Although dental implants have now been around for more than 30 years, they are still the latest generation of tooth replacements available and dental researchers continue to experiment with them and find ways to make them do more and be available to more people. At David Madruga, we use advanced dental implant technology in Marylebone to make dental implants work for people who have been told by other dentists that they can’t have dental implants.
How is your jawbone?
The success of dental implants depends very much on the state of your jawbone. Dental implants are a bit like rawl plugs in walls. They need something dense and solid to grip onto if they are going to give you the stability you need to chew with. Stick a rawl plug in a plasterboard wall and you won’t be able to hang a heavy mirror on it. Put it into a brick wall and you will. The same goes for jawbones, which can become thin and spongey and no good at all for supporting dental implants. But we have ways round that.
Guided bone regeneration and bone grafting
These are ways to rebuild lost bone tissue. We can insert new bone tissue, either from somewhere else in your body or another source, into the jawbone. It needs some time to integrate with your existing bone tissue. This gives you back the shape of your jaw as well as something to anchor dental implants into.
Plasma rich in growth factors (PRGF)
This is when we use some of your blood to create a liquid that will help you heal more quickly. We take some of your blood, spin it in a centrifuge and fractioning process to create PRGF. We will use the PRGF either as a liquid, or as a gel or a membrane around your implant so that the integration process can happen more quickly and effectively. This is a great treatment if healing might be a problem for you, such as if you have diabetes or bone loss. It is also a natural antibiotic and a painkiller, so the post-operative period is easier to go through.



Was it because your mum was scared of the dentist too? Was it because she never took you when you were young so the first time you went you had to have loads of fillings and they didn’t even offer you a local anaesthetic? Was it the noise of the drill? You can’t quite remember. You just know that all your life, you’ve been lucky to make it to one check-up every 5 years, let alone twice a year. And every time you go, there’s always a long list of work that needs to be done. In fact, it gets longer every time and last time, they were talking about root canals and extractions, maybe even dental implants, if you wanted to get out of the vicious cycle you are in with your teeth.
It starts with a consultation
One of the biggest frustrations with having dental implants fitted has always been having to wait so long between appointments for healing to happen. In the past, it took about six months between having your dental implants fitted and getting the porcelain crowns put on. This was so that the implants could have plenty of time to integrate with the jawbone, and the time it takes for the two to integrate is still vital to the success of dental implants. Things could take even longer if teeth had to be removed first, which meant more healing time.
The process of getting dental implants usually involves a consultation followed by any preparatory work. Next comes the fitting of the implants and teeth are added later. In the meantime, someone often has to do without teeth or they have cosmetic stand-ins only. With same-day teeth, prosthetics can be added straight away, which eliminates the need for a second appointment to fit them. This creates a very satisfying, immediately beneficial dental treatment.
Check-ups
If you have been missing teeth for some time, or you are a smoker or have had advanced gum disease, your jawbone may not be in as good condition as you would like. As soon as you lose teeth, the bone in the area of the lost tooth understands that it is no longer being used and begins to dissolve itself, releasing the nutrients from the bone back into the bloodstream for use elsewhere in the body.
Dr David Madruga is specially trained in treating
Whatever the reason, if you have lost or are about to lose all your teeth, do not sink into despair. At David Madruga in Marylebone, full mouth rehabilitation can give you back your smile and your ability to chew, laugh and speak with complete freedom, by using dental implant restorations.
How dental implants work