What can we do to save teeth and implants?
by Gurien Demiraqi
DDS, MS, PHD, FIADFE
Abstract
Patients are everyday more demanding, using the implant solutions to solve their edentulism problems and also trying to save their teeth for as long as possible. In most cases, the hard and soft tissues in both jaws change significantly with aging and various factors, meaning graft materials are required to be placed to maintain the volume of hard and soft tissue and thus maintain teeth and implants in time. Autologous bone graft is the “golden standard” reference graft. Another similar material is an extracted tooth. Some systems currently allow an extracted tooth to be transformed ready for autologous implantation. Various bone collection and compactation systems make possible to harvest bone. Recent generations of biomaterials allow for a good supply of the required amount, which cannot be autologously collected. Venous Blood collection Systems such as BCGF allows the formation of fibrin membranes for their coverage and also the liquid fibrin that compacts bone particles in “Sticky Bone” and “Sticky Tooth”. Latest CBCT and CAD-CAM technologies allow a very realistic presurgical programing. Together, they allow for edentulous problems to be resolved in a single surgical.
The use of autologous, bone and tooth grafts, whenever possible presents a procedure not always easy to apply. The procedure for soft and hard tissue graft preparation is not always simple and often requires time to acquire and so does the technical skills needed. However, the obtained grafts exhibit very good stability and ease of use. Implant management systems and those that create an implant emergency profile comparable to natural teeth are also a valuable asset in our hand. New concepts in the placement of implants like the one Umbrella incorporated into it strongly influence their long-term success.