Journal of Oral Implantology February 2012 - (Page 95)

LITERATURE REVIEW Natural Tooth Versus Implant: A Key to Treatment Planning Rita Chandki, BDS, MDS* Munniswamy Kala, BDS, MDS Since time immemorial, man has constantly contrived to replace natural body parts that are either congenitally absent or lost subsequent to disease or injury, so as to maintain a perfect amalgam of form and function. Dental implants have recently become established as a standard treatment protocol for replacing missing teeth. Ostensibly, a dilemma has arisen whether the implant should obviate the necessity to preserve teeth with debatable restorative prognosis. This article attempts to review the work done hitherto and to formulate a combined perspective in such cases. Key Words: natural tooth, implant, treatment INTRODUCTION The only constant in life is change. —Heraclitus, Greek philosopher he goal of modern dentistry is to restore normal contour, function, comfort, esthetics, speech, and health, regardless of the atrophy, disease, or injury of the stomatognathic system. For decades, the underlying objective of preserving natural dentition has provided the foundation for clinical decision making in dentistry. To patients and practitioners alike, tooth extraction has been relegated to be a last-ditch attempt when all other possible options fail. However, current trends in implant dentistry have made inroads in this age-old paradigm. A practitioner’s attention is now being drawn toward providing tooth substitutes, often touted as equal or even superior to natural teeth, and many clinicians have moved swiftly to adopt Department of Conservative Dentistry and Endodontics, Government Dental College and Research Institute, Bangalore, India. * Corresponding author, e-mail: chandki.rita@gmail.com DOI: 10.1563/AAID-JOI-D-10-00108 T implant dentistry as the new standard of care, so much so that the rapidity of this shift has actually come to be a cause for concern.1 While it is true that implant dentistry holds a great deal of promise, when posed with a choice between endodontic treatment and implants, a cautious approach to embracing this technology has to be followed, especially since a dental implant is an invasive procedure, is financially more demanding to the patient, and involves the psyche of living with a foreign material within oneself. AN IMPLANT IS NOT A TOOTH: A GUIDELINE TO TREATMENT PLANNING Implants are fundamentally different from natural teeth in that they do not decay, have no dental pulps to function as early indicators of disease, and have no periodontal membrane. The factors involved in the decision-making process regarding whether a tooth should receive endodontic treatment or be extracted and replaced by an implant pertain to the patient, the tooth and periodontium, and treatment-related considerations.2 Journal of Oral Implantology 95

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Journal of Oral Implantology February 2012

A Fluent Electronic Support and Clinical Care Letters: New Formats and More Interactivity Between Journal of Oral Implantology and Its Readers
Dental Implants Immediate Loading Versus the Standard 2-Staged Protocol: An Experimental Study in Dogs
Correlation Between Surface Hydrophilicity and Osteoblastic Differentiation on Microgrooved Titanium Substrata
Analyzing the Effects of the Platform-Switching Procedure on Stresses in the Bone and Implant-Abutment Complex by 3-Dimensional Fem Analysis
Detection of the Mandibular Canal and the Mental Foramen in Panoramic Radiographs: Intraexaminer Agreement
Use of Intraoral Welding to Stabilize Dental Implants in Augmented Sites for Immediate Provisionalization: A Case Report
Maxillary Sinus Augmentation With Autogenous Tibial Bone Graft as an In-Office Procedure
Influence of Prognostic Risk Indicators on Osseointegrated Dental Implant Failure: A Matched Case-Control Analysis
Full Mouth Rehabilitation With Dental Implants for a Patient With Skeletal Class III Malocclusion: A Case Report
Removal of Fractured Implants Using the Apicoectomy Technique and Immediate Replacement With New Implants: Case Report
Reconstruction of a Patient With Rosai-Dorfman Disease Using Ramus Graft and Osseointegrated Implants: A Case Report
Immediate Loading in Mandible Full-Arch: Pilot Study in Patients With Osteoporosis in Bisphosphonate Therapy
Natural Tooth Versus Implant: A Key to Treatment Planning

Journal of Oral Implantology February 2012