This is a tricky blog for me to write because I vehemently oppose making outlandish, unrealistic and overly optimistic claims.\u00a0 Sometimes the best planned and executed dental care succumbs to the wear and tear environment of the mouth, or uncontrolled dental disease.\u00a0 Any decision to begin complex dental treatment should be well thought out, and performed with the utmost caution.\u00a0 This especially applies to dental implants. However, there is considerable debate regarding the protocol for implant treatment. \u00a0Forty years ago, it was believed that implants had to be placed in a near sterile environment-in near perfect bone.\u00a0 Also, they believed there could be no force on the implants while healing, or they would not integrate, and that the teeth had to be connected.\u00a0 The problem was that not many patients fit this protocol, in order to satisfy the protocol it took a long time, required removable dentures and was not suitable for single teeth.\u00a0 Eventually, we began to realize that very often implants could be placed at the same time as the tooth extraction- which saves time and preserves bone.\u00a0 Dr. Gradwell of Allentown, who places my implants, was one of the first to embrace that concept years ago.\u00a0 Now it is considered the standard of care in most situations.\u00a0 Later, the idea of no force on a healing implant was challenged.\u00a0 This meant that in many cases temporary teeth could be placed on a newly placed implant.\u00a0 This was huge.\u00a0 In 2000, Dr. Gradwell and I attended immediate load training at Baylor University, in Dallas, Texas.\u00a0 Today, it is our goal to be able to remove teeth, place implants and place teeth the same day.\u00a0 This makes a dramatic difference for people because it requires less time, and eliminates the need for removable dentures or partial dentures.\u00a0 It is incredible how well this works, but it is more incredible how often I have heard from patients that they were told it couldn\u2019t be done and how hopeless they feel.\u00a0 I know you can\u2019t use a single case to represent all cases because individual results do vary based on individual circumstances, but the results in the following case are typical of what we have seen, time and time again, over the last 10 years.<\/p>\n
\u00a0The patient is a 50 year old woman, who presented with 22 remaining hopeless and broken down teeth.\u00a0 She had a history of gum disease, decay and abscesses.\u00a0 The remaining teeth were extracted, and 14 implants were placed.\u00a0 Temporary teeth were fixed to the implants the same day.\u00a0 She strictly followed a soft diet for 4 months after which we x-rayed the implants, and tested them for integration.\u00a0 All 14 implants integrated well.\u00a0 I do not use this case as an example because it is unusual.\u00a0 I use it only because it is the most recent.\u00a0 Implant success rates hover around 90% in the best of circumstances.\u00a0 It is only with respect and humility that I use a case that shows 100% integration.\u00a0 My point, as I said, is not to make overly optimistic claims. It is just to illustrate the change in perspective of what is possible.\u00a0 Those who are most dentally debilitated need to know that it may not need to be that way.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
This is a tricky blog for me to write because I vehemently oppose making outlandish, unrealistic and overly optimistic claims.\u00a0 Sometimes the best planned and executed dental care succumbs to the wear and tear environment of the mouth, or uncontrolled dental disease.\u00a0 Any decision to begin complex dental treatment should be well thought out, and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[5,175],"class_list":["post-34","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-allentown-immediate-load","tag-dental-implants"],"yoast_head":"\n