Settingthestandardindentalimplanttherapy

Dental implants are not all the same and have varying success rates. The success is dependent on t he product and the practitioner.

As a periodontist, which is the O NLY specialty recognized by the American Dental Association as a “dental implant specialist,” I feel it is important to inform the commu- nity about how dental implant treatments have changed over the past 50 years causing a decline in success.

Dental implants have been well researched and placed in patients by periodontist and oral surgeons since the 1970s. The published scientific literature in the ʼ70s and ʼ80s estimated 979 9% success rates when controlled for certain systemic diseases & smoking. More recently, the success rates have gone down while research and knowledge has increased.

In 2007, I graduated from a full-time three-year dental implant specialty training program from Rutgers Dental School called Periodontics. This was in addition to general dental school. At the time, only a handful of companies were fabricating dental implants. These companies were partnered with universities, periodontists and oral surgeons for decades to establish research to prove that their products met or exceeded the standard of care which was 97-99% success rate for 20-plus years.

Periodontists followed up on the implants for decades to see how the implants lasted in patientsʼmouths: to see if gum disease developed or affected them, if loss of an adjacent tooth affected them, if the implant suffered consequences from smoking or if added to a denture. This is all the knowledge which is taught at a university level and takes years to learn. If implants are meant to last forever, it must be handled in such a manner and treatment planned accordingly anticipating changes to a patientʼs dentition and aging.

Today many more companies are fabricating these implants and come from overseas with little to no research proving their product has the same level success. This is completely legal through the FDA 501(k) approval process which allows clearance to sell the product.

But this should not preclude the company to perform some level of research to protect the public. These “knock-off” implants are much cheaper and have not taken initiative to prove their success.

What is also happening is that these implant companies and private companies are offering short term “training programs” to general dentists in attempts to sell more product so generalists can do these surgical services at their. will be collected. New members are always welcome. Cake and coffee will be served. Please bring an item/donation for the food pantry. For more information call Elaine at (201) 664-7037.

In my opinion, as dental implants are meant to be a perm anent tooth replacement option, it is important to go to a trained specialist, who is a periodontist, who has the science a nd university-based training and the opportunity to practice these procedures hundreds of times on patients before a private practice setting.

I am a solo, female, dental implant specialist, surgeon and periodontist. I am a lead to a team of four hygienists, each with over 25 years of experience. I place hundreds of dental implants a year and follow them in my highly trained hygiene practice. I partner with many general dentists throughout Bergen County to design, perform and maintain complex dental implant restorations.

For more information, call (201) 664-3023 or visit their office at 354 Old Hook Road #201 or WestwoodPeriodontics.com.