There are lots of reasons you might lose a tooth: Deep infection. Gum disease. An accident. Harmful behaviors such as habitual clenching and grinding.
Regardless of how a tooth is lost, it’s crucial to replace it – yes, even if it’s further back in your mouth and not visible when you smile. Leaving the gap can have real implications for oral and whole body health alike.
When you lose a tooth, its roots no longer stimulate the jawbone through the pressures of chewing. This lack causes bone to gradually deteriorate, and that bone loss can change the shape of your face, leading to a sunken and aged appearance.
Adjacent teeth can also drift into the empty space, creating an unbalanced bite that can, over time, contribute to headaches and jaw pain. Eating and speaking can become more difficult, as can oral hygiene.
But what do you replace the tooth with?
In recent years, the go-to has become implants, which can support a single crown, partial, or even a full denture. Traditionally, those implants have been made from titanium alloys that can also contain toxic heavy metals such as nickel, cobalt, and aluminum. Even without those, though, there can be problems. As one paper noted, for instance,
Although titanium is the preferred choice for dental implants as it is an inert material, if used in oral implants, it may encourage toxic or allergic type…reactions. Allergy due to titanium might be accountable for the failure of implants in some cases.
Furthermore, the insertion of titanium implants and their presence in the human body may also cause internal exposure which ultimately leads to titanium ions to concentrate in tissues, regional lymph nodes, and pulmonary tissue.
Metal also corrodes, and the release of metal ions can fuel chronic inflammation, raising the risk of peri-implantitis, implant failure, and osteonecrosis of the jaw (“cavitations”). If multiple metals are present in the mouth – say, a titanium implant and an amalgam filling – galvanic currents can be generated. This can result in tooth sensitivity, a metallic or salty taste in the mouth, increased saliva, and a burning or tingling tongue. Systemically, galvanism can contribute to headaches, chronic fatigue, memory loss, and more.
For years, we have favored fixed bridges and partials over metal implants. Then came ceramic implants. After a long process of research and contemplation of their potential oral and systemic impacts, and evaluating the different ceramic implant systems now available, our doctors found that these can indeed be a good option for many dental patients.
For one, being made from zirconia, ceramic implants are broadly biocompatible, and since they are non-metallic, they don’t carry the risk of traditional titanium devices. They’re less prone to bacterial buildup and may integrate with bone more successfully, owing to their rougher surface. They also appear to preserve more bone than their metal counterparts.
Ceramic implants are aesthetically better, too. Because both the implant and the prosthetic it supports is made of tooth-colored material, if your gums ever thin or recede, there’s no risk of gray showing through along the gum line.
The implant system that our dentists chose? Swiss Dental Solutions (SDS), known for meeting the highest standards with respect to tolerability, health, and aesthetics. They were developed by Dr. Karl Ulrich Volz, one of Europe’s most well-known biological dentists and the creator of the first marketable ceramic implant.
SDS implants are immunologically neutral, having been designed with the principles of biological dentistry in mind, and come in both one-piece and two-piece designs. The latter is optimally designed to minimize the natural microgap between the two parts – otherwise a site of bacterial buildup – while their one-piece design fits flush with the gums, so there’s no microgap at all. Both are extremely durable, able to last for decades with proper care.
We’re excited to be able to finally offer these to our patients – and to do so with the help of therapeutic tools like platelet rich fibrin (PRF) and ozone that have been shown to improve and enhance implant outcomes. That’s something we’ll take a look at in our next post…
