[A thought on the future of dental implants].

Presently we are mainly employing into our clinic the Osseointegrated implants as advocated by Dr. Brånemark. Very often general practitioners would ask which implant system is superior when comparing the Osseointegrated implants with apatite implant or ceramic implant which were developed in this country. The main difference between the Osseointegrated implants and all other implants is that the Osseointegrated implants possess the long term basic clinical data obtained objectively, a systemized technique, and the fact that long term safety has been established in edentulous patients. Therefore in order to compare the Osseointegrated implants with appatite implant or ceramic implant it is at the least necessary for the latter two to receive the type of investigation and researches that the Osseointegrated implants has been enjoying for the past 30 years and to possess the long term basic clinical data associated with such researches. With the circumstances as it is when we look into the future of implantology it will not be exaggerating to say that the Osseointegrated implants will dominate the field for the next 20 to 30 years. Thus we would like to limit ourselves to the Osseointegrated implants when we think about the future of implantology from the point view of the practice in prosthodontics. In the field of dental prosthodontics there are numerous areas in which present prosthodontic theories cannot cope with but by employing the Osseointegrated implants relatively high level treatment becomes a reality. Such problem areas include edentulous cases with severe resorbed ridges where treatment with prosthodontics is relatively difficult or edentulous cases with opposing natural dentition. Also treatment of missing tissue either from trauma or from surgery can be performed in a wider range using the Osseointegrated implants. Especially in treating the cleft palate cases which has a high existance rate in our country by using the Osseointegrated implants with attachment denture the number of surgery can be reduced sharply and remarkable recovery with adequate function can be expected. Furthermore treatment of congenital anadontia can not only be made easy but also adequate functional recovery can be expected. In the past for those special cases where orthodontic treatment was considered impossible because of the location of edentulous teeth now by placing fixtures and use them as the anchor teeth one can render orthodontic treatment effectively and yet in a shorter time span.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)