History of Dental Implants

The concept of dental implants dates much farther back than many realize, which makes sense if you think about it. Ancient civilizations did not practice the same amount of dental hygiene that we do today, and did not have the advanced technology and tools that we do. So the result was a lot more teeth falling out. We have found architectural evidence that 4,000 years ago, the Chinese attempted to carve bamboo and hammer it into the jaw, and some Egyptian mummies have teeth made of ivory, or were taken from other mouths. The skeleton of a Mayan woman dated back to 600 AD was found to have incisors replaced by pieces of shell.

Over the course of the twentieth century, the dental implant evolved. The Greenfield implant system of 1913 featured an iridioplatinum implant topped with a gold crown. It was able to partially fuse with the jaw bone, and could last several years. Titanium was first used for in 1940, when a trio of dentists discovered how well it fused with the bone, a process we now call osseointegration.

Fortunately, we now have the knowledge and technology needed to perform dental implants with little risk and less pain than before. For more dental implants facts, schedule a visit with our Los Angeles tooth implants dentist.