Saturday, September 12, 2009

What Are Dental Implants?

By Ian Kleine

Most often one would hear the term dental implants when looking through options with someone who has lost their teeth due to an accident or through natural causes. The first impression one would usually have of this is a heavy, smelling operating room; the whirring of the drills and a heavy set of metal brace after. But that's not it, far from it actually. What are dental implants? And how do they affect the natural world we live in right now?

Dental implants are artificial tooth and root replacements that are usually used with prosthetic and reconstructive dentistry to help support other teeth and your jaw bone as well. There are a lot of dental implant types, some common, some rarely performed. The most common type are the osseointegrated implant and the fibrintegrated implant.

Osseointegration is the more common of the two processes. The word comes from "osseo" which means "bone" and integration, which is the joining of two unique or same substances. This culmination means the integration of bone and metal, usually of the titanium sort, since titanium is a pretty sturdy metal. Dental implants are said to be one of the highlights of medical bone and joint replacement techniques; usually in the mandibular sort.

The titanium tooth implant is fashioned into the design of a titanium screw so that it could easily fit into the hole the former tooth has left behind. Sometimes, the surface of the tooth is smoothed (using plasma arc technology) and sometimes, it is roughened up (sandblasting) depending on which would be more effective for the jaw to grow with. Surgery depends on the type, most are often opting for same day implant because of its lower time for recovery and because its cheaper.

Costs for the operation are quite large, if you take it in the United States or in Canada. In these areas, operations can go for as high as four thousand dollars with the lowest of the rates being for two thousand dollars only, and that is with the same day implants on the tooth. That same operation, if done in Costa Rica would only cost you a low price of six hundred seventy five dollars. And note that with a four hundred dollar plane ticket, and even a thousand dollar pocket money (larger than your actual surgery) you still save as much fifty percent of your actual costs!

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