Dental Implants: Two Variations To Pick From

28 May 2018
 Categories: Dentist, Blog

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You can lose a tooth for many reasons. It can be caused by an accident that resulted in facial trauma, a sports injury, or not caring for your teeth as well as you should have. Thankfully, you can replace the tooth with a dental implant. It holds an artificial tooth in place by attaching it to a post that has been integrated with the jawbone, giving it the strength it needs to act like a natural tooth. Here are the differences between two kinds of implants that you'll have to pick from.

Endosteal Implant

What makes an endosteal implant unique is the way it is installed. Your dentist will secure it directly to your jawbone. It works by placing a the metal cylinder shaped implant into your gums and screwing it directly into your jawbone. The dentist sutures the gums back, and gives the implant time to properly fuse with your jawbone. This process can take a few months before more work can be done on the implant.

Once the implant and jawbone have fused together, an abutment will be attached directly to your implant. This is used to secure the fake tooth to the implant, which makes the bond strong, yet still capable of removing the fake tooth if something is wrong with it. The end result is a new tooth that can be used to eat food as if it were a natural tooth.

Subperiosteal Implant

The main difference between an endosteal and subperiosteal implant is how the implant is attached. Instead of securing the implant into the jawbone, it rests on it. This can only be done by installing a metal frame above your jawbone, which gives it a surface for the implant to attach to. After the implant is attached to the metal frame, your gums will be sewn up so that the area can heal.

The two procedures are similar due to how the gums heal around your dental implant post, which is part of the reason why the fake tooth will have so much strength. The placement under the gums also allows the tooth to look very natural. The tooth won't move around, so it will provide the same level of comfort when eating as the real tooth once did.

Many patients get a subperiosteal implant when they do not qualify for an endosteal implant. In order to get the latter procedure, your jawbone must be healthy enough to support the implant, as well as big enough for the implant to secure to. If not, the alternative is the subperiosteal implant. The metal frame provides the foundation for attaching the implant, helping it work for those that are not good candidates for the endosteal procedure.