A dental implant is a procedure commonly performed by cosmetic dentists. It is a method of replacing missing teeth. As the name indicates, it is a method of implanting a tooth into the root of the jaw and gums. The tooth and the implant are made of titanium so they are very strong and durable. They look very real unlike dentures and bridges as they are placed directly into the root of the missing tooth. Almost all dental implants these days are called ‘root-form endosseous implants’ meaning that they look almost exactly like an actual tooth root. A titanium post is inserted into the jaw bone where the missing tooth was located. The titanium root actually fuses together with the bone. The major difference between a dental implant and a real tooth is that they feel different when chewing because the implant does not have any periodontal ligaments.

Before the development of this kind of implant the most common kind was the blade endosseous implant. This is a metal piece, which looks like a blade, which is put into the jawbone. There is also the subperiosteal implant whereby a framework is used to attach screws to the teeth and the bone. These are used to secure dentures, bridges and crowns. It is also used to anchor the prostheses for orthodontic tooth movement when existing, natural teeth are being straightened.

It is believed that the ancient American civilization of the Mayans were the first people to have had some form of dental implant. During an excavation, the mandible of an ancient Mayan woman was found. In her jawbone were found pieces of shell that were inserted into the roots/sockets of three missing teeth on her lower jaw. But, when the mandible was found, it was believed that unlike in the present, this woman received her dental implants after she died, which is something that the ancient Egyptians did as well. However, after further study it was shown that the woman received her dental implants while she was alive.

The first person to discover that titanium could fuse with bone was Per Branemark. His experiments first began with placing titanium implants in the femurs of rabbits and when he tried to remove the titanium he found that he could not. The first modern implant was performed by Dr. Leonard Linkow in 1952. He went on to implement many of these procedures and he is now considered to be the father of dental implants by his peers.

Stefano Melchiade was an Italian dentist who created the titanium screws to anchorage dental prostheses as described above. Now there are many companies that sell and thousands of dentists around the world who perform this procedure. Implants can be placed immediately after a natural tooth has been lost or extracted. In fact, it has been found that if the implant is placed right into a socket where a tooth has been lost or removed recently the implant is more likely to succeed than if the bone had already had time to heal from a missing tooth.

Now, research is being done into creating dental implants that are made of zirconia, which is derived from a metal called zirconium, which is similar to titanium. The reason zirconia is becoming a substitute for titanium is that it better resembled real teeth in terms of color, so it is more aesthetically pleasing. But, currently more research is being done on this before it can be determined whether it is a good alternative to titanium dental implants in the long run.