Why One Piece Dental Implant

A dental implant surface is divided in 3 elements;

1st element: is inserted in the prepared bone (by drill) and have direct contact to the bone, called implant.

2nd element : one part have direct contact to gum, called gingival height.

3rd element: the artificial crown (prosthesis) have indirect contact by a cement media, called abutment.

Stage1:

The dental surgeon first accesses the patient’s jaw bone through the patient’s gum tissue . The site in the jaw where the implant is to be placed is drilled and/or tapped to accommodate the dental implant. Then, the dental implant is inserted into the hole in the jaw bone. As the implant have a internal bore, and to prevent the gum invasion, a cover screw seals the hole. The gums are then sutured over the cover screw. Few months is needed to have direct contact with bone and ready to be loaded (used for mastication). During this period, the dental implant should not be loaded.

Stage 2:

the dentist make an incision through the patient’s gum tissues. The cover screw is exposed and removed, exposing the proximal end of the implant. The hollow threaded bore of the implant is thoroughly cleaned and dried. The dentist then places a temporary longer screw and the gum sutures around it, exposing through the mouth and wait few weeks till the gum heals.

Stage 3:

The temporary screw which is exposed through the mouth are removed. The exposed hollow threaded bore of the implant body is thoroughly cleaned and dried. A series pieces are threaded and the dental impression is taken from the mouth. The impression pieces are unthreaded and with the dental impression is sent to the laboratory and is used to create a plaster or stone model which inside the stone, the replication of the patients’ dental implant with the same position is inserted. This is a direct duplication of the patient’s mouth. This provides the information needed to fabricate the prosthetic replacement tooth called crown.
The abutment is screwed into the hollow threaded bore of the laboratory implant and the final prosthesis is fabricated.
Series of sessions of controlling the crown is needed. For each session the temporary longscrew which is exposed through the gum is removed and the abutment is screwed and the crown is checked. Then again the temporary long screw is replaced. The abutment isre-screwed inside the internal bore of the laboratory implant (which is inserted inside the stone) and the crown is send to the laboratory.
The final prosthesis is secured to the patient’s mouth abutments with a dental adhesive cement.
During the period of treatment which consists of few months, a removal temporary denture is used by the patient.

Problems:

Each manufactured pieces do have tolerances, so between the pieces there are always a gap, even it is in micrometers.
During this period, the aesthetic and speech of the patient is compromised. As the patient is going to use temporary removal denture for few months, the patients soft tissue profile (e.g. lips) would change. This provide an unpleasant appearance of the patient’s face.
The multiple pieces dental implant systems make the technique complex and unfriendly for the dentist as described above.
Having multiple pieces decreases overall strength and integrity of the final assembled unit. Also increases the overall cost of the treatment.
In every session, removal of series of pieces from patient mouths, replacement of the pieces which have been send by the laboratory and again replacement the temporary long screws, is time consuming, increasing the cost of the treatment.
To analyze the aesthetic of the crown, appearance of the face, speech, sometimes a temporary fixed crowns is needed which cannot be applicable with this approach

Solution:

If a dental implant could be placed in the prepared bone with a minimum of 30 N, all the components could be manufacture in one piece and it can tolerate a soft diet mastication.
Due to lack of space between the pieces of the dental implant, it has a higher success rate in smokers and patients with poor oral hygiene.
Also mastication, aesthetic and speech can be reconstructed immediately with a fixed or removable dental prosthesis.