Success Rates of Pterygoid Implants
Pterygoid implants have been designed and are implemented if you have significant upper jaw shrinkage, also known as the atrophic maxilla. With the upper jawbone loss, you cannot have standard dental implants in your upper jaw. Even if a standard implant were surgically placed into your upper jaw, the insufficient bone mass would not be able to fuse and bond successfully around the artificial root, leading to the failure of the implant.
Although you can proceed with dentures, the pterygoid dental implants provide a more longer-lasting solution for dental issues such as missing teeth. A pterygoid implant technique can be used in conjunction with traditional dental implants. While a standard dental implant gets anchored vertically into your jawbone, a pterygoid implant is anchored at a 45-degree angle into the medial pterygoid plate above the jawbone.
What are the Benefits of Pterygoid Implants?
Below are some of the common benefits of pterygoid implant placement:
- Replaces Missing Teeth Permanently- A pterygoid implant will allow you to replace your missing teeth permanently, which will allow you to become more self-confident as the restoration functions like your natural teeth.
- Helps in Avoiding Sinus Augmentation- A sinus augmentation is often required to promote bone mass between an oral cavity and a sinus. As a result, you will have to wait for months before being able to proceed with a dental implant. With the evolution of dental technology and medical procedures, pterygoid implants were developed to avoid sinus augmentation.
- Avoids the Need for Bone Grafting- If you have suffered severe bone loss in the past, it was required to add a bone grafting procedure, which can easily take months to heal before you could have implants placed. However, with pterygoid implants, bone grafting is no longer necessary.
- Easy to Maintain- Since pterygoid implants can give the same appearance as natural teeth, cleaning them is the same. Continue to brush and floss daily to maintain the health of your teeth and gums.
A High Success Rate
The success rate of a pterygoid implant exceeds 95%. These dental implants are designed to achieve an extremely elevated level of primary stability. If you have severe bone loss it allows you to have a fixed and permanent restoration fitted immediately after the oral surgery, avoiding extensive healing process that comes with bone grafting for standard implants.
The immediate function with pterygoid implants has additional benefits besides a shorter treatment time, such as fewer dental visits and a less invasive procedure compared with grafting procedures. Pterygoid implants have a cumulative survival rate of 95.12 % after 10 years. Pterygoid implants can offer both you and your practitioner some very versatile solutions for difficult dental implant situations.
Are Pterygoid Implants Permanent?
Dental implants are intended to become permanent fixtures in your jawbone. The pterygoid implant is no different. The key to being successfully permanent is that the implant becomes integrated in the bone where it is placed. Whether it is in your jawbone or the pterygoid plate, it makes no difference. Provided that you exercise diligent care of your teeth and gums and overall health, you can expect your dental implants to last your lifetime.