What are zygomatic dental implants?
Zygomatic implants, perfect for patients with boneloss
They are the longest dental implants normally used (around 45-55mm versus the conventional 10-15mm) and are placed like conventional dental implants but anchored slightly above, in the zygomatic bone.
Bone graft procedures have few limitations, like unpredictable bone graft resorption and the waiting time required for dental implant placement. The concepts of zygomatic implant treatment have evolved as an alternative to bone augmentation procedures
When is it suitable to use zygomatic implants?
- In patients with severe bone resorption of the maxilla.
- Generally in patients who have been toothless for many years.
- In patients who have suffered from aggressive periodontal disease.
- In patients who wish to avoid the necessary waiting times after a bone graft.
- In patients who have lost bone due to different pathologies.
If the patient still has some bone mass in the front part of the jaw bone, the method to follow is to place 4 conventional implants in the anterior maxilla and 2 zygomatic implants placed posteriorly. This is the most common method, it has been used successfully for the restoration of the atrophic maxilla.
This procedure is performed under local anesthesia and conscious sedation. The anesthesiologist comes to our consultation. This allows the patient to be awake and very relaxed. This way, time passes faster.
What are the advantages over bone graft?
Zygomatic implants for patients with boneloss provide us certain advantages over other techniques, especially when we compare it to techniques with bone grafts for the patient. In the techniques that we have to graft a bone, we need a healing time for the bone to solidify and form new bone tissue. Then we place a conventional implant, giving another timeout so that they can then take their final teeth. The alternative for this are the zygomatic implants, on the same or the next day, the patient can have their new smile done. Overall, we reduce the duration of the process and the inconvenience we cause to patients. The most important thing is the patient has fixed teeth from day one, which improves the patient’s life, not only cause they are being able to chew without problems, but also in their day-to-day life by seeing themselves with their definitive smile.
How do new technologies help us?
The techniques available today to facilitate our interventions on patients that need zygomatic implants are mainly two;
A digital radiodiagnosis, which we can see reconstruct the patient’s face in 3D. In this way, the available bone can be seen very well for us to be able to carry out the treatment and make a prior planning of how the intervention will be.
The second and most important is the digital planning software guided surgery. This software will allow us to place conventional implants in a guided way through a surgical splint that has been previously prepared. This is not meant to be performanced for zygomatic implants, but it would really help us to plan the implants before intervening and having a faithful image of how the implants will be.
When we see anatomical crucial information, we will be able to plan the inclination and above all, anatomical variations that often we are not able to see when we start to perform the surgery.
Where can I found this procedure?
The placement of zygomatic implants requires proper training and surgical experience.
The ZAGA Centers represent a group of professionals with experience in zygomatic implants. They are world-renowned experts in the treatment of severe bone loss using zygomatic implants and the ZAGA philosophy. In addition to that, brilliant teams accompany them in their quest to provide patients with solutions to their dental problems.
Dr. Eduardo Crooke from our team, specialist in implantology, attended the exclusive course in Barcelona held by Dr. Carlos Aparicio, with more than 25 years of experience in full mouth rehabilitation with zygomatic dental implants on extremely boneloss.
Some photos of Dr. Eduardo Crooke on the ZAGA course of dental zygomatic implants.
