Dental implant types can be categorized in different ways:
• Type of head used for placing them into the jaw bone (i.e. internal hexagon, external hexagon, octagon, etc.)
• Size: standard or mini dental implants
• Material: Titanium, zircon.
• Manufacturer
• Stages of treatment: single stage or 2 stage.
The most common way to categorize dental implants is by the stages used during the dental implant procedure.
The 2 stage dental implants:
A 2 stage dental implant procedure begins with the surgery. In this surgical process the dental implant is fixed into the jaw bone. The implant is placed in the jaw bone and is screwed in all the way so that the top surface of the “screw” (implant) is at the same level of the bone.
The soft tissue is stitched up and a few months later the tissue has healed. There is no visible evidence of the implant in the bone as it is under the soft tissue and not visible to the eye.
During the next appointment, the dentist will perform a minor surgery where he will expose the top surface of the dental implant, connect a dental implant abutment and start the process of the dental implant restoration.
At the end of this appointment the patient will go home with the abutment in his mouth attached to the implant. Additional healing time is required, yet it is a short period and there is very little pain involved.
Click the following link to see pictures of the procedure using a 2 stage dental implant -
2 stage procedure
The single stage dental implants:
The single stage dental implant is designed in such a way that it enables avoiding the second surgery. During the single stage dental implant surgery, the implant is placed in the jaw bone in such a way that the top of the implant is higher than the surface of the bone and is actually at the height of the soft tissue (this is a longer implant).
When the soft tissue is stitched up at the end of the dental implant surgery the dental implant head is exposed and visible to the eye. After the healing time has passed there is no need for another surgery for exposing the top of the head of the implant because it is exposed to begin with and all the dentist needs to do is connect the dental implant abutment and start the restoration process.
Both dental implant types have the same success rate of 98% and it is usually up to the dentist to decide which type of dental implants to use. There is no big difference, essentially it’s just what the dentist is used to and feels comfortable working with.
If, for some reason, the dental implant dentist leaves the decision to you then you can choose either one but the one stage dental implant type is a bit shorter and a less painful procedure.
