The history of dental implants
Contemporary dental implants are a testimony to the wonders of modern medical science, and the endearing genius of man. However, dental implants themselves are by no means a modern phenomenon, and have existed in some capacity for thousands of years. The oldest ever dental implants can be dated back to the days of ancient China, around 2000 BC, when bamboo pegs were crudely placed within people’s jaws to replace missing teeth. Whilst these are a world away from the modern dental implants in Milton Keynes today, it is interesting to recognise that the desire to possess a full set of teeth – despite being constructed from crude materials – is not a new phenomenon. The journey from ancient China to those prosthetics recognised today, was one with many twists and turns, and a whole lot of trial and error.
A long way to go
Over the centuries, numerous civilisations attempted to bridge gaps within their citizens’ teeth using all manner of techniques. Ancient Etruscans used stones, seashells and other rare minerals to replace missing teeth, and Egyptians used copper pegs in a method similar to the days of ancient China. However relatively successful these procedures proved to be, it wasn’t until the 1800s that genuine progress was made to replace patients’ teeth in a scientific manner. This wasn’t a linear process however, and there were many false starts and, frankly strange experiments.
Cadavers, roosters and rabbits – making progress
Throughout the 1700s – 1800s, teeth were collected from cadavers and underprivileged people, with the intent of using them to replace the missing teeth of patients. This process today would be known as allotransplantation, however it proved to be generally unsuccessful. In the 1700s, a Scottish surgeon named Dr John Hunter successfully fused a human tooth to the comb of a rooster, in an experiment to observe how this fusion may be applied within dental implant procedures. From this point, numerous other experiments were carried out, but few proved to be successful. It wasn’t until 1952 that an orthopaedist accidentally discovered the properties of titanium within bone fusion, after he discovered a titanium cylinder which had fused within the femur bone of a rabbit, and hypothesised that the process could be replicated within humans. From then on, the progress of the dental implant accelerated at a great pace, and the first successful human implant was carried out in 1965 by an orthopaedist named Branemark.
Bridging the gaps
Branemark’s success paved the way for the dental implants which are now readily available with cosmetic dentistry across the country. The process of getting modern dental implants typically starts with a consultation period between the patient and their trusted dental practitioner, to establish their eligibility for the treatment and cover the basis of the procedure. Thereafter, providing they are happy to proceed, a small hole is surgically made in the jawbone of the patient’s mouth, in the space where their missing tooth or teeth should be. Then a titanium socket is inserted and left to heal. During the short healing period that follows, the titanium socket fuses with the patient’s jawbone, resulting in the socket being firmly embedded within it, just as a natural tooth would be. Finally, a replica tooth constructed from either porcelain or plastic is then inserted into the titanium socket via an abutment and the space along their gum line is bridged with a virtually identical and solid new tooth, which should keep a smile on the patient’s face for some time yet!
