A visit to the dentist is something that almost everyone on
the planet dreads. For some reason there is something about a visit to the
orthodontist that strikes fear into the hearts of even the most courageous
fellows. Perhaps it is the less than savory history that is associated with a
profession that goes back millennia to Ancient Egypt and Greece or perhaps it is
the modern media that has created this vastly disturbing image that a dentist is
the most evil thing on the planet and must be avoided until it is completely
necessary. Then again, not all orthodontic practices are filled with terror.
Even in California where the movies come from,
dental implants in Irvine
(home to a number of universities) happen all the time and with good results.
Ironically the dental implants in Irvine
are relatively close to where archaeologists think they discovered the first
evidence of dental implants that were ever performed. It was during an
archaeological dig in Honduras at a Mayan burial ground that they discovered a
fragment of the mandible of what they assumed to be a woman. On the mandible
they discovered three tooth-shaped pieces of shell that were inserted into the
places where there were missing teeth. At first archaeologists thought that it
was some strange burial practice like the Egyptians, but a Brazilian
archaeologist studied the mandible and discovered that they had been placed
while she was alive – the first ‘dental implants’ in the world.
The dental
implants in Irvine, or anywhere else in the world for that matter, that take
place today still work on the general same principal though the materials used
have changed dramatically and so has the procedure. The procedure that is most
often used today was formulated by a Swedish professor, Per-Ingvar
Brånemark. His process is the osseointegrated implant that works on the
principle that titanium can be incorporated into bone. This happens because
osteoblasts – bone cells – can grow on a rough surface of titanium. This means
that a stable and useful connection is made between the still living bone of the
jaw and the implant.
The procedure is actually pretty complex and requires some very
specialized surgical knowledge. In general, however, a titanium implant that
resembles a tooth root is inserted into the jaw after a hole has been drilled
for it. When the implant has become stable and firm, the crown is then added and
eventually the implanted ‘tooth’ is ready. That is a very, very simplified
explanation of the whole procedure and there are actually various different
types that depend on what needs to be accomplished. Dental implants, in Irvine
or anywhere else in the world, have helped many people to overcome the
embarrassment of a missing tooth or even teeth not to mention the uncomfortable
sensation of missing tooth. From the experiments of the Mayans to the
revolutionary work by Per-Ingvar
Brånemark, dental implants have a come a long and fascinating way.
But even with all this wondrous ability… dentists will probably
still be scary.