It's not hard to appreciate why permanent dental implants are increasing in popularity.
Aging boomers and retirees have more active lifestyles and extended social networks than their counterparts of a generation ago. They also have more money, thanks to the advent of personal financial planning, and the real estate boom that saw relatively inexpensive homes purchased for a few thousand dollars in the 1950s balloon to a half million dollars or more in the major centers. A subsequent move to a smaller town with more affordable housing, and suddenly you have a couple of hundred K in the bank looking for a home.
For many, the home for that money is in their mouths. Seeing themselves far removed from the stereotype of the hapless denture wearer biting into an apple and having his teeth come out with the core, middle-agers looking to preserve their youthfulness regard the outlay of tens of thousands of dollars as a worthwhile investment.Pity such an investor when her expensive titanium dental implants loosen. While failure rates are not high, the rate is increasing per capita as more patients opt for the Nobel Biocare Direct system, which is new technology and far removed from traditional implant procedures. There have been some 70,000 implantations since 2004, in the US alone.
Under the old system, titanium implantation was an extended and invasive procedure that required preparation of the gum and bone, often through surgery, followed by the implantation of a titanium anchor—which was then given time to fuse to the bone, before the dental surgeon finally attached the tooth.
Multiply this process over a few dozen teeth, and one can imagine the time and fuss required to do an entire mouth.
Meanwhile, ours' has evolved into a hurry-up society. Raised to wait days for a letter to arrive in the mail, we have now become conditioned to send and receive correspondence globally in the blink of an eye. Satellite has taken away the need to fiddle with the rabbit ears, and the remote not only saves us some physical exertion, it also saves precious seconds actually getting up to change the channel. Hi-speed cable internet and Ethernet means we can surf without having to wait for the lumbering modem to connect to the dial-up, and thanks to cell phones we no longer have to wait to get home in order to take, or make a call.
Thus, someone was bound to come up with a system that achieved a much faster turnaround for replacing every tooth in your head.
Nobel Biocare did just that, together with others who lay claim to similar technology. There's a patent infringement case before the US Supreme Court to that very point.
Nonetheless, with the Biocare system, a patient is evaluated for candidacy. If he or she meets the necessary criteria, a CT scan is carried out in order to map the mouth and the jaw. Images are emailed to Sweden, where sophisticated computer software processes the data and spits out a template that is an exact representation of the client's jaw, bone structure, the works. A set of prosthetic teeth is also made in tandem with the template.
In three weeks the package is back, and surgery is scheduled. In a relatively short procedure that can take as little as an hour and requires only a local anesthetic, the customized template is mounted and secured to either the upper, or the lower jaw. This guide provides the drill ports, through which the oral surgeon will drill, or 'punch' holes into the bone at a pre-determined point, for the insertion of titanium anchors—usually six. Once the anchors are in place, the template is removed and the prosthetic bridge, containing all teeth, is secured into position.
Voila.
To the untrained eye, a virtual video of the entire procedure seems awfully involved for a local anesthetic, but there would most likely be other options for patients who prefer not to be conscious, even partially, while all this is going on.
However, compared to the invasiveness and healing time required for anchoring individual teeth, this appears to be a slick system, with the bone compromised in six places, as compared to more than twice that, the old way.
Follow-up is usually accomplished over a few weeks afterwards. However patients have reported near-normal capacity almost right away.
The marketing possibilities are endless, and Biocare appears to take full advantage. 'Teeth in a Day" is the new mantra, and one of their key oral surgeons in Chicago promotes "Teeth in an Hour".
However, as secure as these implants appear to be at first, researchers in Sweden have been reporting a failure rate of eight per cent, due to bone re-absorption and other factors.
READ MORE LEGAL NEWS
In October, Nobel Biocare directed a field note update to the implant industry, advising of certain cautions, and suggesting an addendum to, and clarification of instructions.It is not known if a loose implant can be re-secured, or if a failed implant can ultimately be saved.
Even though the implant process is much less invasive than traditional surgical techniques, the procedure is not a walk in the park either, especially if it involves tooth extraction immediately prior. Add to that the significant cost and the cost to a person's emotional well-being, once a long-sought-after perfect smile since achieved then suddenly threatened, and you can imagine the disappointment and devastation.
The investigation continues. In the meantime, any potential litigation over failing Biocare Direct dental implants will most likely have to wait until the patent challenges are resolved.
