From the earliest years of my profession, I’ve been dedicated to combating edentulism. Throughout my dental faculty years, my focus shifted in the direction of prosthetics and surgical procedure. At The Ohio State College Faculty of Dentistry (2009-2013), implantology discussions had been superficial, missing in depth coaching in surgical or prosthetic parts. Implants appeared reserved for specialists, whereas basic dentists had been suggested to stay to duties like fillings. As an implantology educator, I persistently advise my mentees that implants are the spine of the battle on edentulism.
I’ve realized that, nearly all the time, an implant is the optimum resolution for changing a lacking tooth. Studying the way to exchange lacking tooth turned essential for enabling folks to chew higher, selling more healthy and happier lives. With out implants, our solely fastened resolution for lacking tooth is a tooth-borne bridge. The absence of a terminal tooth raises the query — is suggesting a distal extension detachable prosthesis the one viable possibility for a basic dentist? We have to do higher and supply fastened options for the edentulous or partially edentulous affected person.
Early in my observe, I embraced dental expertise, a robust but typically underutilized software as a consequence of reservations about instructional and monetary investments. Postgraduate programs, fellowships, mentors, and using intraoral cameras, digital impressions, and CBCT made me snug sufficient to securely begin putting routine dental implants. My journey started with totally surgically guided implant placements, impressing me with the accuracy and ease of the workflow, notably in appropriate circumstances (good bone, thick delicate tissue, wholesome sufferers, and so on.). Offering the most suitable choice for restoring the partially edentulous affected person was immensely gratifying. Subsequently, my journey delved into extra difficult circumstances, aiming to supply extra for my sufferers.
Recognizing the need to grasp numerous parts of surgical procedure, periodontics, and prosthodontics, I explored socket preservation, guided bone/tissue regeneration, sinus augmentation, delicate tissue grafting, and full-arch fastened options in conventional dental alveolar bone and distant anchorage.
The journey progressed from an analog workflow to a digital one. Our observe is now 99% digital with a completely practical in-house dental lab. We implement expertise by means of 3D printing, milling (Zirconia, PMMA, titanium), customized abutments/implant restorations, detachable dentures, implant-retained dentures, and implant-supported prosthetics similar to full-arch fastened options.
Our observe targets people in want of full mouth rehabilitation with real looking expectations and psychological stability. Altering folks’s lives is a supply of nice satisfaction, and so they recognize our work. Whereas our main aim is to avoid wasting tooth every time attainable, it’s essential that if we now have a affected person in terminal dentition, totally or partially edentulous, we possess the coaching, training, and expertise to supply a pathway again to optimum oral well being with fastened implant options. I urge my colleagues to hitch the battle on edentulism by leveraging the very best surgical and prosthetic modalities out there — implant-supported prosthetics.
