When you hear about “advancements”, it usually refers to the technology industry. Well, for the purposes of today, we’re going to look at some of the advancements and trends which are affecting everyone and specifically, dental implants.
Once upon a time this was almost a taboo subject – the technology was there, but so was the complexity. Ultimately, it meant that there were few cases carried out and those that did occur, weren’t necessarily tailored exactly to the patient’s requirements.
Suffice to say, it’s all changing. Whether you visit your local Bath dentist, or one which is further afield, the majority of dentists across the world now have access to state of the art implant technology.
We’ll now take a look at some of the trends in dental implants in dentistry, and should make it become an even more popular form of treatment over the next few years.
It’s not a time-consuming procedure
One of the main reasons why the uptake of implants may have been quite slow is the complexity of the procedure. If we cast our mind back several decades, it just wasn’t acceptable for an implant to be “fully completed” in up to nine months – and rightly so. Suffice to say, these times have been cut significantly and while each patient will be different, it certainly doesn’t take the best part of a year to rectify these problems.
We’re more bothered than ever before about cosmetics
Over the last few years the dentist trade has become much more open to cosmetic procedures. They may have once been deemed expensive and only reserved for the rich and famous, but now the scene is changing.
The Average Joe now wants that gleaming smile – and dentists are able to offer procedures at much more affordable rates. In short, anyone who needs a replacement tooth now must rely on implants to get the best results – and the cost is no longer a prohibiting factor.
Implants have now become part of dental school
From more of a “behind the scenes” point of view, there’s another trend that is affecting implants. Once upon a time cosmetic procedures were rarely touched upon as part of the dental school curriculum. Now, in pretty much all cases, budding dentists will be provided with all of the training for these procedures – implants included.
The success rates are high
Finally, another reason behind the surge of implants is because of one word – success. This is something that should be expected; after all, when something becomes tried-and-tested it stands to reason that advancements are going to be made. As well as the procedure itself now being quicker than ever before, the proportion of satisfied patients has also increased.
To put this into numbers, it’s understood that around 95% of patients are satisfied with dental implants over the last ten years. In comparison, this is much higher than “traditional” forms of dentistry like the root canal.