New teeth implants that can be fitted in your lunch hour - will
dentures bite the dust?
By LUCY ELKINS - 11th February 2008
Dentures could soon be a thing of the past thanks to the development
of a new type of dental implant.
The technology means people previously unable to have implants - or
who could have them only after painful and lengthy surgery - can now
be given "new" teeth in little more than an hour or two.
Conventional dental implants have involved placing a screw in the
jaw, which is attached to a "post" with a porcelain replacement
tooth.
Some people do not have enough bone in their jaw into which to screw
this standard implant, usually because of erosion by gum disease.
For these people - around ten to 15 per cent of the over-60s - the
only option has been to settle for dentures or to have a bone graft
in the jaw into which the implant could be secured.
This can be a painful procedure that takes months to complete.
Dentures are made from acrylic and plastic which fit over the gum and
are worn during the day. The problem is that many are ill-fitting and
can move around the mouth, causing sores (they may sometimes also
fall out).
In addition, without a tooth in the jaw, the bone can start to
dissolve, causing shrunken cheeks. Around 11 million Britons wear
dentures - more than one million of them in their 30s or younger.
The new "guided zygomatic" implant is a specially extended implant -
up to 50mm compared with ten to 15mm for normal implants. It can be
screwed into the cheek bone rather than the jaw bone.
The patient first undergoes a 3D scan of the jaw so the implant can
be guided in without the need for surgery.
The procedure is potentially quicker than the three or more
appointments it takes to fit a denture, and the implants are as
strong as real teeth.
Tests have found them to be 95 per cent successful. The new
technology should be available within the next few months.
Implants are becoming more commonplace in Britain - around 200,000
Britons have chosen to have them.
Their benefits were shown in a study comparing people with a lower
set of implants to those who had a lower set of dentures.
Those with implants had a better quality of life, says Professor
Damien Walmsley, scientific adviser to the British Dental
Association.
"Implants are the gold standard for the replacement of missing
teeth," says London dentist Andrew Dawood, an expert in the
technology. "They help retain bone and the structure of the face."
But the cost remains a major hurdle. Implants are not available on
the NHS and cost around £2,000 each. Dentures cost just £195.
Another future alternative to dentures is to grow new teeth using
stem cells. A London-based company, Odontis, headed by Professor Paul
Sharpe, of Guy's Hospital, London, is developing the technology to
make this possible.
Stem cells can be used to grow different types of specialised tissue.
The idea is that an immature tooth made from stem cells in the
laboratory would be inserted into the space in the gum and a new
tooth would then grow.
The Odontis team is running tests on stem cells from dental pulp (the
mass of blood and nerves within the teeth).
"We are optimistic that we might have the technology on the market in
seven to ten years, and when we do we will wipe out the market for
dentures," says Valerie Joliffe, a director of Odontis.
• For more information about the new implants, tel: 01895 430 650 or
see www.nobelbiocare.
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StemCells subscribers may also be interested in these sites:
Children's Neurobiological Solutions
http://www.CNSfoundation.org/
Cord Blood Registry
http://www.CordBlood.com/at.cgi?a=150123
The CNS Healing Group
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CNS_Healing
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