The difference between traditional and mini dental implants treatment

The replacement of missing teeth is critical to ensuring the proper function and beauty of the smile. When teeth are missing, many St. Louis, Missouri, patients might be unsure as to which option is best for them. Should they consider a partial denture or pay more for a dental implant? 

Dental implants continue to be one of the more popular options at The DentaLink, including traditional and mini dental implants. But what is the difference? Which one is better? Drs. Allan and Andrew Link describe the difference between these treatment options and when each one is used for a patient.

What is a dental implant?

First and foremost, understanding the goal of a dental implant is the best way to start understanding the difference. A dental implant is a tooth root replacement. It is typically fabricated from materials that are biocompatible with the human body, such as titanium or zirconia. The tooth root replacements are placed during oral surgery into the bone of the jaw where a tooth once was. It stimulates the growth of the bone through a process called osseointegration, which is responsible for holding the implant in place to be restored. The top of the implant, known as the “abutment,” is then restored with a crown, bridge, or denture. This varies depending on the patient’s unique situation.

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Video Transcript

Dental implants are especially important because first I treat a lot of seniors, and you can make as good a denture, the best denture in the world but it is never going to be like having an implant supported denture or getting rid of the denture totally and having what looks li perfectly natural functional teeth. We could have never done that in dentistry before and now we can do it, and you can’t understand unless you have been a dentist as long as I have a known bad regular dentures are. What implants can do for that person, then you bring that to a young patient who just has a tooth knocked out on a little parking lot or wherever they tripped, thy are playing football or whatever they pick a football game, and all of a sudden they are missing a tooth and you don’t want to start down the road on a young adult with other treatments when you can replace that tooth almost as good as what started out, you are not compromising other teeth you are not asking them to do anything special on homecare. They have a functional tooth, and a beautiful looking natural tooth. We could not have done that in dentistry before. The young dentist don’t realize what I realize what an implant does, how much better it is for the patient and the way that they can keep it without any more trouble, it doesn’t decay – we could not do that in the past, so dental implants are something that I have learnt, I went to Sweden right away when I heard about them back in the late 80s and learned it from Brandon mark himself who was one of the only general dentists in St. Louis who could do them, real early on because they did not have a lot of specialists at the time, and because I heard him personally. I have loved him ever since, it is a life changing experience for the patient to do away with something that they are popping out of the mouth and putting in back into a jar or popping out of their mouth when it doesn’t want to pop or they don’t want to pop it out, and they can forget about it, and they can enjoy what they could be doing and smile.

How do traditional and mini dental implants differ?

At The DentaLink, our dentists may recommend one type of dental implant over another. This is when patients have a lot of questions to ask about the choices they have available to them. Below are a few of the ways in which these dental implants differ:

• Size: Traditional dental implants are typically 3-6mm in diameter, while a mini dental implant is about half of that. 
• Tooth attachment: Traditional dental implants have an abutment piece to attach the replacement tooth, while a mini dental implant has a ball that eliminates the need for the abutment.
• Placement requirements: Patients who do not have a lot of bone available for a traditional dental implant may still be a good candidate for mini dental implants. This is because mini dental implants don’t need as much bone to put them in place. However, they may not be as strong or durable because of the lesser support of the jawbone than conventional implants.
• Speed: Mini dental implants can be placed and restored sooner than traditional dental implants, speeding up the process of obtaining a false tooth.
• Appearance: The mini dental implant is smaller in size, but this doesn’t have an effect on the type of restoration that can be placed on top.

Call The DentaLink today to learn more about traditional and mini dental implants

Drs. Allan and Andrew Link are pleased to provide options for patients to choose from when it comes to restoration of the smile after tooth loss. If you live in St. Louis, Missouri, and are curious if mini dental implants are appropriate for you, call (636) 496 8584 to schedule a consultation appointment with our team. We are conveniently located at 2552 Lemay Ferry road, with a second location in Ballwin.

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