Dental Implants 

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What is a dental implant?

A dental implant is nothing more than a metal screw that is placed into the jaw bone. It acts as an anchor for a false tooth or a set of false teeth. The slide to the right shows the replacement of a lateral incisor with a dental implant retained restoration.

Who can have dental implants?

Anyone in reasonable health who wants to replace missing teeth. You must have enough bone in the area of the missing teeth to provide for the anchorage of the implants. Some people are missing all their teeth and most of those are excellent candidates for dental implants, but today, we use implants to replace small bridges, removable partial dentures and even missing single teeth.

Why have dental implants become so popular?

As our lifespan increases, the need for some type of permanent dental replacement system becomes very important to our overall health. Dentures and removable bridges have obvious problems: They are loose and unstable. Implants can provide people with dental replacements that are both functional and esthetic. The demand was always there, we just needed the tools to fulfill that demand.

Bridge or Implant?

Perhaps one of the most frequently asked questions on this site is whether or not to use a fixed ("permanent") bridge or a dental implant to replace one or two missing teeth. Suppose you are missing your lower left first molar. If a fixed bridge were to be used, your dentist would cut down the adjacent teeth (the second molar and the second bicuspid) and fit a three unit fixed bridge over those two teeth. The missing tooth would be called a pontic and it would be effectively replaced by the three unit bridge. If your dentist were to use an implant with a crown on it, he would place an implant in the site of the original first molar. He could do this immediately or at some date after the first molar was removed. There is no time limit here. The implant will take about 3 months to connect with the bone and then at that time, your dentist can construct a single crown on the implant to replace the missing first molar. The cost of each one of these procedures varies from practice to practice, but a three unit fixed bridge costs about the same as an implant and a crown. The actual decision to do one over the other rests with you and your dentist. One technique is not inherently better than the other. All things being equal, I would usually prefer to place the implant and crown over the bridge.

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A dental implant replacing 1 tooth costs £2300

A denture supported by dental implants costs from £3083

An implant supported full bridge replacing all teeth in one jaw costs from £11000

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