The History of Dental Implants

History has proven that dental implants have been in existence for generations, but the development of modern dental technology came as quite a surprise. Due to great advancement in dental technology, almost any patient  can now undergo dental implantation to replace missing teeth, however until recently, this was not the case.

The earliest recorded dental implants date back over 1300 years to the Mayan civilization, where it was discovered that pieces of shells were used to replace missing teeth, a practice that was quite inventive as the calcium in the shells effectively bonded with the jawbone, thus stabilizing the shells for practical use. Both implantation methods and the materials used have changed with the advancement of dental technology, but the end goal has always remained the same—to restore the use of one’s teeth.

In the wake of the Mayans use of shells for implantation, others too developed ways to replace missing teeth, however it wasn’t until the 1950s that an accidental discovery led to modern implant technology.

Swedish Orthopedic Surgeon Dr. Per-Invgar Branemark stumbled upon a dental implant breakthrough while conducting bone healing research. Due to the high cost of titanium, Branemark decided to recycle some titanium tubing that had been placed in the bone of a rabbit. Branemark discovered that when trying to remove the tubing, he couldn’t. Further investigation led to the breakthrough  that the rabbit’s bone had bonded with the titanium tubing, effectively growing around it, thus providing stabilization.

This accidental discovery led to further tests, in which Branemark concluded that bone did indeed bond with titanium. He termed this process 'osseointegration', which refers to the connection between living bone and an artificial implant.

From Branemark’s initial discovery and subsequent research, the first titanium screw was developed and implanted in 1952. While accidental, this discovery led to an incredible breakthrough in cosmetic dentistry and is why dental implants are now one of the most popular cosmetic dental procedures that patients undergo.

As to the future of dental implants?  Continual advancements in implant technology have brought about the introduction of the mini dental implant. Its smaller size and wider range of versatility has allowed more patients than ever before to undergo tooth replacement procedures.