There are various types of dental implants available. Depending on your condition, your dentist may recommend a particular type of implant. Let’s understand the various types of implants in detail.

1. Subperiosteal implants are placed on the outer or inner side of the jawbone with a titanium screw to support the prosthetic implant constructed by ceramics or metal substructures integrated inside it through an osseous cut-down technique.

The procedure is done under local anesthesia, either at the dentist’s office or in the hospital. After surgery patient has stitches that last approximately 7-10 days, after which they can return to normal life activities if there are no complications. The stay usually ranges between one and three days.

A subperiosteal implant is usually not visible through the gums and can last for decades if looked after properly at home since it acts as a natural root of teeth and doesn’t require a bone graft or membranes to heal.

2. Sub-buccal implants consist of a titanium screw holding an integrated implant with a metal substructure that permanently fixes dentures and prevents them from slipping and damaging other teeth. Sub-buccal implants may be placed during simultaneous surgery (with one or two implants) or in later procedures (single dental implant). After 8 – 10 days, stitches are removed by a dentist, but the patient needs to take care that they are kept dry for another 2-3 weeks.

Sub-buccal dental implants are more resistant to displacement than shorter implants. As a result, they can be used for older adults with poor muscular conditions or patients with missing teeth next to each other since the dentist may need to place only one implant, thus saving time and money for both parties.

3. Trans mandibular dental implants are inserted into the bone at the lower jaw area by placing a titanium screw through the oral cavity, which is connected via an osseous cut-down procedure either on your upper molars, gum tissue, or even between molars, but not on the surface of gums where it might get accidentally knocked out. This implant has no visible parts in the mouth after placement; therefore needs regular check-ups at the dentist.

4. Sublingual implants involve placing an implant into the floor of the mouth below the bottom incisors, which is confirmed with X-ray imaging before surgery by a dentist. While in hospital, patients have general anesthesia, and after one or two days, stitches are removed if no complications arise during the healing period that lasts 6 weeks to 12 months. The patient must avoid chewing hard food due to the increased risk of infection during the healing process. This type of dental implant can support replacement tooth made out from metal substructure for firm attachment onto the implant placed inside the bone instead of gums or be used for attaching prosthesis on stabilizing screw embedded into jawbone without any need for bone grafting or membranes covering it afterward.

There are several preoperational steps of preparing for this type of dental implant:

• X-ray imaging of the patient’s jaws to predict blood flow and estimate a bone density if a prosthesis made from titanium will be able to be placed on it. The dentist might need additional imaging with magnetic resonance or cone-beam CT in case of not enough information about the jawbone.
• Panoramic X-ray is performed preoperatively, including both lower and upper jawbones, to ensure no problems that could cause any harmful complications during surgery, such as infections at gums or cysts that have to be removed before surgery by a dentist. If there is an infection, another type of implant will have to be used instead since some infections cannot be treated.
• The patient has to make sure that their blood clotting factor is high enough to avoid excessive bleeding during surgery by consulting with a dentist or hematologist before surgery since some drugs may interact with one another and affect blood clotting. For example, some people have to stop taking aspirin medicines two weeks prior because it can increase the risk of excessive bleeding after dental implant surgery.
• X-rays, panoramic X-ray imaging, CT scan, or other necessary preoperative imaging should be performed to see if there are any problems at the jawbone level which might interfere with the proper osseointegration process of the titanium screw inside the bone, therefore, affecting its stability for a more extended time after placement into the jawbone. For example, suppose there is a cyst or any other type of abnormal bone development at the jawbone level. It has to be removed before surgery, although some doctors might need to see the patient first to determine if such things must be removed. According to the patient’s medical history, their doctor will create a specialized plan for dental implant placement. There are specific contraindications that dentists should know before placing titanium implants inside the body.