Immediate Implant Teeth

10 years ago the standard approach to providing implant restorations was to place the implants and wait six months for the bone to grow on to the surface of the implants, before loading with the “definitive” teeth; we call this “biological integration”. It has now become common practice to restore implants much sooner. Immediate implant teeth are restorations ('teeth') placed on to the implants on the day that the implants have been placed. Temporary resin teeth are usually used at first, and then approximately 8-12 weeks following this, the temporary teeth are replaced with the final restoration which is usually based on a ceramic or titanium structure. This sort of treatment is routine in our practice for patients who are missing anything from one tooth to all the teeth in one or both jaws.

The shape of the gum and jaw sometimes changes quite significantly in the first few weeks after extractions or implant placement. Furthermore, scientific documentation has shown that implants that have survived the first three months are most unlikely to give problems later on; so if there is going to be a problem with an implant, it is very likely to be early on in treatment. For this reason we prefer to wait a few weeks or months before making the transition from temporary crown and bridgework to definitive restoration.

Although in carefully selected situations early implant loading is a great way to treat our patients, this can only work if the fixtures are well-anchored. If the quality of the bone is not adequate to firmly anchor the implants than you will be advised to delay bridge treatment until healing has taken place, following a more ‘conventional’ approach to treatment.

The need to rapidly produce a long-term temporary restoration in the laboratory means that immediate implant treatment will increase cost, but sometimes the temporary bridge will last a very long time, so the cost of definitive bridgework may be deferred, depending upon how challenging the ‘bite’, and how robust the temporary bridge may be. This sort of treatment is made that much more straightforward by the fact that we have our own laboratory and technical facilities.

Our practice has been heavily involved with this kind of ground-breaking treatment for many years. In the year 2000, we received Millennium Product status for devising and patenting a drill unit incorporating proprietary technology, which allowed the implant surgeon to assess the potential for an implant to be immediately loaded. The “Osseocare” drill unit was displayed at the Millennium Dome. The practice frequently hosts educational events for reffering practitioners, outlining our approach to this treatment.