Selection Of Patient For Intraoral Implants

The use of dental implants to provide support for the replacement of missing teeth is becoming an important component of modern dentistry. As a result of advances in research on implant design, materials, and techniques the use of these devices has increased dramatically in the past few years and is expected to expand further in the future. Many types of implants are now available for application to different clinical cases, and individuals with edentulism can be treated with partial or complete traditional removable dentures or fixed bridges. Patients who are partially or fully edentulous are better served with tissue-integrated prostheses rather than other classical forms of therapy. However, not all patients can or should be considered suitable for this procedure. The first step in the clinical protocol is a thorough medical and dental evaluation to screen out those patients who can be better served by an alternate treatment modality. The patient must be viewed in totality and the end result visualized prior to the surgery. The ¿reverse approach¿ means the anticipated prosthetic result should be determined prior to surgery.