While dental implants are advanced now, they didn’t begin that way. These tooth replacements developed over thousands of years — through millennia of trial and error — to reach their current form. If you have any implants yourself, you’d do well to appreciate how far they’ve come. Your Goodlettsville dentist will even help you get started with that process. To that end, here’s a primer on how dental implants evolved to help your smile!
Dental Implants in Ancient Times
As shocking as it may sound, dental implants didn’t just appear recently. They were invented thousands of years ago as part of the first attempts at dentistry.
Current studies on China support this truth. Apparently, the early Chinese carved bamboo pegs to replace teeth over 4,000 years ago. Such pegs would be fixed into a person’s jawbone to keep them stable and secure.
Various other ancient groups also made their own dental implants. For instance, the first recorded case of a metal implant was found in an Egyptian king from 1,000 BCE. Researchers have also found ancient Egyptian remains with teeth made of Jade and ivory.
The Rise of Early “Modern” Implants
Dental implants only got more complex as time continued to pass. In fact, they began to take their modern form due to many advancements in the 19th and 20th centuries.
Some of these changes came from dentists of the 1800s, who were diligent and resourceful. These dental workers saw that the human body rejected certain implant materials. In response, they employed scientific assessments to decide the best substances to use. These results often failed but nonetheless fed into crucial research years later.
The more successful implant breakthroughs arrived in the 1900s. After all, Drs. Alvin and Moses Strock were the first to successfully place a “modern” implant in the 1930s. (This success was due to the post using Vitallium – a chromium-cobalt alloy.) The Swedish surgeon Ingvar Brånemark discovered titanium was biocompatible only a few years later, ensuring the material became the ideal implant material.
Present-Day Dental Implants
While titanium is still the most used implant material, that doesn’t mean implant work has stalled today. Modern dentists continue to make innovations with dental implants.
Several choice advancements are worth mentioning for 21st-century implants. For starters, dentistry now relies on cone beam CT scans – a technology that allows for precise implant placement. Another breakthrough is the rise of ways for implant posts to stop bacterial films.
How dental implants evolved to help is worth considering before treatment. So, keep their history in mind as you get the posts placed!
About the Practice
Goodlettsville Smiles is based in Goodlettsville, TN. Led by Dr. Deidra Harrison-McClain, our practice provides every patient with warm and compassionate dental work. You can trust us to tailor our preventive, cosmetic, and restorative treatments to your grin’s specific needs. With that said, we’re always ready and able to make your family’s smiles stronger! For more details or to book a visit, please contact us on our website or by phone at (615)-859-0188.