Dental Implant Materials
Clackamas, OR
 To many people with advanced tooth loss, dental implants are a blessing. They let you chew food without becoming loose, and they are tough. Dental implants can bite through hard materials like nut shells more than a dozen times without even a hint of cracking.
Indeed, dental implants are created to be tough. Their toughness has a lot to do with the way they are built. From choosing the right bone area to picking the best spots, the effectiveness of an implant is a testament to both our skills as dentists and the materials they are made out of.
Titanium And Zirconia
The two most common materials used in dental implants are titanium and zirconia. They are biocompatible materials. This means that they naturally do not deal any damage to living cells and tissues. Unlike other materials, they can be left in your mouth without triggering your immune system.
Unlike zirconia, titanium is a metal, and by far, it is the strongest material that we use for implants. They can usually last a lifetime of use, unlike zirconia which can last for about three or four years at most. But the price of zirconia far outweighs the durability of titanium, especially with a full set of implants.
Gold And Cobalt Alloys
Besides titanium, other metallic implants are made from gold and cobalt alloys. Gold has a long history of being used as a dental crown. Their use has survived today, with being easy to melt and cast into the shapes we need them. Like titanium, golden implants can last a lifetime of use without breaking.
Meanwhile, cobalt alloys are similar to gold and titanium but are the least costly of metal implants. They are just as strong and can be fitted in a way that makes it comfortable to have them in your mouth. While all of them are strong, all metallic implants come with one common concern: aesthetics.
Acrylic And Ceramic
When it comes to looking natural, acrylic and ceramic implants are the best. They can be colored in a way that matches your other teeth. You can have them in porcelain white or get them yellowed a bit to match stained teeth. They are also much cheaper than metallic implants like titanium, gold, and cobalt.
However, most of these can barely last half a decade in your mouth. This also includes zirconia, the most popular ceramic implant in use. The good news with implants, however, is that they are always installed in a way that can be easily replaced, thanks to a screw cap that we place on your jaw called the abutment.
As such, all types of dental implant materials have their own pros and cons. You can come to our office so we can tell you which one might be the best for you, both in aesthetic preference and in performance. Just give us a call at (503) 652-8080 or visit us at Clackamas Implant & Oral Surgery Center so we can schedule you for an appointment whenever you are ready!
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