We work passionately in order to provide our clients with all the benefits of pterygoid dental implants. We help you place dental implants and gain an attractive and natural result. We can help all patients that have missing teeth as well as insufficient bone in their upper jaw which makes them an inappropriate candidate for conventional dental implants.
Our clinic is one of the few dental clinics in Albania that provides this innovative replacement teeth placement procedure. The placement of pterygoid implants requires surgical experience as well as expertise and training in the field of implantology. For this reason, City Dental Clinic is the most suitable place for you as our surgeon has a Master in Pterygoid and Zygomatic Implants from the well known University of Pisa, Italy. You can now trust our leading clinic. We use state-of-the-art equipment as well as the most advanced and innovative techniques which ensure you an outstanding result.
When a patient is diagnosed with atrophic maxilla which is very serious bone resorption of the upper jaw, then pterygoid implants are indicated to have a fixed implant prosthesis rehabilitation. In this case, the upper jaw is unable to support traditional dental implants. Even if an Implantologist would try to place the dental implant into the upper jaw, the bone would most likely not be able to integrate the implant, and then it would fail.
The main disadvantage of pterygoid implants is that the surgeon doesn’t have any static point to help in the orientation of this implant during placement, that’s why it is known in the world as the “blind surgery”. The surgeon has to know perfectly the anatomy and it is mandatory to have a lot of experience and training in this field of implantology to have success and not to risk patient life-threatening complications.
Every patient will always have the opportunity to be fitted with dentures or a dental partial, but dental implants are the most appropriate long-term solution for your missing teeth. Instead of anchoring the dental implant in a vertical position into the jaw bone as it is supposed to be done with a traditional implant, the pterygoid implant is anchored into the medial pterygoid plate with an anteroposterior 45-70 degree angle and a medial 80-82 degree angle. The final result is a bright, attractive, and shiny new smile – despite the past struggles that have happened with bone loss.
The pterygoid implant engages in three types of bones (maxillary tuberosity of the jaw, pyramidal process of the palatine bone, pterygoid process of the sphenoid bone) which are located in the most posterior area of the upper jaw. These bones are not a subject of resorption such as the jaw bone does, so this site is always a possibility to place a dental implant in the patients that are suffering a bone loss in the upper jaw.
Over and above that, pterygoid implants are special and unique for their length, because they are much longer than conventional implants. In that manner, pterygoids are of 15 to 25 mm, a length which was designed in order to ensure an appropriate anchorage in the bone.
An implant to have an osteointegration and to function for a long time needs primary and secondary stability which is reached by engaging in dense cortical bones.
The tuberosity of the maxilla(posterior part of the jaw bone) is a low quality of cancellous bone of Type III or Type IV. The pyramid process of palatine bone and pterygoid process of the sphenoid primarily consists of heavy cortical bone. These two bones give to this implant the stability to osteointegration, function and give to the patient the possibility to have immediate loading (immediate fixed provisional prostheses directly after the surgery)
The first step is for your dentist to take a CT scan of your mouth in order to determine the bone density and volume that you have. Then from the patient 3D Scanner, our laboratory produces a plastic model of your jaw (stereolithographic model) to have better three-dimensional anatomy data and to exactly plan the position of the implant on this model.
We put these implants with local anesthesia under endovenous conscious sedation. Our clinic follows a minimal 5-minute pterygoid implant protocol which is a safer way than any other dental protocol around the world.
The procedure is painless and sometimes it could me made entirely flapless with a surgical guide in order to avoid any manual mistakes. For this reason, you should contact our experienced dentists and surgeons in order to assess your condition before starting this kind of dental procedure.
Pterygoid Dental Implants offer a lot of benefits for their patients. Those benefits include:
In the majority of cases, pterygoid implants will replace your missing teeth, permanently. Except for the fact that you are going to be more self-confident, you will also be able to chew any food just as you would do with your natural teeth. For a great number of patients, pterygoid implants are life-changing.
In order to build a sufficient bone volume between the sinus and oral cavity, sinus augmentation is sometimes necessary. This kind of surgery can last months, regarding the implant process, because the patient should undergo sinus augmentation and wait for the area to heal before the placement of the implant. The sinus lift procedure has a high possibility of complications, chronic or acute sinusitis, fistula, graft resorption. Reciprocally, pterygoid implants do not demand sinus augmentation, for this reason, patients can be pleased by their new smile in a shorter period of time.
Bone grafting used to be a common decision for patients who experience severe bone loss. Vertical and horizontal bone grafting is a very difficult procedure which not always reach the surgeon’s goals Usually to have a successful bone graft the surgeon has to use your own bone so he has to take it from another site of your body causing more morbidity. Besides this, the process of healing from a bone graft can last up to a year before the jaw is ready to support any dental implants. Since pterygoid implants overlook the upper jaw in a complete manner, patients are not in need of a bone graft.
Short implants have much lower success rates in the upper jaw because the bone has medium to low quality.
Zygomatic implants are another possibility to achieve fixed implant rehabilitation in a resorbed upper jaw but they put the patient at higher risk for complications and usually need general anesthesia to be placed.
Eliminating bone grafts and sinus lifts the patients have much lower morbidity and complications.
Putting some implants in the anterior area of the upper jaw(“All on 4” technique) and then placing a fixed prosthesis over them, which goes too far distally, makes these implants at high risk for failing because of the bending forces that this prosthesis will create during mastication. If the surgeon uses the pterygoid implants together with the anterior implants then the prostheses will not create any more bending forces and will keep all the implants safe and avoid overloading.
Bone grafts and sinus lifts will extend the treatment time for at least 1 year if everything goes perfectly.
Tuberosity implants have a high failure rate because of the low-quality bone of this area.
In our days the patient requirement is very high and it is very important that after the surgery they have fixed provisional teeth. If the patient undergoes bone grafts or sinus lift it is not possible to have fixed provisional teeth and sometimes the patient can’t even use a removable prosthesis.
Dental implants imitate the look of natural teeth and at the same time can be cleaned much the same way. The brushing and flossing procedure will ensure your good gum health as well as protect your remained natural teeth.
You must know that pterygoid implants have a success rate of more that 95 percent, same as traditional implants.
You can be a candidate of Pterygoid Implants if you present a bone resorption of the upper jaw or maxilla after you have lost several or all the teeth or have used a removable prosthesis for a long time. Either if that has happened of common factors – such as sex or age, or even local injuries as for example bone metabolism.
You should take into consideration the changes that we mention, because they are an important part in the investigation as well as in the planning of your customized dental implant treatment plan.
You might need a pterygoid implant surgery, if:
You should take into consideration some specific steps after the placement of pterygoid implants for rehabilitation of the atrophic jawbone. Your dentist will prescribe you some medications, which include antibiotics and pain relievers after the surgery procedure.
Moreover, your surgeon will recommend you a kind of mouthwash that you should use in cleaning your mouth and teeth. Your surgeon will remove the stitches of your implants after a week and he will also conduct some check-ups in order to control the state of your recovery.
After that, you are going to have a follow-up routine that you should follow. You dentist will advise you to eat soft foods, the first week after the surgery, as well as take a lot of fluids and juices.
City Dental Clinic has a long experience in the field of Implantology. We are one of the best dental clinics in Albania, when it comes to the placement of special implants – such as zygomatic or pterygoid implants. Thanks to all these, we are possible to respond to every patient and case and provide them with the quality of life that they deserve and at the same time help them gain the smile that they seek.
Our clinic can assure you if pterygoid implants are the most suitable implant process for you. You can now schedule a consultation or appointment with the dentists of City Dental Clinic and we will inform you about every step that you should follow about this dental procedure. You can benefit from a brand-new attractive smile that would charm every person that looks at you. Now, you can benefit from dental implants even if you are suffering from severe bone loss.
