Today I would like to talk with you about the problem of missing teeth. This conversation will involve the newest and the hottest topic in all of organized dentistry, “implants”. Through out the ages, mankind has been plagued with the elusive problem of missing teeth. It seems as if at one point in our history everyone over a certain age was destined to wear some type of denture. It was almost inevitable. Dentistry before the 1960’s was about pulling teeth and wearing dentures for a great number of our parents and grandparents.
Better dentistry access recently has helped many middle aged and older adults to have nearly all of their natural teeth. But for many adults (myself included) the radical change came too late to save every one of our natural teeth. Many patients are stigmatized by a lost tooth here or there. We made valiant efforts to save these teeth but some were doomed to failure and eventual extractions despite our best efforts. Some lost we suffered were because of accidents which we had no control. (A confession here, I accidentally knocked out my younger sister’s front central incisor when I was 10 years old by jumping off a homemade see-saw that hit her directly in the mouth; accidents do happen, sorry sis!
She now has that Tom Cruise look with only one large incisor.) Sometimes tooth loss is caused by over zealous dentistry, when maximum tooth structure was lost with large black amalgam fillings where there was only minimum decay. Weak teeth are another reason for teeth to be lost. And finally the biggest one of all, the one that accounts for more than half the number of teeth lost. It’s “Periodontal Disease”; (gum or bone loss supporting the tooth structure). All these reasons for tooth lost has stymied and perplexed dentists for decades if not for centuries. That incident became one of the main reasons why I wanted to become a Dentist, and now take pride of delivering the best Dentistry in Chino, Ca. today.
As I stated in the beginning, there is a new dental treatment called implants that is turning back the hands of time. It is the hottest topic in all of dentistry. Every specialty of dentistry is clamoring for ownership this most remarkable restorative miracle. We (dentistry) can now reverse the end results of tooth loss. We can literally put back that lost tooth. Even if it was lost years ago, we can now on a predictable basis replace that missing tooth with another tooth, with a “bionic root”. A tooth and root that’s “guaranteed” not to decay, ever!
If you thought that the cosmetic smile makeover of the “Hollywood Six+” veneers or the “Celebrity Smile” I speak of so often was not for you because of a few lost front teeth or posterior teeth think again. Implants that can be placed now look identical and indistinguishable from your natural teeth. Now everyone can have that “Smile of a Lifetime” that you have so much wanted. Without missing spaces! Why is everyone so excited now about implants, after all there is evidence that even the ancient Egyptian kings and queens had crude dental implants of sorts placed in their mouths when they lost a tooth. Dental implants were not new to dentists and healers of the ages. Bone, animal and human teeth were often “implanted” into the jaws of the rich and powerful with these early misguided healers. Metals of different types were also used. Gold and golden teeth were often the perennial favorite types attempted. Most everything failed miserably. When I graduated from USC in the late seventies, vitreous carbon implants was one of the leading research material used for implants. Nearly 100% failed in five years of clinical trials. So what is different today? PREDICTABILITY!
By changing over to titanium, dentistry and medicine found the missing element. The body LOVES titanium! The bone cells actually like to grow and attach themselves to the newly implanted artificial titanium roots. This exciting event has been now documented for over 25 years with a 94% success rate. I’ll give more details of this wondrous event with my next posting, but, in the mean time if you want more immediate information you can visit us at the Celebrity Smile (our Dental Office Located in Chino, Ca). As always remember, you deserve noting less than the very Best.
In the Name of Better Dentistry
Dr. Arthur T. Forrest, D.D.S.- Dentist In Chino
Fellow in the Pierre Fauchard International Honors Dental Academy