| Dental Implants and Blister |
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A dental implant is required when teeth are so damaged that they require complete replacement. The replacement is called a restoration and dental implants replace your damaged tooth with an artificial tooth that looks almost identical. Dental implants can be used to replace single or groups of teeth. A typical implant consists of a titanium screw (resembling a tooth root) with a roughened or smooth surface. The very first implants were made out of commercially pure titanium, however since it was discovered that a titanium-vanadium alloy would hold the bone as well as commercially pure titanium, more and more implants were made out of alloy due to its better tensile strength. Implant surgery is performed as an outpatient under general anesthesia (if several implants are to be placed) or with local anesthesia (for simple cases) by the dentist. An increasing number of cosmetic dentists are also placing implants in relatively simple cases. In straight forward cases patients can be implanted and restored in a single surgery. In such cases a provisional prosthetic tooth or crown is shaped to avoid the force of the bite transferring to the implant while it integrates with the bone. |