recommended.

When is it best to implant?

• if there is no inflammation (cist, granuloma, etc.) around the extracted tooth, the dentist may recommend instant implantation
• if there was an inflammation around the extracted tooth, it is necessary to wait at least 8 weeks until conducting the implantation (however, there are exceptions!)
• the bone tissue that originally contained the tooth perishes in proportion to the time that has passed after the tooth extraction, so the sooner the implantation is done, the more bones are available for the dentist for implantation
• there is usually very little bone left at the place of a tooth extracted long ago. No implantation can be done here (for example, because the nerve is too close), or it is only possible to create a sufficient amount of bone for the implantation to succeed by bone implantation.

What are the general conditions of implantation?

When planning the implantation surgery, the dentist examines the patient's general condition first. If the patient is healthy, the bone tolerates the implant screws that have undergone special surface treatment excellently, and the implant can grow together with bone cells properly. There are certain illnesses and situations, however, that may lower the chance of the implant successfully becoming part of the bones.

The most important risk increasing factors are the following:

• Smoking
• More severe diabetes
• Vascular problems
• Predisposition to oedema
• Diseases related to osteoporosis
• Autoimmune diseases

If the doctor does not find any precluding circumstances related to your health condition, the planning of the implantation may begin. In this process, the most important thing is the examination of the morphology and the quality of the bone as well as that of the surrounding anatomical parts. This has to be done because a nerve may be found near the place of the planned implant that could make the implantology operation impossible.

The most common problem is that the doctor finds an insufficient amount of bone in the place of the gap. In this case, an implant can only be placed in if some kind of bone implantation operation is completed, prior to the placement of the implantation screw.