The subject of allergies covers a wide swath in medicine. Among other things, people have allergic reactions to animal fur, various foods and plant pollen. The effects are equally wide-ranging, anything from a mild rash to anaphylaxis, a life-threatening shutdown of the body's vital systems.

Approximately 5% of people are also allergic to various metals including nickel, cobalt, chromium and gold. Reactions to metal can occur when an allergic person comes in contact with items like jewelry, clothing or even mobile phones. There's even a chance of a metal allergy reaction from certain kinds of dental work.

It's unlikely, though, that you should be concerned if you're considering dental treatment or cosmetic work to upgrade your smile. Although allergic reactions like inflammation or a rash have been known to occur with amalgam “silver” fillings, it's quite rare. It's even less of a concern since “tooth-colored” materials for fillings are now outpacing the use of amalgam fillings, which are used in out-of-sight back teeth.

Of course, metal is used for other dental treatments besides fillings, including the most popular of tooth replacement systems, dental implants. An implant is essentially a metal post, usually made of pure titanium or a titanium alloy, which is imbedded into the jawbone. Even so, there's little chance you'll develop an allergic reaction to them.

For one thing, titanium is highly prized in both medical and dental treatments because of its biocompatibility. This means titanium devices like prosthetic joints and implants won't normally disrupt or cause reactions with human tissue. Titanium is also osteophilic: Bone cells readily grow and adhere to titanium surfaces, a major reason for dental implants' long-term durability.

That's not to say titanium allergies don't exist, but their occurrence is very low. One recent study detected a titanium allergy in only 0.6% of 1,500 implant patients who participated.

At worst, you may need to consider a different type of tooth replacement restoration in the rare chance you have a titanium allergy. More than likely, though, you'll be able obtain implants and enjoy the transformation they can bring to your smile.

If you would like more information on allergic reactions and dental restorations, please contact us or schedule an appointment for a consultation. You can also learn more about this topic by reading the Dear Doctor magazine article “Metal Allergies to Dental Implants.”

After years battling disease, your troubled tooth reached its useful life's end. It's been extracted, and we've replaced it with a life-like dental implant. So now, as far as the implant goes, disease is no longer an issue…right?

Sorry, no—though not to the same degree as a natural tooth, an implant could be endangered by gum disease. Although the implant's materials can't be infected, the supporting gums and bone can.

In fact, there's a particular type of gum disease associated with implants known as peri-implantitis (“peri” around an implant; “itis” inflammation) that first affects the gums surrounding an implant. Although peri-implantitis can arise from an excess of dental cement used to affix the crown to the implant, it most commonly starts like other forms of gum disease with dental plaque.

Dental plaque, and its hardened form calculus (tartar), is a thin, bacterial biofilm that builds up on teeth surfaces. It can quickly accumulate if you don't remove it every day with proper brushing and flossing. The bacteria living in plaque can infect the outer gum tissues and trigger inflammation.

Gum disease around natural teeth can spread quickly, but even more so with implants. That's because the natural attachment of the gums helps supply antibodies that impede infection. Implants, relying solely on their connection with the bone, don't have those gum attachments. As a result, peri-implantitis can move rapidly into the supporting bone, weakening the implant to the point of failure.

The good news, though, is that peri-implantitis can be treated successfully through aggressive plaque removal and antibiotics. But the key to success is to catch it early before it progresses too far—which is why you should see your dentist at the first sign of gum swelling, redness or bleeding.

You can also prevent peri-implantitis by practicing daily brushing and flossing, including around your dental implant. You should also see your dentist twice a year (or more, if they advise) for cleanings and checkups.

Dental implants overall have a greater than 95% success rate, better than any other tooth restoration system. But they still need daily care and regular cleanings to ensure your implants are on the positive side of those statistics.

If you would like more information on caring for your dental implants, please contact us or schedule an appointment for a consultation.

Dental implants aren't simply prosthetic teeth, but rather an innovative system that restores both smile appearance and dental function. And while an implant can indeed replace a single tooth, they can do so much more. Integrated with removable dentures or a fixed bridge, they provide a secure solution to multiple missing teeth.

Implants essentially replace a missing tooth's root, the basis for their lifelikeness and functionality. As such, they're also the most sophisticated restoration used today, requiring a high degree of technical and aesthetic skill to place them properly. In reality, implantation is more a process than a procedure.

If you're considering implants, that process begins with a comprehensive dental exam. During the exam, we'll assess the exact condition of your oral and facial structures like the length of remaining teeth, your bite and jaw dimensions. We'll use this information to plan the type and placement of your implants. The exam may also reveal problems like bone loss that might postpone your implants or suggest another form of restoration.

Using digital technology, we then locate the exact positions for your implants on the jaw to ensure the best outcome. This often results in the creation of a surgical guide, a plastic template placed over the jaw that accurately pinpoints the locations for the drilling sequence during implant surgery.

In most cases once the implants are surgically installed, gum tissue may be sutured over the implant to protect it while it integrates with the bone. In some cases, though, a visible crown may be placed immediately, so the patient can enjoy a tooth-filled smile the same day. This immediate crown, though, is temporary and will be replaced with a more durable, permanent one in a few months.

During this interim, the titanium in the implant post will attract bone cell growth, which will build up on the implant surface. This increased bone contact will help secure the implant fully in the jaw, giving the implant its signature durability.

Once the integration is complete, the permanent crown is affixed to the implant (or implants in the case of a fixed or removable dental appliance). It may have been a long road, but you'll have the closest thing to real teeth.

If you would like more information on implant restorations, please contact us or schedule an appointment for a consultation. You can also learn more about this topic by reading the Dear Doctor magazine article “New Teeth in One Day.”

You feel great about your new smile, thanks to dental implants! And you may also be feeling relief as the problems with your former teeth fade into the past.

But that doesn’t mean you can drop your guard on periodontal (gum) disease. Even though implants are impervious to decay, the natural tissues supporting them are vulnerable to periodontal (gum) disease. If they become diseased, your implants could lose their bone support and eventually fail.

And that failure could happen quickly. That’s because, as life-like as they are, implants don’t have one important advantage of real teeth: an attachment to a connective tissue called the periodontal ligament. This tough but elastic ligament lies between the teeth and the bone, attaching to both with tiny extending fibers and holding the teeth in place.

And that’s not all: Because the periodontal ligament contains an abundance of blood vessels, it can supply antibodies to help fight infection. The body’s defenses may not be able to stop disease, but they can certainly inhibit its progress.

Implants can’t benefit from this infection-fighting mechanism. So, when an infection arises in the gums surrounding an implant, it can spread rapidly through a form of gum disease known as peri-implantitis (literally “inflammation around an implant”). If we don’t stop it with prompt treatment, you could lose bone support from your implant and eventually lose it, sometimes in quick fashion.

That’s why you should clean your implants everyday like you do the rest of your teeth with brushing and flossing. You should also visit us regularly for dental cleanings. A dental cleaning involving implants is similar to one with natural teeth, except the hygienist won’t use metal instruments on the implants—this could create tiny scratches on their surface. Instead, they’ll use nylon or plastic instruments or ultrasonic equipment to clean them.

You should also make a dental appointment as soon as you notice swollen, reddened or bleeding gums. If you have gum disease, we can stop the infection through treatment and restore your gums to health. This can be a long and involved process, but it’s necessary to preserve your implants.

It’s true that implants can change your life. If you want to enjoy that change for a long time, take care of your implants and the natural tissues that support them.

If you would like more information on caring for dental implants, please contact us or schedule an appointment for a consultation. You can also learn more about this topic by reading the Dear Doctor magazine article “Dental Implant Maintenance.”

Compared to other dental restorations—a few of which have been around for over a century—implants are a relatively recent development. But even though it's just now entering its fourth decade, recent advances have catapulted implant therapy well beyond where it began.

That's due mainly to digital technology. Two examples of this, computed tomography (CT) and 3-D printing, are increasing the accuracy and efficiency of implant placement.

Properly placing an implant is one of the most important elements in achieving a natural and attractive result. But finding the best location is often difficult due to a lack of suitable bone volume, the patient's bite or the proximity of anatomical structures like nerves and blood vessels. CT imaging, especially Cone Beam CT scanners (CBCT), is helping to make implant placement planning easier.

Unlike the static, two-dimensional views of standard x-rays, CBCT takes hundreds of images and digitally blends them together to create a virtual 3-D model of the patient's jaw and face. Dentists can view this highly detailed model on a computer monitor from various vantage points and better identify possible obstructions. With better information about what "lies beneath," they can more accurately pinpoint the best implant site.

Creating the ideal plan is one thing—successfully implementing it is another. Dentists often create a surgical guide that helps them drill in precisely the right positions during surgery. The guide, which resembles a mouthguard, fits over the gums and contains marker locations for drilling.

Many dentists are now using 3-D printing to create these surgical guides. A 3-D printer turns a digital model of the guide based on measurements of the patient's mouth and proposed implant locations into an actual physical object "printed out" layer by layer of special polymer material. The end product can be more precise than guides created by other means.

These and other technological developments are helping implant therapy rise to a new level of success. With the resulting increase in accuracy, efficiency and less treatment time, tomorrow's implant patients will be the ultimate beneficiaries.

If you would like more information on restoring missing teeth with dental implants, please contact us or schedule an appointment for a consultation. You can also learn more about this topic by reading the Dear Doctor magazine article “How Technology Aids Dental Implant Therapy.”