Mini Dental Implants for Crowns

When it comes to tooth damage and decay, dentists will most commonly recommend a crown to improve the health and life of your tooth. While crowns can improve oral health by improving the look and function of damaged teeth, until recently, they were not capable of replacing a single missing tooth. Now, with mini dental implants for crowns, the dental implant acts as the tooth root, and allows for the replacement of a single missing tooth, without relying on support from surrounding teeth.

The Crown Stabilization Procedure

Traditional crowns are tooth-shaped caps which are placed over an existing tooth—often one that is damaged due to decay, accident, or other circumstances—in order to restore its shape, size and strength, for proper function and appearance. Crowns look and act like real teeth, however they rely on the support of the existing tooth root.

While crowns are ideal for restoring damaged and decaying teeth, it was only with the introduction of the mini dental implant, that crowns became a viable source for replacing a single missing tooth. 

The mini dental implant system for crown placement:

-        The implant. The titanium alloy implant is rooted into the jawbone where it acts as an anchor to stabilize the crown.

-        The metal housing. A metal housing is incorporated into the base of the crown and is what connects the crown to the implant.

-        The rubber O-ring. The O-ring is inside the metal housing and works as a seal to lock the two pieces together.

The mini dental implant or MDI treatment will take place right in your dentist’s office with use of a local anesthetic. The dental implant is placed in the jaw bone using precise and controlled techniques that involve a small incision in the gum line, after which a specialized drill is used to create a small hole in the jawbone where the implant is inserted. Once placed, only the ball-shaped head of the implant, or abutment, will be visible above the gum line.

The metal housing, complete with O-ring is then attached to the crown so that they can be ‘snapped’ into place. The socket-like O-ring connects with the ball-shaped abutment, locking the crown firmly in place so that it rests comfortably on the gum line, providing the look, feel and function of a natural tooth.

Affordable Dental Implants

Any patient that has done adequate research on dental implants knows that ‘affordable dental implants’ can often seem like an oxymoron. Truth be told however, with advancements in dental implant technology, there are now treatments available that are affordable, when all things are considered. Replacing broken, damaged, decayed and missing teeth isn’t cheap, and looking for the cheapest implants available is not always the best idea. Learning about the different types of dental implant procedures and determining which is right for you will help you to find an affordable option that will provide long lasting results.

Traditional dental implant treatments have been available to patients for years. This treatment is quite invasive, requires multiple visits to the dentist and patient down time. These factors all affect the overall treatment cost. Recent advancements in technology, however, have introduced a new implant treatment option to patients—mini dental implants.

Mini dental implants or MDI’s, are similar in nature and procedure to their more traditional counterparts, however their basic differences are what affect overall cost.

One of the great benefits of MDI’s is that they can often be placed in one single dental visit. In just a few hours, patients can transform their smile, and the best part, the new implants can be used immediately, no down time required.

The reason why patients are able to use their new implants immediately is because unlike traditional implant procedures, the MDI treatment is minimally invasive, small incisions are made in the gum line to allow for insertion of the implant into the jaw bone. No stitches are required, no downtime is needed, and patients only require a local anesthetic for the procedure.

The materials used are also a factor in the cost of dental implants. MDI’s are much smaller than traditional implants—about half the size—therefore fewer materials are used, thus reducing overall cost.

Patients always have the option to say “c’est la vie” and live their lives with missing teeth, but doing that often causes more harm than good, and can end up costing more to fix down the line. For an affordable dental implant treatment that provides long lasting results, consider mini dental implants.

Benefits of Mini Dental Implants

Mini dental implants or MDI’s are a fantastic solution for those patients who currently suffer from tooth loss as a result of accident, damage or decay. MDI’s are an effective long-term solution for replacing natural teeth for a variety of reasons. The many benefits of mini dental implants may help you to determine if this treatment is right for you.

Minimally invasive treatments. The mini dental implant treatment is minimally invasive when compared to traditional implantation procedures. The procedure is performed at your dentist’s office and only a local anesthetic is required. The incisions that are made in the gum line where the dental implant is to be placed in the jawbone are so small, no stitches are required and no downtime is needed.

Fast treatment time. The treatment takes only a few hours to complete, most patients will complete the procedure in a single dental visit.

No downtime. As stated above, the minimally invasive nature of the MDI treatment, means no downtime is required. When mini dental implants are placed, patients have full use of their teeth upon leaving the dentist’s office.

Higher chance for candidacy. Successfully undergoing any dental implant procedure relies on one single factor—whether or not patients have enough bone in their jaw to adequately support an implant. Traditional implants are larger in size, therefore patients with significant bone loss are not candidates for treatment. Because MDI’s are smaller in size (about half the size of traditional implants) more patients are candidates for the treatment.

Lower cost. For patients, cost is one of the greatest benefits of the MDI procedure. Mini dental implants offer patients an affordable solution for long lasting tooth replacement for a variety of reasons. This minimally invasive procedure requires only a local anesthetic, and can often be performed in a single visit. Traditional implants require more invasive surgical procedures as well as several visits before patients will see results, therefore the cost is higher. Also, and due to the smaller implant size, fewer materials are used. In addition, the smaller implant size means fewer materials are being used, which also lowers overall cost.

The benefits of mini dental implants are plentiful, but what all patients love most about this innovative treatment is leaving their dentist’s office with a smile that looks and feels completely natural.

Mini Dental Implants for Dentures

As any denture wearer knows, removable dentures are a daily struggle, but mini dental implants offer denture wearers a simple and effective solution. Physical discomfort, bad breath, and even embarrassment due to unexpected shifting while speaking or chewing often plague those who wear dentures, but the use of mini dental implants for denture stabilization easily solves many of these common problems.

The Denture Stabilization Procedure

The mini dental implant treatment is an affordable, minimally invasive dental implant procedure that provides stability for removable dentures without the costs and time associated with full-size implant treatment. In most cases, a single dental visit can stabilize dentures with long lasting results.

Three basic parts make up the mini dental implant or MDI system:

-        The implant. Rooted into the jawbone through a minimally invasive procedure, the titanium alloy implant acts as an anchor which stabilizes the denture.

-        The metal housing. A metal housing is incorporated into the base of the denture (one for each dental implant) and is what connects the denture to the mini implant.

-        The rubber O-ring. The O-ring resides inside of the metal housing and effectively seals and locks the two pieces in place.

The dental implantation treatment will take place right in your dentist’s office with use of a local anesthetic. Precise and controlled techniques are used to place the dental implant into the jawbone. Once properly placed, only the ball-shaped head of the implant, also known as the abutment, will be visible above the gum line.

At this point, the metal housing, complete with O-ring will have been placed on your dentures so that they can be ‘snapped’ into place. The O-ring, which is socket-like in nature, connects with the ball-shaped abutment, locking the dentures firmly in place so that they rest comfortably on the gum line.

The minimally invasive nature of the mini dental implant treatment, allows patients to immediately use their newly stabilized dentures. Patients who have undergone the MDI treatment know that even the best adhesives pale in comparison to the stabilization achieved dental implantation. MDI’s simply provide a better solution for common denture problems.

Types of Mini Dental Implants

Dental implantation is a treatment that is considered by many men and women who currently suffer with broken, decaying, damaged or missing teeth. Fortunately, implant technology has progressed in recent years to the point where patients have several options when it comes to tooth replacement. Traditional implants and mini dental implants are the two main types of treatments undergone today, however mini dental implants or MDI’s are quickly growing in popularity because their versatility allows for more candidates to undergo treatment.

Mini dental implants are growing in popularity because they offer more options to patients than any other implant treatment.  Candidacy for dental implantation comes down to one simple factor—the amount of bone present in the jaw. Similar to the foundation of a house, implants need a solid foundation for stabilization, there needs to be enough surrounding bone in the jaw for lasting results. The larger size of traditional implants excluded many patients who did not have enough bone for proper stabilization, but because MDI’s are smaller, more patients can now undergo treatment.

The smaller size of MDI’s are one reason why they are more versatile, but the fact that they are also available in several different shapes, further allows for implantation in patients who might not otherwise be able to undergo treatment. A minimum of 2 mm of bone on each side of the implant—surrounding and below—is needed for successful treatment. The jawbone mass in each patient varies, so various mini dental implants have been created to accommodate the maximum number of patients.

Today mini dental implants are available in shapes that range from short and thin and long and fat, to short and fat and long and thin. Further, MDI’s also have varying threads (similar to a screw, these threads are used to firmly place the implant in the jawbone, and promote osseointegration or bonding with the bone) and different connections, which are placed on the dental prosthetic and connect the implant to a crown, bridge or denture arch.

With so many implant options available to patients, MDI’s still provide the same support and stabilization as traditional implants, providing more patients with a long-lasting naturally, beautiful smile.

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.

Mini Dental Implant Procedure

Mini dental implants are the latest technological advancement for the replacement of broken, damaged, decayed or missing teeth. Mini dental implants have not replaced the need for conventional or traditional implants, instead they offer patients another choice. Technology has made it possible for smaller implants to be made out of the same dental alloy as a larger implant at a reduced cost, making dental implantation not only more affordable, but, due to their smaller stature, also increasing the amount of candidates able to undergo treatment. 

The Mini Dental Implant Procedure

The mini dental implant procedure can often be completed in just a single visit to the dentist.  The treatment will begin with the administration of a local anesthetic. Once the area is numbed, small incisions are made in the gum line and a specialized drill is used to create a place in the jaw bone for insertion of each dental implant.

The dental implant is then inserted into the bone. Acting as a screw, it is tightened into the bone until only the top portion of the implant, also known as the abutment, is visible at the gum line. The abutment is what connects the implant and the dental prosthetic together.

Patients may require a single implant or several implants depending on whether the patient is replacing a single tooth, a group of teeth or an entire arch of teeth. Once the dental implants are placed, the next step is to attach the dental prosthetic.

Whether a crown, bridge or upper or lower set of dentures, retaining fixtures will be placed on the dental prosthetic, which acts as a socket, fitting perfectly with the ball shaped abutment which protrudes from the gum line. This socket-like metal housing allows the prosthetic to snap onto the implant, providing the patient with a stabilized prosthetic that has the look and feel of natural teeth.

Mini dental implants can be used immediately; they do not require any patient downtime. Over time, through the process of osseointegration, the jawbone will bond with the titanium alloy of the dental implant, further stabilizing the dental prosthetic for long lasting results.

From replacing a single missing tooth to replacing several missing teeth to a full arch of missing teeth, mini dental implants are quickly becoming one of the most sought after treatments for tooth replacement.