Dental Implants Vs. Teeth Influence Treatment Outcomes: Top 5 Anatomical Differences! 

Dental implants have an array of complications, although they might have a higher success rate. It has been a top-notch treatment option to replace hopeless or missing teeth. Natural teeth treatment has created several therapies to cure and maintain diseased implants. Nevertheless, due to anatomical differences between dental implants and teeth, successful therapies in curing teeth might cherish a different success rate when used on diseased implants. 

Dental implants Grand Rapids, MI, is the one-stop destination for getting your implants done with minimal chances of complications. However, this article will demonstrate 4 anatomical differences between implants and teeth and explain how they can influence treatment and diagnosis. 

• Inflammatory Response

Anatomical distinction – Natural teeth contain fibers that restrict bacterial foray physically because of their perpendicular orientation apical to the PDL, which restrains the periodontal disease’s progression. Dental implants don’t have such physical restrictions as the parallel orientation of the fibers, which allows the apical progression of bacteria, leading to a higher chance of inflammation spreading and peri-implantitis.

• Periodontal Sulcus Vs. Peri-implant Sulcus

Anatomical Difference – Peri mucosa consists of sulcular epithelium, keratinized oral epithelium, junctional epithelium, and the underlying connective tissue, which in turn consists of the epithelium and connective tissue that includes a biologic area known as the “biologic width.” 

The supra-alveolar connective cells and junctional epithelial connection comprise a standard dimension of 2.04 mm. However, the implant’s surface differs from the epithelial cells surrounding natural teeth in an optimal environment. The implant’s exterior has hemidesmosomes and baseline lamina, resulting in an extended sulcus. 

• Healing Response of Tissue

Anatomical Difference – Such healing responses of tissues surrounding implants differ from those surrounding natural teeth. Dental implants show a poor gingival vascular supply in contrast to natural teeth. Clean, minor, and closed wounds get cured more instantly than significant ones, which take time and have massive scarring. 

In contrast to elevated soft-tissue flaps, which may unintentionally result in the cutting and damage of supraperiosteal vessels, flapless surgery offers a seamless vascular supply. It retains the agility of the supracrestal connective tissue surrounding the implant. Nevertheless, compared to the mucosal wounds left over from the flap procedure, the scars left on the neighboring mucosa are more minor, cleaner, and neater after the flapless procedure. 

• Tooth Root Vs. Dental Implant Body

Anatomical Difference – A periodontal ligament functions as a suspension system by distributing occlusal tensions to the adjacent bone and permitting micromovement to relieve restricted overloads. Dental implants don’t have periodontal ligaments; occlusal loads are transferred straight to the bone. Bone loss might result when overload presents over time, mainly in off-axis directions. 

The periodontal ligament allows the tooth to regulate these off-axis loads. Minimal continuous loads might cause orthodontic tooth drifting, eradicating off-axis load. Implants that lack periodontal ligament can’t move to dissipate loads orthodontically under natural conditions. As a consequence, bone accumulates stress, leading to bone loss.

• Periodontal Attachment Vs. Peri-Implant Attachment 

Anatomical Difference – Natural teeth and dental implants possess a connective tissue attachment with the gingival at the crest, which is different. In contrast to implants, where gingival tissue fibers travel parallel to the implant’s long axis and do not adhere to its surface, natural teeth have gingival fibers that run perpendicular to the tooth’s long axis and connect to its surface. Moreover, natural teeth have 9 distinct types of supracrestal fibers that maximize attachment, whereas dental implants have a maximum of 2 fibers. 

Conclusion

The top 5 anatomical differences of dental implants and teeth influence treatment outcomes are shown above. Hope you enjoy reading this piece! If so, let us know your thoughts in the comment section!