Oral and maxillofacial devices

Inquiry How can the design of dental implants be improved to permit more efficient implant osseointegration? Dental implants are artificial tooth roots that serve as a foundation for dental prostheses, such as crowns and fixed dentures. Modern dental implants are placed into the sockets of missing teeth, and, like the natural tooth root, must bear and transfer loads between the tooth (or prosthesis), and the alveolar bone surrounding the socket. However, for the implant to effectively bear weight and transfer load, it must osseointegrate, or achieve rigid fixation through intimate contact with the bone. Though efforts to improve the osseointegrative potential of implants have driven much of the research around dental implants for the last 50 years, osseointegration of implants in regions of low bone density remains problematic. What new design and/or material innovations might be explored to further promote osseointegration of dental implants in these areas? Overview Like cardiovascular devices, total joint replacements of the appendicular skeleton, and soft tissue implants, the demand for oral and maxillofacial implants has increased steadily over the last decade with the aging of the global population (Misch, 2005). The longer lifespan and more active lifestyles of this older demographic have also placed more stringent demands on the longevity and performance of these implants.