Our Blog
05
Jan
Single-Piece Design Better for Dental Implants
According to a new study looking at the number of changes in the bone around different dental implant designs, it seems that a single-piece dental implant results in the smallest amount of changes.
Studying Abutment Design
A replacement tooth is typically made up of three parts: a dental implant that goes down into the jawbone. A dental crown that sits atop the dental implant. And an abutment that connects the two.
Although this is generally a successful design, there is often reshaping of the bone around the dental implant. This can lead to cosmetic problems (such as the loss of the papillae between teeth), and, sometimes, contribute to future problems with the implant. We’re not sure why this happens, but it may be due to the bite force placed on the dental implant or due to bacteria that accumulate at the junction between the implant and the abutment.
In this study, researchers wanted to know whether the abutment design affected how well the body maintained the jawbone around implants. They looked at six different designs for the implant/abutment interface:
- Both dental implant and abutment are straight and have the same diameter
- Both are straight, but the abutment is narrower.
- The single piece that is straight
- An impression in the abutment, but the abutment widens to match the implant diameter
- An impression of the abutment/implant interface
- An impression in a single-piece implant/abutment
They found that the group that resulted in the least reshaping of the bone was the single-piece straight dental implant. It was significantly better than the other two straight designs. All designs with an impression in the abutment resulted in about the same amount of bone changes.
It’s important to note that all these dental implants are integrated properly into the jawbone, so there isn’t really a question of any of these designs being defective: it’s a small, but significant difference in results at issue here.
Metal-Free One-Piece Dental Implants
At Ravon Knopf, we are very proud to offer metal-free zirconia dental implants. Not only are these dental implants completely ceramic, making them highly attractive and compatible with your jawbone and gums, but they are also made in a single piece without an abutment. As the above experiment shows, this may help your body retain bone around the dental implant to give the absolute best cosmetic results.
If you would like to learn about the benefits of metal-free dental implants in Beverly Hills, please call (310) 275-5325 for an appointment with an implant dentist today.