17 Aug The History of Dental Implants
Dental implants are a permanent solution to restoring lost teeth, and have become a common treatment performed by implant dentists in recent years. However, the treatment can be traced back hundreds of years, where tooth replacements were performed as long ago as the Ancient Egyptian era.
There is historical evidence to suggest that the Ancient Egyptians would fashion replacement teeth out of seashells that were then placed into the gums. The minerals found in seashells, would in some instances, bond with the jawbone. Throughout history, civilizations have found ways to replace lost teeth, including scavenging the remains of cadavers and placing those teeth into their own mouths.
However, the accepted modern practice of dental implants didn’t come about until 1952 when a Swedish orthopedic surgeon, Dr Per-Ingvar Brånemark, discovered that titanium placed in a rabbit’s femur had bonded successfully with the animal’s bone tissue to such an extent he was unable to remove the metal. Further research concluded that titanium could, in fact, be used to structurally join with living bone tissue; he called the process ‘osseointegration’.
Dental implants are a permanent solution to restoring lost teeth, and have become a common treatment performed by implant dentists in recent years.
It was in 1965 that saw the emergence of the first proper dental implants; a small titanium rod that an implant dentist would place into the gum tissue of the patient and capped with a prosthetic covering. After many successful years of research, Brånemark published his findings and in 1978, dental implants became a commercialized commodity that would be available to everyone as a method of restoring lost teeth.
The process of dental implantation involves a dental surgeon placing a small titanium rod into the patient’s gum tissue, and following a period of osseointegration, affixes a prosthetic dental crown made from porcelain on top of the titanium rod to produce a natural looking dental replacement that behaves in much the same way as a regular healthy tooth.
Such is the popularity nowadays of dental implants that more than seven million procedures have been successfully implemented.
If you are in need of a tooth replacement solution in the Arlington TX area, contact The Dental Place to learn how we can help.