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Gaps between your teeth or missing a permanent tooth, or wearing dentures but experiencing some of these problems ' dentures clicking and slipping while talking; pain when chewing and gum irritation; looking older than your real age? These scenarios may mean that you may be lining up for dental implants. They use your jaw to hold a tooth substitute instead of fastening it to a healthy tooth. Implants give off a natural look and feel, and work as a normal tooth does. It is a procedure as close as to tooth replacement that is both secure and appearing as real, giving people the confidence to smile openly.

The number of implants to be used varies from patient to patient and the particular situation being dealt with. Certain categories to be considered are the following: volume of the bone, bone density, occlusion and opposing development and arrangement of teeth, available proprioception or the relative position of the implant to the healthy teeth, and the overall implant location. Using these categories the dentist can evaluate what type of treatment is to be given in relation to the implants needed for dental restoration. For evaluating, two factors are also to be considered ' the minimum implant rule and the maximum implant rule.

In some patients, the lost of molars tend to move the remaining healthy teeth farther away from each other. This may cause a small gap to appear between the teeth. If the problem is a minor one, instead of having to wear braces, the dentist could custom-made a false tooth to fill in this gap and this is called the dental bridge. It is usually made of metal-free materials which create a natural look and also reduces the risk of gum disease. After the procedure, a minor tenderness in the area is expected but can be easily relieved by pain medications.

One of the types of dental restoration is the dental implant which involves the replacement of both the tooth and the root. An oral surgeon performs the procedure wherein surgical implantation of a screw into the jaw bone is done to hold the tooth. To fill in the space, a tooth that matches the size and shape of the patient's healthy teeth is designed and fitted. Upon healing, the implant restoration is put in place with adjustments made to fit the patient's bite. Initially there will be soreness and tenderness in the surrounding gums but will eventually return to normal once the implant has healed.

The implant classification system falls into 2 stages: the first covering the design of the prosthetics and its location for patients with full or partial loss of teeth; and the second covering the patient's dental conditions to include bone volume and density, medical condition, occlusion, problems concerning the structure of the oral cavity, and psychological makeup. The first stage has the maximum bearing on how the patient will accept the procedure while the second tells the dentist up to what extent he can go with the treatment. Completing this assessment will give the patient and the dentist a clear picture of the program of treatment and they will be prepared for any problem that might exist prior to the procedure.

Patients are not affected with how many implants they need or about implant design, whether they are coated with calcium phosphate or not. They don't care where the implants were made but what they think about is its appearance, function, durability and cost of the prostheses supported by it. If these issues were not given importance by the dentist, the patient may be disappointed. The patient classification system provides the dentist the information needed to determine the choice of treatment and the expected result and it is used to compute the complexity index that indicates how intricate the final treatment plan will be.