implants - international magazine of oral implantology

I research Fig. 1_Pre-op clinical view. Fig. 2_Pre-op radiograph. Fig. 3_Preparation of implant site. _Introduction For several decades, dental implants have largely been used for the rehabilitation of completely and partiallyedentulousridgeswithsuccess.Forthisrea- son, implant dentistry has been the object of numer- ous investigations to further improve the effective- ness of this kind of device.1, 2 Titanium is the material most often utilised for dental implants because of its favourable properties, such as its biocompatibility.3, 4 However, aesthetic concerns may arise when restor- ing anterior teeth owing to the grey colour of this metal. For this reason, new techniques and materials were developed to achieve better aesthetics, such as ceramic (zirconium) abutments5, 6 and metal-free restoration.7, 8 These prosthetic devices have already achievedassessableresults.Thereare,however,some situations,resultingfromathingingivalbiotypeorin- correcttri-dimensionalimplantpositioning,inwhich zirconium abutments and crowns are not able to ob- tain optimal aesthetics.9,10 Many authors11 have attempted to solve these problems by coating titanium dental implants with whitematerialsuchasZrO2 andAl2O3.Whilethepop- ularity of coating has increased, its use has remained controversial. Concerns have been raised owing to problems such as the dissolution and cracking of coatings, as well as the separation of coatings from metallic substrates, a phenomenon referred to as “delamination”. For the same purpose, Al2O3 implants have been testedinvariousclinicalstudiessincethe1970s.They were commercialised in France, Germany, Japan and the USA. Among them, Tubingen implants are proba- blythemostwellknownceramicimplants.12 Theseim- Rehabilitation of a complex case with zirconium dental implants Authors_Dr Andrea Enrico Borgonovo, Dr Marcello Dolci, Dr Rachele Censi, Dr Oscar Arnaboldi, Dr Virna Vavassori & Prof Carlo Maiorana, Italy 06 I implants3_2012 Fig. 3 Fig. 2 Fig. 1