Existing dental implants
There are well over 15-20 dental implant companies used on a regular basis in the U.S. and many more across the globe (over 284 total!). Each company having many different types and sizes of implants greatly increases the variability that can be found from one dental implant case to the next. These types of dental implants (Titanium root form) have been used for over 50 years now, but over the last 20 years the utilization in most practices has increased tremendously. Many factors result in a patient needing implant maintenance and repair from another office. Finding an office that can properly identify an existing implant and provide any necessary treatment can be difficult..
Helpful tips if you have an existing implant or implants:
-identify the implant company/system (Nobel, Straumann, Zimmer, etc.) that you have by asking the office that placed your implants
-identify the platform or connection (ex., Nobel Biocare has an external hexagon connection, internal conical and hexagon connection, and tri-lobe channel and a few others)
-identify the implant diameter and platform size. An implant diameter can be 3.7mm, but that may not help conclude what platform size the implant has. Most systems will identify platforms by NP (narrow platform), RP (regular platform), and WP (wide platform), therefor, the diameter may only help you determine the platform size indirectly.
Having this information will help and often expedite any future treatment that your implants may require from another practitioner.
Comments are closed.