How Have Dental Implants Evolved Over the Years?

You may have heard that many dentists consider dental implants to be the modern gold standard for replacing missing teeth. What you may not have known, however, is that this form of tooth replacement has a longer history than many people realize. The earliest dental implants date all the way back to antiquity, and it took a very long time for them to get where they are now. Below is a brief look at the remarkable evolution of dental implants.

The Earliest Dental Implants

There are various examples of dental implants being used in a variety of cultures in ancient times. For example, around 4,000 years ago, people in China would replace their missing teeth with bamboo pegs inserted into the jawbone. Egyptians would do the same thing 2,000 years later, but they used precious metals instead.

By modern standards, these types of implants would not be considered successful. This is because the materials they were made of were not able to fuse with the jawbone and would often be rejected by the body.

The First Step Toward Modern Dental Implants

As time passed, many dental professionals experimented with a variety of materials for dental implants, such as silver, porcelain, 24-karat gold, and Vitallium. However, the path toward modern dental implants would truly be opened in 1952, when Dr. Per-Ingvar Branemark made an important discovery. He had been performing an experiment that involved placing titanium in the femurs of rabbits. When it came time to take the titanium out, he was unable to because it had formed a bond with the bone around it.

Recognizing the significance of this discovery, Dr. Branemark would eventually go on to place the first titanium dental implant in 1965. The implant ultimately proved successful in the long term. Once Dr. Branemark’s research became accepted by the scientific community in 1982, more and more dentists started using titanium dental implants to rebuild their patients’ smiles.

Dental Implants Today

Dental implants have proven to be a highly reliable form of tooth replacement, boasting a success rate of 97%. This can be attributed to a number of factors, such as the advanced technology that is used to plan the treatment; a CBCT scanner can show dentists exactly where an implant post needs to go and can be used to determine whether a given patient is truly a candidate for dental implants.

There’s no telling how dental implants will continue to evolve over time, but the fact of the matter is that right now, they offer an excellent way to reclaim a complete smile after tooth loss. Don’t hesitate to reach out to your dentist to find out whether dental implants could be a good fit for you.

About the Practice

At Landmark Dental Studio, our dentists use their expertise to ensure that all of our patients are able to enjoy high-quality dental care that allows them to maintain brighter, healthier smiles. Instead of referring our patients to a separate practice for dental implant placement, we’re able to handle the entire treatment in-house. If you’re ready to schedule your initial dental implant consultation here at our practice in Greenwood Village, visit our website or call (303) 773-8013.