Dental Implants in Culver City, California
Dental implants are artificial structures that replace the roots of the missing teeth, and on which a dental crown, a bridge, or a denture is attached.
Dental Implants have a long history when men tried different methods to replace the lost teeth. In its earlier stages, bars, meshes, staples, and pins were embedded within bone to anchor the replacement crowns or dentures. These earlier precursors of the contemporary implants, had a high rate of failure causing infections and sometimes extensive bone destruction in the area it was placed, which still today give dental implants a cloud of bad reputation.
The “Father” of the Contemporary Dental Implant is Dr. Per-Ingvar Branemark, who was studying the bone healing process in Rabbits. He fixated tiny chambers to the animal leg using Titanium screws. After the experiment he noticed the screws could not be removed. He later found that the bone had high affinity to this metal, and that it would virtually be adhered to it.
In 1965 Dr. Branemark successfully placed a dental implant in a human.
The rest is history.
The modern Dental Implants are made of Titanium, which has roughly the shape of the Root of a tooth.
The implant is surgically placed in the jaw bone and is left to heal for approximately 4 months. When the area has healed, the implant will be ready to receive a crown, support a bridge, or help anchor a full denture. The main requirements are that the patient has good bone volume and density in the area the Implant will be placed and that the patient is in good health. In some cases, a bone graft may be needed.
Some patients are concerned about the word “surgery”, but actually the process is very gentle. Dental implants are considered a standard replacement for a missing tooth. In some cases, the alternative would be a dental bridge.
Here are some of the advantages of dental implants:
- We don’t have to grind down the adjacent teeth to make a bridge
- Implants are easier to clean than bridges
- Implants do not need adjacent teeth to be successful
- Implants are not vulnerable to tooth decay.
To see if you are a candidate for dental implants, you can speak with Dr. Sandro Tomita. We invite you to call 310-417-8177 and plan your visit.
