The alternative to a dental implant would be a bridge that’s cemented on there replacing the missing tooth, it kind of lays on the gum, or a partial piece of plastic that comes in and out, that’s been the technology for hundreds of years. They all have a certain failure rate. They eventually will fail, either the bridge, the partial, or the teeth that are holding them. It’s pretty well proven.
Where a dental implant placed properly on good bone, you would have for hopefully the rest of your life, and you treat it like a tooth. You brush it, you floss it, and pretty much your tooth to do what you want with. It also maintains the bone. That’s something we don’t talk about much either, but if you put a dental implant in a space where there isn’t a tooth, then that bone’s going to remain there versus melting away and not having the support you would need.
I do more of a guided implant, where I use a prefabricated surgical guide based upon a computerized scan, so it’s kind of analogous to … it’s not orthoscopic surgery, but it’s less invasive, less traumatic, less swelling, faster, more efficient, and I think it works very well for the patients versus the older way.
