History of Dental Implants

 

People have attempted placing tooth replacements into jawbone using various materials for centuries with the earliest successful case found in 1400 year old Mayan remains.

• Root-form implant made of Emerald was found in Peruvian Mummy dating back to Inca Period


• Ivory teeth found imbedded in ancient Chinese remains and Egyptian mummy jawbone


• Etruscans, living in what is now modern Italy, replaced missing teeth with artificial teeth carved from the bones of oxen


• Ancient Greeks rulers have known to have transplanted teeth into his own extraction site from his slaves


• Maggiole (1809) described forcing a hollow metal tooth root (18 carat Gold) into an extraction socket, then restoring with post and core


• Honduras root-form implant from 600 AD was verified radiographically showing some bone-implant attachment and have been recognized as the first successful root-form dental implant of the world

 

Dental implants in the 20th century continued to undergo the process of trial and error with many differing materials and shapes.  Past implants include a vitallium (cobalt-chromium) blade shaped implant for thin jawbones, a crystal sapphire root form implant and a vitallium implant framework fitted over the jawbone (subperiosteal implant) and through the jawbone (trans-osseous implant) for cases with an extremely severe amount of bone resorption.

         

It took until the mid 20th century, however, for a major modern advancement. Swedish orthopedic surgeon, Per Ingvar Brånemark, accidentally discovered titanium metal’s ability to adhere to bone and named the process "osseointegration". Experiments continued until 1978 when the first root form Titanium implants were manufactured as a commercial dental product.

During the 1980’s, many different designs of these titanium root form implants were beginning to be made. The next few decades provided further improvements in design and method.

Dental implants have since become the treatment of choice for replacement teeth in the 21st century.