Archeology provides evidence that humans have attempted to replace missing teeth with root-shaped dental implants for thousands of years. Relic implants from ancient China (dating back 4,000 years) were carved into bamboo pegs and inserted into bone to replace missing teeth. The 2,000-year-old remains from ancient Egypt resemble these pegs in shape and are made of precious metals. Some Egyptian mummies were found that had human teeth implanted, and in other cases, copper teeth.[49] In 1931, Wilson Bobino and his wife found, at a site in Honduras dating back to AD 600, the lower jaw of a Maya woman, in which three missing incisors had been replaced by seashells, which had been carved to take the shape of teeth.[50] The bony growth around two of the implants, along with the formation of calculus, indicates that they were functional as well as aesthetic. This piece is now part of the osteological collection of the Peabody Museum of Archeology and Ethnography at Harvard University.[51]
In more recent times, dental implants were reported as early as 1969, but soft tissue formed surrounded the polymethacrylate counterpart of the tooth rather than osseointegrated.
The early part of the 20th century saw a number of implants made from a variety of materials. One of the first successful implants was the 1913 Greenfield System of Implants (also known as the Greenfield Basket or Bed). The Greenfield implant, an implant made of iridium and platinum fused to a gold crown, showed evidence of osseointegration and lasted for several years. The first to use titanium as an implant material were Booth, Beaton, and Davenport in the 1940s, who noted how deeply bony growths entered titanium screws, and the difficulty they had in removing them. Booth and others were the first to describe the process that was later called osseointegration (later marketed by Per Ingvar Brenmark). In 1951, Gottlieb Leventhal performed titanium implants in rabbits. His positive results led him to believe that titanium was the ideal surgical material.
In the 1950s, research was conducted at the University of Cambridge in England on blood flow in living organisms. They devised a way to create a titanium chamber and then implant it inside soft tissue in rabbit ears. In 1952, a Swedish orthopedic surgeon, Per Ingvar Brenmark, took an interest in the study of bone healing and regeneration. During his research period at Lund University, he adopted the “rabbit ear booth” designed in Cambridge and used it on a rabbit’s femur. After studying, he tries to retrieve these expensive compartments from the rabbits and finds that he is unable to remove them. Bernmark noticed a bone growth so close to the titanium that the bone was actually stuck to the metal. Brinmark conducted further studies of this phenomenon on human and animal samples, all of which confirmed this unique property of titanium. Leonard Linko, in the 1950s, was considered the first to introduce titanium and other metal implants into the jawbones. Artificial teeth were then attached to these metal pieces. In 1965, Brinmark performed the first dental implant made of titanium on a volunteer. His work began in the mouth, since it was the easiest area for continuous observation and, in addition to the population having a high percentage of missing teeth, thus provided more samples for large-scale study. The clinically observed bonding of bone with titanium has been termed “osseointegration”.
Implants have since evolved into three main types:
root-shaped dental implants; The most common type for all uses. There are approximately 18 different forms of this type of implant, all of which are made of titanium, but they differ in shape and surface texture. Limited evidence shows that relatively smooth implants are less likely to develop periimplant inflammation than those with rougher surfaces, and there is no evidence to suggest greater long-term success of any type of dental implant.
zygomatic implants; Long implants can rest on the zygomatic bone by passing through the maxillary sinus, in order to fix the complete maxillary denture when there is no bone. Zygomatic implants offer an innovative approach to severe maxillary bone loss, yet they have not demonstrated any advantages related to bone grafting functionally, although they may provide a relatively non-invasive option, depending on the volume of reconstruction required.
Small-diameter implants are small-diameter, one-piece implants (implant and abutment) that are sometimes used for dental appliances or orthodontic fixation.
Alumina-ceramic implants were issued between the 1960s and 1970s, but were withdrawn from the market in the early 1990s due to exhibiting biomechanical problems (such as low fracture resistance), and were replaced by zirconia implants.
Robotic dental surgery developed in the first decade of the twenty-first century, and this included dental implants.
