Implant design has come a long way from the early days. In it’s earliest form, implants presented as blades, blocks of metal with large holes. These required immense surgical procedures to place them with all the expected surgical trauma to the patient. Today implants are small root like rods that would replace the tooth like for like. Their design is changing year by year to reflect the advancement in implant material size and shape.

Some implants are now designed with what is known as an aggressive thread. Depending on the type of bone these implants are able to engage the bone with greater force. If the force is of a consistent measure then the surgeon is confident they can load the implant with the abutment and crown straight away.

This is known as immediate loading. Many dental practices may call this teeth in a day or if more than one implant is placed in this manner, ‘all on four’. It is important to know that teeth in a day or ‘all on four’ actually is a staging process to the fit of the final tooth or bridge 6 months later and requires careful soft diet eating for some time.

The major benefit, if applicable to your case, is that it circumnavigates using a temporary tooth that may be denture or sticky bridge in design.