Understanding dental implants

The success of a dental implant depends on the surgeon’s skills, the correlation between the design and chemical composition of the implant and its purpose, and the patients’ transition to their regular lifestyle after surgery. Over the years, a consistent amount of materials have been used for the obtaining of implants meant to replace missing or damaged teeth. Along with the fast development of technology, the quality of the implants has been improved, mainly due to the intense research in the field of materials science. The main classes of materials employed in the fabrication of implants were metals, at first, followed by polymers and recently by ceramics and composites. In addition, new manufacturing techniques, such as computer-aided design/computer-aided manufacturing, have gained a great deal of interest and are continuously developing since they are able to ensure the precise route of shaping personalized implants for precise destinations. A major obstacle in obtaining efficient, stable, long-term functioning implants lies in the infections associated with the implantation which are continuously increasing in the healthcare system, requiring the development of novel strategies to prevent and annihilate antibioresistant pathogens and biofilms. Most complications occur shortly after the surgical interventions and are related to deficient recovery practices; however, some may occur a long time after the surgery and be difficult to trace back to their origin. In order to improve the properties of the dental composites for a safer and easier transition for the patient, several approaches have been studied: direct incorporation of antibacterial agents, immobilization of antibacterial monomers/polymers, silver, fluoride, or calcium phosphate doping. The purpose of this chapter is to review the main materials used for the fabrication of dental implants, the dental implant-associated infections, and ways of optimization to decrease the infectious risk.