March 4, 2025 • 34 mins
Step into a world where dental health meets transformative technology in this engaging podcast episode! We explore the tremendous advancements in dental implants, a revolutionary option that can profoundly impact one's life. Join hosts Alex Semidey and Jeremy Wolf as they unveil the journey of dental implants from ancient practices, such as those using seashells, to modern breakthroughs in technology that make procedures simpler and more effective than ever before.
Listeners will be captivated as they discover the process of osseointegration, which allows implants to bond seamlessly to the jawbone, restoring not only functionality but also aesthetics. Real-life patient stories featured in the episode reveal how dental implants have transformed lives, instilling new confidence and revitalizing self-esteem. The conversation navigates the connection between oral health and overall well-being, shedding light on how maintaining a complete smile can enhance one's quality of life and even prevent premature aging.
Additionally, the hosts emphasize that investing in dental implants is not merely about replacing missing teeth; it's about investing in long-term health and comfort. This episode goes beyond just dental procedures, providing insights into the mental and emotional benefits linked with a restored smile. As dental technology keeps evolving, there's much to be excited about, with promising innovations on the horizon, including bioengineered teeth.
Don’t miss this illuminating discussion—subscribe today, leave a review, and share your thoughts. Your engagement not only enriches our community but encourages everyone to prioritize their dental health!
For more information follow us @Semideydental or visit our website https://semideydental.com/.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to the Semide Dental Podcast.
We're here to provide youexpert insights on how dentistry
can improve your quality oflife and extend your health span
.
I'm Alex Semide and I'm apracticing dentist, and I'll be
your host, along with JeremyWolf.
Enjoy the show.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
Hello, hello everyone , and welcome back to the Semide
Dental Podcast, dr.
Alex, always a pleasure to seeyou, my brother, good to see you
, man.
Yes, yes, thanks everyone fortuning in.
We're excited to get on thistopic.
This is actually a topic that Ihave personal firsthand
experience, intimate knowledgeof, because I am the recipient,
or was the recipient, of dentalimplants.
(00:40):
But this is going back, alex,probably 15 years, so obviously
there's been a lot of advancesin technology and I really
haven't been in the know, if youwill.
So let's start here.
Explain to someone out therethat is unfamiliar with dental
implants why they've come to beconsidered the gold standard for
tooth replacement.
Speaker 3 (00:59):
Yeah, no, absolutely so.
Implants have a fascinatinghistory.
They've been around indentistry for over a hundred
years now and over the last,yeah.
Yeah, there's actually supercool archeological records of
like Aztecs doing implants withseashells and actually taking
(01:20):
broken pits, bits of seashells,implanting them after taking a
tooth out and they they stucklike.
There's fossil records of this,which is fascinating.
Yeah, um, we've come a long waythough, thankfully, and uh,
yeah implants.
implants are a topic that arenear and dear to my heart.
It's it's one of my favoritethings to to do for patients.
(01:41):
Uh know, giving someone theability to smile and chew again
after they've lost their teethis incredible, and with modern
day technology, I mean, we havea super streamlined process that
makes it a very safe andpredictable procedure that
really changes people's lives.
So a little bit about howimplants, you know work.
(02:06):
Um, an implant is essentially.
I always tell patients that youknow, implants the best one we
got is the one that man upstairsgave us right, and implants is
the best that I can do as areplacement.
So I always say it's not reallya replacement for your tooth,
it's a replacement for yourmissing tooth right, cause
nothing's as good as the, as theoriginal parts that we get.
(02:29):
It's not really a replacementfor your tooth, it's a
replacement for your missingtooth right, because nothing's
as good as the original partsthat we get.
But that said, implants areunbelievable.
They look and function like anatural tooth does.
They are virtuallyindistinguishable from our
natural teeth when they're inplace and they help us do all
the things that our naturalteeth help us do right Chew the
foods that we love smileconfidently in pictures and not
(02:51):
worry about, you know, thesemissing teeth or sometimes
dentures or partials that slipout of place and can be
uncomfortable.
So implants, really, theyreally do change lives.
So implants really do changelives.
Speaker 2 (03:04):
Yeah, because it's not just a dental issue.
Right, it's not.
It really is tied into yourwell-being.
It affects people, yourconfidence, your career
opportunities, your mentalhealth and wellness.
You've been doing this quitesome time now and I know you
(03:25):
have a lot of stories frompatients that you've helped.
Can you maybe share a story ofa particular patient whose life
was truly transformed by dentalimplants?
Speaker 3 (03:32):
Oh man, yeah, absolutely.
So two come to mind immediately.
One maybe because I saw herlast week to restore her implant
.
But my aunt Estrella, 83, 84years old I love her, she's like
(03:55):
a second mom to me and she hadan issue.
She had an old root canal onher canine.
Now she is an 83 old littleCuban lady, um, that doesn't
really care about whole lot butreally cares about keeping
herself well, put together,right and not having missing
teeth and dealing with all ofthose issues.
(04:15):
So her losing that front toothwas a really, really big deal to
her and she didn't want to dealwith something, you know, a
flipper or something that was inand out when it comes to her
front teeth.
She wanted something permanentand fixed.
So we had the talk that theroot canal had gone bad and we
needed to remove the tooth andthankfully the conditions were
(04:36):
just right.
We were able to place animplant that same day, place a
temporary crown on the implantthat same day and for all
intents and purposes, as far asshe was concerned, not a whole
lot had changed from thatmorning to that afternoon when
she, when she, left the office.
Speaker 2 (04:53):
So we just saw her a couple of weeks, so like she
walks in with no tooth andleaves with it.
Cause I remember when I gotthis done, this was a huge
process.
I had to go in they.
I had to go see an oral surgeon.
They implanted the rods.
I had to wait get the moldsmade implants, not rods.
Thank you very much well, Imean, that's maybe 15 years ago
(05:15):
was a wrong layman's terms rodsstuck those screws in my jawbone
.
Speaker 3 (05:20):
no, but yeah.
So, yes, the answer is yes,both ways.
Um, there are certainconditions and actually her case
was even more interestingbecause she walked in that day
with her natural tooth.
We removed that, placed theimplant and placed a provisional
crown on that implant all inthe same day.
Yeah, it's really cool.
(05:43):
Head blown day yeah, it'sreally cool.
Head blown yeah, it's supercool.
And now we can't do that forevery case every time.
Right, like the conditions needto be right.
Like we have to have enoughhealthy bone we have to.
We have to have a patientthat's very compliant.
Right, we have to have, ideally, certain areas of the mouth
that don't take as much load asother areas.
(06:03):
Right, like that's not a goodidea to do on a back tooth and
you go and you chew you knowjawbreakers on it.
That's not going to be a goodidea for that implant long-term.
But in certain instances, yeah,we can remove the tooth, place
the implant and you walk outwith a temporary like nothing
ever happened.
Speaker 2 (06:20):
Very cool.
So I want you to.
I want you to put on yourscience hat.
Semi-dental art meets science.
Get your science hat on.
In reading the blog that youwrote about this topic, there
was a term that came up.
It was osseointegration, whichkind of sounds like a sci-fi
term, but it's actually whatmakes implants so successful,
according to what you wrote.
I mean, I'm curious.
I want you to break down in away that makes sense to the
(06:41):
average person whatosseointegration is, and then I
want to kind of take a look backat what I did 15 years ago with
my mouth, with my implants, andsee if I have the benefit of
osseointegration, because Idon't know that I do so
osseointegration is the term forthe bone healing into the
(07:03):
implant and locking it intoplace.
Speaker 3 (07:05):
I'm very excited to geek out on the science on this.
So you have two basic types ofcells in your bone.
They're called osteoclasts andosteoblasts.
And osteoclasts are responsiblefor breaking down bone and
osteoblasts are responsible forbuilding bone behind them.
(07:26):
Right, and this turnover ofbone is constantly happening in
the body and, interestingfactoid, in the mouth.
That process happens at a ratefour times greater than anywhere
else in the body.
So the mouth is a very, verydynamic place, right, and what
happens is when we prepare thejawbone, ie drill the hole,
(07:47):
right, we call it an osteotomythat's the fancy term for you
know hole that we drilled inyour jawbone we prepare the site
, we place our implant and thenthose cells rush to that site
through the inflammation andblood flow and all that, and
they start doing their thing,right, and they start remodeling
all of that bone that's aroundthe implant and ultimately, over
(08:09):
a period of months you know twoto four months that bone locks
that implant in place and now itis perfectly attached to the
jawbone.
You can attach a crown, you canattach a denture, you can do
what's called what we callloading the implant right,
because now it's been fused intothe jawbone and it's a
permanent fixture.
Speaker 2 (08:30):
Interesting.
So for some reason I hadthought that maybe the materials
being used for the actualimplants had a plan.
That sounds like that's notnecessarily the case the bone
kind of graphs around thematerial I was thinking like-.
Speaker 3 (08:45):
Yes, yes, yes.
So some materials are far moreSusceptible to taking the bone.
Stimulate that osteointegrationmore than others.
Speaker 2 (08:54):
Yeah, because I can imagine a situation where the
material they use for theimplant is like 3D grafted and
it's very similar in a way tothe bone in structure and it
kind of merges and morphstogether.
And the more we advance intechnology, the more likely
it'll be to get to a point whereyou really do have an implant
that does become more and morelike an actual, like the root or
(09:16):
whatever is anchoring the toothin the first place.
No, yeah.
Speaker 3 (09:19):
So absolutely Right.
But the process ofosteointegration also applied to
the seashells, right.
So it's the body's normalprocess of like fusing into this
foreign structure that we callosteointegration, right.
But depending on how, on whatit is, on what materials are
(09:42):
used, how those materials aretreated, right, it's going to
promote more or less of thatosteointegration right.
Speaker 2 (09:48):
So, like most people, they don't realize that missing
teeth can make you look oldernecessarily.
Can you explain a little bitabout why bone loss happens and
how implants actually keeppeople looking younger?
Speaker 3 (10:02):
Yeah, so really it comes down to the lower half of
your face.
Your teeth provide support tothis entire area, from your nose
to your chin, to this entirearea, from, like, your nose to
your chin.
So when we, like,stereotypically, think of old
people, we kind of, you know,start envisioning, whether we
realize it or not, someone whoselower half of the face has
(10:24):
started to collapse right.
They start getting sunken inlips as they lose front teeth.
Everything just kind of likeshrinks down and the closer the
tip of your nose gets to the tipof your chin, right, the older
we tend to look.
So implants preserve, right,that height in the lower half of
(10:47):
our face.
So, hypothetical, let's do amolar here on the left.
And now all of a sudden yourmouth can close a little bit
more and you have fewer teethsupporting all of your chewing
forces, right.
What happens then?
(11:08):
Now we start stressing out theteeth that are left more,
because now they're they'reworking overtime right, like
they're chewing and grinding,not only for themselves but for
their buddy that's missing.
So we wear those teeth outfaster.
Those teeth are more prone tocracks and fractures and things
like that that could lead us tohave to have those teeth removed
(11:31):
right and now we startcompounding that effect of
decreasing the height of thelower half of the face and the
more that happens, the older wetend to look and we end up aging
prematurely as we lose teeth,especially our posterior, our
back teeth that lend thatsupport to the job.
Speaker 2 (11:55):
Makes sense.
I mean, I know we talked aboutwhen my daughter was getting
some work done with her mouth.
She had to have some teethremoved.
We had a conversation aboutthis.
It wasn't about implants per se, but I remember talking about
how, by removing teeth, youalways like to try to maintain
as many of the teeth as youpossibly can, because it has
effects on what you just said interms of, like, development,
(12:17):
moving forward and aging.
Really fascinating stuff For mebecause I've had experiences.
You know, I have a checkereddental history and I've had a
lot of trauma associated withthis.
There's a lot of pain thatcomes up and I think a lot of
people hear implant surgery andthey immediately go to like, oh,
(12:37):
is this going to be painful?
But I mean, you've you've saidto many patients that nowadays
it's in many cases it could beeasier than an actual extraction
, right, oh?
Speaker 3 (12:42):
100%.
I'll take it a step further.
I I had a young man of mid tolate 60s have an implant done on
his lower left first molar, um,you know tooth with a lot of
dentistry had gone South.
We decided, all right, we'll,we'll extract the tooth.
(13:03):
We took a more delayed approachwith his treatment, so we
extracted the tooth.
Then a couple months later wewent in and placed the implant
and uh, I called him, uh, youknow, the day after his his
procedure to check in on him andsee how he was doing.
And he goes, alex, like thatwas less than a cleaning and
that like just kind of stoppedme in my tracks, cause obviously
(13:26):
this is a procedure that we doa lot and I know that patients
have a fairly easy recovery whenit's when it's straightforward
implants, but no one had everput it quite that way right when
it just really sort of hit meand it's a story that I share
with my patients.
And, yeah, compared to anextraction, I was telling the
extractions the hard part right,with an extraction, even when
(13:48):
you're super numb, you feel alot of pressure Post-operatively
there's, you know, no matterhow good your surgeon is,
there's always discomfort, right, you had a piece of you removed
and there's just like a fewdays where things are kind of
achy and sore and with implantslike that's frequently not the
case at all.
(14:09):
You feel some vibration duringthe procedure.
Feel some vibration during theprocedure and then afterwards
maybe some gum irritationbecause the gums the gums do
feel what we do, but the bonedoesn't.
Bone isn't innervated, so thatosteotomy, that hole that we
drill in the bone, causes nopain.
(14:30):
Then the implant goes in, it'shealing as soon as you walk out
of the office.
Patients just go on about theirbusiness while that implant
heals for a few months and thenthey come back and get their
implant crowned and it'sgenerally a very smooth,
predictable, easy process.
Speaker 2 (14:51):
I got these 15 years ago Are implant, do they
typically last for your lifespan?
Is there a point where I mayhave to go in Like I guess at
some point maybe you got toreplace the crown on top but the
actual anchor, the implant intothe bone, is that something
that should hopefully last formy whole life, or am I going to
have to get that potentiallyreplaced at some point?
Speaker 3 (15:13):
Potentially right, but there's so many factors that
go on when we're dealing withan environment like the mouth,
right, and it's biology, andthings change and we are
requiring the body to stay at acertain healthy level in order
for things to stay healthy right.
And when those things changewell, stay healthy right.
And when those things changewell, it can be a little bit
(15:35):
unpredictable.
I'll say this, though Generallyif an implant isn't going to
take right osteointegrate,that's generally going to happen
earlier on in the process,right, If you've had an implant
that's been in function for 10,15 years, unless something
dramatic happens, right, Traumaobviously can, can knock an
(15:58):
implant out, right.
The same way it can knock atooth out, Um, sometimes
periodontal disease, right, Gumdisease, if that's not well
controlled.
The same way that process canerode the bone around our teeth.
It'll erode the bone aroundimplants.
But if those implants areproperly placed and properly
restored, even when those thingshappen, we can frequently
(16:22):
salvage the implant and therestoration by intervening early
enough.
So the answer to your questionis a complicated yes and yes,
they can last a lifetime.
Speaker 2 (16:35):
Restoration.
I'm not knock on wood here.
I want it to last my life.
I don't want to have to go backin there, absolutely.
Speaker 3 (16:41):
You know that's the goal for all of our patients,
right, like ideally, I want todo the last dentistry that you
ever need.
How realistic is that?
In every case, it's not right,but we try to determine the
factors that could get in theway of that being a reality
right and address those so thatwe increase our odds.
Speaker 2 (17:04):
So, from where I sit, it seems like if you're missing
teeth, implants are ano-brainer.
But, that said, there are otheroptions out there.
Right?
Everybody's heard of a bridgeand dentures and things like
that which, although I haven'theard about it much lately, it's
usually for the oldergenerations.
But if somebody is debating,let's say, you're missing teeth,
like, how do you help someonemake the best choice for them?
(17:27):
Like, is there ever acircumstance nowadays where it
makes more sense to do a bridgeor or dent as opposed to an
implant?
Because it seems like, again,finances aside, it sounds to me
like doing an implant would bethe best course of action, would
it not Like?
Speaker 3 (17:47):
98% of the time, 98%.
So there's like rarecircumstances, right.
I don't believe in absolutes inlife and one thing that I take
a great deal of pride in is iskind of tailoring treatment and
and taking into account factorsthat maybe go outside of just
the immediate local mouthfactors.
Right Of what's best for apatient.
You know there are certainthings that that could increase
(18:10):
potential complications with aprocedure.
Right, and yes, you saidfinances aside.
Right, finances are aconsideration of the ways that
we have available to us toreplace teeth.
Implants are the gold standardand, of course, the most, the
most, the biggest investmentright, the most expensive.
You get the most in return foryour investment, but it is a
(18:33):
consideration.
You get the most in return foryour investment, but it is a
consideration.
No-transcript, you know there'sa reason for that.
(18:54):
Right, they are, they'reserviceable, they can be
uncomfortable, maybe not themost aesthetic sometimes, but
it's better than not havingteeth right.
It does improve our function,it does improve the appearance
and, like you said, we also havebridges right which have also
been used for a long time andare a very good replacement for
(19:15):
missing teeth, although they dorequire us to do a lot of
dentistry to the surroundingareas of that missing tooth,
which oftentimes is somethingthat we want to avoid.
We definitely don't want tohave to drill a tooth that
doesn't absolutely need it inorder to replace a tooth if we
(19:37):
have an implant as an option.
Speaker 2 (19:39):
Yeah, I want to talk a little bit more about the
financial considerations becauseI think I want to start trying
to change people's perspectivearound this right.
Like, when you're presentedwith an option for something
like implants and there's ahefty price tag associated with
it, a lot of folks don't want tooutlay that money, so they go
(20:02):
for a less expensive option.
Can you talk a little bit moreabout how patients will actually
save not only money but theirdental health, like in the long
run, how it's a good investmentfor them, uh, to proceed with
implants?
Speaker 3 (20:12):
yeah, no, absolutely.
Um, that's something that wetake.
You know I personally take veryseriously, right, that any sort
of treatment that patientsdecide to go with is a
commitment of you know, theirtime, their effort, sometimes
significant amounts of money,right, and that matters.
But to address your question,yes, an implant can be, upfront,
(20:36):
maybe the most expensive optionto replace a missing tooth or
missing teeth, right, but whathappens?
So the implant can be, you know, five to six $7,000, start to
finish.
Right, you have a tooth thatgoes bad, it needs to be
extracted.
You need some surgery to buildup the bone, place the implant,
(20:59):
then get your beautifulporcelain crown, right, that's a
process and it carries asignificant price tag, you know,
comparing it to, perhaps, maybe, something like a bridge, which
may be maybe a couple thousanddollars cheaper, and maybe a
partial, which could be, youknow, maybe $3,000 cheaper,
right.
But what happens downstream,right, if we go with the implant
(21:21):
?
Now, that implant, first of all, does it require you to cut
down the teeth next door, right,which opens the door to
complications for those teethdown the line?
Right, because the more we'refiddling with stuff, the more
procedures we're doing, the morewe open the door for
complications and to have toredo procedures down the line,
right.
So the more we preserve theintact nature of our teeth, the
(21:46):
better.
Right, the implant is alsogoing to help preserve the bone
in that area where we're missinga tooth.
So something that we haven'ttalked about that's super
interesting is when we take atooth out, if we don't put
something into the jawbone, thebone, the body starts breaking
down that bone because now itserves no purpose, right.
(22:09):
So the body is very smart andvery efficient and it says, okay
, this bone isn't doing anything, there's no root, there's no
implant here, let's break itdown so that we don't have to
waste resources and maintenancethere.
Okay.
So what happens downstream?
There, we start losing bone,right, it starts affecting the
teeth next to the empty space.
(22:29):
Now, they will loosenprematurely.
We may lose those teethprematurely, right, and it puts
us on this hamster wheel ofdental treatment for life, right
.
So getting back to thelong-term savings right, that's
it.
Yes, it's a bigger investmentupfront, but the amount of
(22:51):
problems that you avoiddownstream right, financially,
time-wise, you avoid downstream,right, financially time-wise
pain, discomfort right,comfortability.
Speaker 2 (23:00):
yeah, it's a no-brainer.
Speaker 3 (23:00):
It really is.
Speaker 2 (23:01):
It's a no-brainer, it really is.
So you mentioned in the blogand you've not just in the blog,
we've talked about this atlength this connection between
overall health, oral health andoverall health and things like
heart disease, diabetes, evenosteoporosis.
What role do implants play inoverall health beyond just
restoring a smile?
Speaker 3 (23:23):
Yeah, absolutely so.
With rehabilitating someone'smouth their ability to function
and chew, I would say that thandentures and partials and things
like that will, which is goingto have a downstream effect on
(23:51):
our nutrition status, right.
Our ability to digest our foods, the better we're able to chew
them, things like that.
It's also going to help us feela lot better when we replace
teeth and look and feel betterand when we have that confidence
and security that our teeth areare going to be there when we
need the most, right, and it'sgoing to help preserve that
(24:13):
facial structure, right, it'sgoing to help preserve bone
levels in both jaws.
It's going to help preserve theheight of the lower half of the
face, like we were discussing,right, so it's going to help
stave off that, that prematureaging too.
And, yeah, I'm a big believerin the psychological impact that
(24:34):
dentistry has on us, right,it's one of the most rewarding
facets of my career and we learnmore and more about the impact
that our emotional well-beinghas on our physical health, our
physical well-being, right.
Like when we feel good, thingsgo better, right, and that is
(24:59):
one of the really one of themost beautiful things that
implants provide us Really oneof the most beautiful things
that implants provide us,especially for the folks who,
you know, have what we callterminal dentition.
Right, maybe they had a ton ofdentistry when they were younger
and that dentistry has failedand now they have to have all of
(25:20):
their teeth removed, you know,or a large portion of their
teeth removed, and this ispsychologically a huge burden.
Right Like this is not atrivial matter.
For people, right, and to gofrom, it's huge.
And for a lot of people to gofrom, because it's one thing
(25:41):
right, you have a missing toothdown here and you get the
implant and now you're morecomfortable.
That's great.
Right, is that going tosignificantly impact your life?
Probably not.
But for the patient who'sdealing with a denture that's
floppy and they can't chew andthey can't eat and it's
uncomfortable and it's rubbingtheir gums and they're miserable
(26:02):
, right Like a denture is amiserable experience, especially
a lower one.
Putting in a couple of implantsfor that patient and
stabilizing that denture isrevolutionary.
Speaker 2 (26:16):
Right like now they're able to chew and talk
and sneeze, right withoutwithout an issue, without
worrying about the denturespopping out, literally,
literally, and laughing rightand enjoying their lives the way
dentistry enables us, sometimesright.
Speaker 3 (26:38):
So that is really the patients who see the biggest
impact on their overall healthright.
The more we are replacing withimplants right, the bigger the
impact on their overall healthright the more we are replacing
with implants right, the biggerthe impact on the overall health
.
Speaker 2 (26:53):
So many, so many positive aspects of implants and
just just from the aestheticaspect of it, like there's
having a bright, beautiful smile, like I remember many, many
years back I had my teethwhitened.
I've only done it once and Iremember after I had the
procedure done I pulled up.
I was at a parking place and Ipulled up and I saw the lady.
I gave her my ticket and I gaveher a little smile and she's
like oh, what a beautiful smileyou have.
(27:14):
It just radiates out.
It's just something about like,of all things right, like when
you have a beautiful, brightsmile and you meet somebody, you
tend to get a lot ofcompliments on that, like, oh
well, I mean, I know it'ssomething I noticed for sure.
Speaker 3 (27:27):
So it's interesting you mentioned that we actually
have a slide on the office thatgoes around.
There was a study done a fewyears ago and it was in the
American Journal of Psychology,I think it was, and the study
was what is the most memorablefeature when first meeting
someone?
And smile was number one.
(27:49):
Like 50% of people whoresponded responded the smile.
It's the number one featurethat sticks out in your mind the
most when you first meetsomeone and that was followed by
you know how they dress, howthey talk, how they smell.
You know their eyes, right,people always think the eyes is
(28:09):
the first thing that you makecontact with and sticks in your
mind.
No, it's the smile, right, itis your business card for life,
the gateway to the soul.
There you go, oh I like that.
Speaker 2 (28:24):
So we talked a little earlier about where implants
are at today and I mentioned howI got them 15 years ago.
What's on the horizon, like?
What are we looking at in thefuture?
Are we moving towards a placewhere we're going to have fully
bioengineered teeth thatregenerate just like the real
thing?
Am I going to get to a pointwhere I'm missing a tooth and I
can actually stimulate the bodyto grow it back?
(28:46):
I'm missing a tooth and I canactually stimulate the body to
grow it back?
Like is this like way, way offthinking?
Speaker 3 (28:55):
Or are these things that are actually topics of
conversation right now in themedical community?
Yeah, where we're headed isthat AI is coming for all of us,
and who the hell knows whatthings are going to look like in
five to 10 years, right.
But yeah, so currently goldstandard for replacing a tooth
or teeth is the implants likewe've been talking about.
Uh, there is a team out injapan actually that is working
on growing new teeth, right,like basically implanting a
(29:18):
tooth bud into your jaw becausethey grow the tooth in a lab and
then implant the tooth right in, not not growing it from.
No, no growing it from growingit from like, like in vitro
fertilization of your tooth inyour jaw, and it develops and
you get a brand new shiny tooth.
There you go, yeah, there yougo.
(29:38):
So this is still in its, youknow, early stages, right, but
uh, there's definitely progressbeing made in that front of
regenerating teeth.
Speaker 2 (29:49):
Regenerative medicine .
Man, it's the big new thing.
I mean, it's where things areheaded right.
And as we incorporate AI, justthe evolution of these things is
just going to, you know, yeah,because the human body has an
unbelievable capacity to healitself right, and there's other
animals that exist in the wild,that regenerate in the wild,
that regenerate their limbs andthings like that.
(30:10):
Why that wouldn't be availableto our species, given the right
technology and being able to tapinto it, you know.
Speaker 3 (30:17):
So we're going to be able to have a lot of uh, a lot
of a lot of biology in the nextuh handful of years, for sure,
the next decades to come.
Speaker 2 (30:26):
All right, anything else you wanted to add before we
wrap this one up?
I think I got through.
Speaker 3 (30:31):
I think I got through everything, but if there's
anything else on your mind, letit shine, yeah you asked me
earlier about if there was acase that stood out to me with
regards to implants, and Imentioned my ds3 and as we were
talking here, someone else cameto mind that it was just such an
impactful story that I wouldlove to share.
(30:51):
So this guy comes to the office.
You know facilities guy, bluecollar dude, salt of the earth,
just an amazing guy, and youknow, if you were to just see
him you'd be a littleintimidated because he's a big
dude but just an absolute teddybear and nice guy.
(31:14):
He was in his late 30s, wasmissing a front tooth and then
the other front teeth had reallysort of like rotated and
splayed out of the way becauseof you know, years of neglect
and, um, you know, he literallynever smiled right, he would
(31:37):
sort of like smize but like notwith his lips.
Yeah, yeah, always making sure,always had like his mustache
real long, you know, and he wasfeeling really down about
himself and life and just whathis prospects were and out where
things were headed, and he wasvery self-conscious about his
(31:59):
mouth and he finally decided todo something about it and he
came to see us and you know wetalked about what his goals were
and put together a treatmentplan.
And you know we talked aboutwhat his goals were and put
together a treatment plan.
And you know we had to removeadditional front teeth that had
been compromised due toperiodontal disease.
And then we went through anInvisalign journey where we
(32:19):
aligned his bite andstraightened things out.
And then, you know, we restoredthe missing teeth with a few
implants and got him his finalcrowns and, oh man, I get
goosebumps talking about it.
It was so transformational forhim, right.
He, literally a week or twoafter getting his crowns and
(32:45):
feeling that confidence, got anew job, was promoted within a
month, found a girlfriend, gotmarried.
And he credits all of that tothe confidence, the confidence
that he felt right.
Not necessarily the implants,but the transfer, the confidence
that he felt right.
Not necessarily the implants,but the transfer, the
(33:06):
psychological transformation ofgoing from I don't want to be
seen to I feel good, right, andthe impact that that has on the
rest of our lives is huge.
So it's just, it's such anhonor, right.
It's such a gift to to be ableto be a part of of experiences
like that for people to to beable to be a part of of
(33:30):
experiences like that for people.
And um yeah, implants aren'tnecessarily the cure-all for
everything and everyone, butthey definitely make a big
difference powerful stuff,getting getting goosebumps.
Speaker 2 (33:39):
Just hearing the story and I know for me, having
gone through that myself, youknow I could I could kind of
empathize.
Remember when I, when I lost myteeth and they gave it was was
right before my honeymoon.
I couldn't even get the.
I couldn't even get the workdone.
They gave me some like littleplastic molds to put on.
I went to Italy for myhoneymoon and I had to
experience all the lovely foodout there with this little
plastic mold in my mouth.
(33:59):
So all right, man.
So if you're out therelistening and you have had an
experience with dental implantsgood, bad, indifferent, whatever
that is let us know about it.
Leave it in the comments below.
We're always interested to hearyour feedback and, of course,
if you'd like this content,don't forget to like and
subscribe.
We thank everyone for joiningus on this journey and wish you
(34:22):
all a very happy and healthy dayand remember, keep smiling out
there.
Have a good one.
I wish you all a very happy andhealthy day and remember, keep
smiling out there, have a goodone.
Speaker 1 (34:30):
Thanks for tuning in to this episode of the Seminary
Dental Podcast.
We hope you enjoyed the show.
Don't forget to subscribe,leave a review and follow us on
social media for the latestepisodes.
You can find us at SeminaryDental.
If you have any questions, feelfree to reach out.
We're always happy to help.
Until then, keep smiling andstay curious.
Welcome to the Semide Dental Podcast.
We're here to provide youexpert insights on how dentistry
can improve your quality oflife and extend your health span
.
I'm Alex Semide and I'm apracticing dentist, and I'll be
your host, along with JeremyWolf.
Enjoy the show.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
Hello, hello everyone , and welcome back to the Semide
Dental Podcast, dr.
Alex, always a pleasure to seeyou, my brother, good to see you
, man.
Yes, yes, thanks everyone fortuning in.
We're excited to get on thistopic.
This is actually a topic that Ihave personal firsthand
experience, intimate knowledgeof, because I am the recipient,
or was the recipient, of dentalimplants.
(00:40):
But this is going back, alex,probably 15 years, so obviously
there's been a lot of advancesin technology and I really
haven't been in the know, if youwill.
So let's start here.
Explain to someone out therethat is unfamiliar with dental
implants why they've come to beconsidered the gold standard for
tooth replacement.
Speaker 3 (00:59):
Yeah, no, absolutely so.
Implants have a fascinatinghistory.
They've been around indentistry for over a hundred
years now and over the last,yeah.
Yeah, there's actually supercool archeological records of
like Aztecs doing implants withseashells and actually taking
(01:20):
broken pits, bits of seashells,implanting them after taking a
tooth out and they they stucklike.
There's fossil records of this,which is fascinating.
Yeah, um, we've come a long waythough, thankfully, and uh,
yeah implants.
implants are a topic that arenear and dear to my heart.
It's it's one of my favoritethings to to do for patients.
(01:41):
Uh know, giving someone theability to smile and chew again
after they've lost their teethis incredible, and with modern
day technology, I mean, we havea super streamlined process that
makes it a very safe andpredictable procedure that
really changes people's lives.
So a little bit about howimplants, you know work.
(02:06):
Um, an implant is essentially.
I always tell patients that youknow, implants the best one we
got is the one that man upstairsgave us right, and implants is
the best that I can do as areplacement.
So I always say it's not reallya replacement for your tooth,
it's a replacement for yourmissing tooth right, cause
nothing's as good as the, as theoriginal parts that we get.
(02:29):
It's not really a replacementfor your tooth, it's a
replacement for your missingtooth right, because nothing's
as good as the original partsthat we get.
But that said, implants areunbelievable.
They look and function like anatural tooth does.
They are virtuallyindistinguishable from our
natural teeth when they're inplace and they help us do all
the things that our naturalteeth help us do right Chew the
foods that we love smileconfidently in pictures and not
(02:51):
worry about, you know, thesemissing teeth or sometimes
dentures or partials that slipout of place and can be
uncomfortable.
So implants, really, theyreally do change lives.
So implants really do changelives.
Speaker 2 (03:04):
Yeah, because it's not just a dental issue.
Right, it's not.
It really is tied into yourwell-being.
It affects people, yourconfidence, your career
opportunities, your mentalhealth and wellness.
You've been doing this quitesome time now and I know you
(03:25):
have a lot of stories frompatients that you've helped.
Can you maybe share a story ofa particular patient whose life
was truly transformed by dentalimplants?
Speaker 3 (03:32):
Oh man, yeah, absolutely.
So two come to mind immediately.
One maybe because I saw herlast week to restore her implant
.
But my aunt Estrella, 83, 84years old I love her, she's like
(03:55):
a second mom to me and she hadan issue.
She had an old root canal onher canine.
Now she is an 83 old littleCuban lady, um, that doesn't
really care about whole lot butreally cares about keeping
herself well, put together,right and not having missing
teeth and dealing with all ofthose issues.
(04:15):
So her losing that front toothwas a really, really big deal to
her and she didn't want to dealwith something, you know, a
flipper or something that was inand out when it comes to her
front teeth.
She wanted something permanentand fixed.
So we had the talk that theroot canal had gone bad and we
needed to remove the tooth andthankfully the conditions were
(04:36):
just right.
We were able to place animplant that same day, place a
temporary crown on the implantthat same day and for all
intents and purposes, as far asshe was concerned, not a whole
lot had changed from thatmorning to that afternoon when
she, when she, left the office.
Speaker 2 (04:53):
So we just saw her a couple of weeks, so like she
walks in with no tooth andleaves with it.
Cause I remember when I gotthis done, this was a huge
process.
I had to go in they.
I had to go see an oral surgeon.
They implanted the rods.
I had to wait get the moldsmade implants, not rods.
Thank you very much well, Imean, that's maybe 15 years ago
(05:15):
was a wrong layman's terms rodsstuck those screws in my jawbone
.
Speaker 3 (05:20):
no, but yeah.
So, yes, the answer is yes,both ways.
Um, there are certainconditions and actually her case
was even more interestingbecause she walked in that day
with her natural tooth.
We removed that, placed theimplant and placed a provisional
crown on that implant all inthe same day.
Yeah, it's really cool.
(05:43):
Head blown day yeah, it'sreally cool.
Head blown yeah, it's supercool.
And now we can't do that forevery case every time.
Right, like the conditions needto be right.
Like we have to have enoughhealthy bone we have to.
We have to have a patientthat's very compliant.
Right, we have to have, ideally, certain areas of the mouth
that don't take as much load asother areas.
(06:03):
Right, like that's not a goodidea to do on a back tooth and
you go and you chew you knowjawbreakers on it.
That's not going to be a goodidea for that implant long-term.
But in certain instances, yeah,we can remove the tooth, place
the implant and you walk outwith a temporary like nothing
ever happened.
Speaker 2 (06:20):
Very cool.
So I want you to.
I want you to put on yourscience hat.
Semi-dental art meets science.
Get your science hat on.
In reading the blog that youwrote about this topic, there
was a term that came up.
It was osseointegration, whichkind of sounds like a sci-fi
term, but it's actually whatmakes implants so successful,
according to what you wrote.
I mean, I'm curious.
I want you to break down in away that makes sense to the
(06:41):
average person whatosseointegration is, and then I
want to kind of take a look backat what I did 15 years ago with
my mouth, with my implants, andsee if I have the benefit of
osseointegration, because Idon't know that I do so
osseointegration is the term forthe bone healing into the
(07:03):
implant and locking it intoplace.
Speaker 3 (07:05):
I'm very excited to geek out on the science on this.
So you have two basic types ofcells in your bone.
They're called osteoclasts andosteoblasts.
And osteoclasts are responsiblefor breaking down bone and
osteoblasts are responsible forbuilding bone behind them.
(07:26):
Right, and this turnover ofbone is constantly happening in
the body and, interestingfactoid, in the mouth.
That process happens at a ratefour times greater than anywhere
else in the body.
So the mouth is a very, verydynamic place, right, and what
happens is when we prepare thejawbone, ie drill the hole,
(07:47):
right, we call it an osteotomythat's the fancy term for you
know hole that we drilled inyour jawbone we prepare the site
, we place our implant and thenthose cells rush to that site
through the inflammation andblood flow and all that, and
they start doing their thing,right, and they start remodeling
all of that bone that's aroundthe implant and ultimately, over
(08:09):
a period of months you know twoto four months that bone locks
that implant in place and now itis perfectly attached to the
jawbone.
You can attach a crown, you canattach a denture, you can do
what's called what we callloading the implant right,
because now it's been fused intothe jawbone and it's a
permanent fixture.
Speaker 2 (08:30):
Interesting.
So for some reason I hadthought that maybe the materials
being used for the actualimplants had a plan.
That sounds like that's notnecessarily the case the bone
kind of graphs around thematerial I was thinking like-.
Speaker 3 (08:45):
Yes, yes, yes.
So some materials are far moreSusceptible to taking the bone.
Stimulate that osteointegrationmore than others.
Speaker 2 (08:54):
Yeah, because I can imagine a situation where the
material they use for theimplant is like 3D grafted and
it's very similar in a way tothe bone in structure and it
kind of merges and morphstogether.
And the more we advance intechnology, the more likely
it'll be to get to a point whereyou really do have an implant
that does become more and morelike an actual, like the root or
(09:16):
whatever is anchoring the toothin the first place.
No, yeah.
Speaker 3 (09:19):
So absolutely Right.
But the process ofosteointegration also applied to
the seashells, right.
So it's the body's normalprocess of like fusing into this
foreign structure that we callosteointegration, right.
But depending on how, on whatit is, on what materials are
(09:42):
used, how those materials aretreated, right, it's going to
promote more or less of thatosteointegration right.
Speaker 2 (09:48):
So, like most people, they don't realize that missing
teeth can make you look oldernecessarily.
Can you explain a little bitabout why bone loss happens and
how implants actually keeppeople looking younger?
Speaker 3 (10:02):
Yeah, so really it comes down to the lower half of
your face.
Your teeth provide support tothis entire area, from your nose
to your chin, to this entirearea, from, like, your nose to
your chin.
So when we, like,stereotypically, think of old
people, we kind of, you know,start envisioning, whether we
realize it or not, someone whoselower half of the face has
(10:24):
started to collapse right.
They start getting sunken inlips as they lose front teeth.
Everything just kind of likeshrinks down and the closer the
tip of your nose gets to the tipof your chin, right, the older
we tend to look.
So implants preserve, right,that height in the lower half of
(10:47):
our face.
So, hypothetical, let's do amolar here on the left.
And now all of a sudden yourmouth can close a little bit
more and you have fewer teethsupporting all of your chewing
forces, right.
What happens then?
(11:08):
Now we start stressing out theteeth that are left more,
because now they're they'reworking overtime right, like
they're chewing and grinding,not only for themselves but for
their buddy that's missing.
So we wear those teeth outfaster.
Those teeth are more prone tocracks and fractures and things
like that that could lead us tohave to have those teeth removed
(11:31):
right and now we startcompounding that effect of
decreasing the height of thelower half of the face and the
more that happens, the older wetend to look and we end up aging
prematurely as we lose teeth,especially our posterior, our
back teeth that lend thatsupport to the job.
Speaker 2 (11:55):
Makes sense.
I mean, I know we talked aboutwhen my daughter was getting
some work done with her mouth.
She had to have some teethremoved.
We had a conversation aboutthis.
It wasn't about implants per se, but I remember talking about
how, by removing teeth, youalways like to try to maintain
as many of the teeth as youpossibly can, because it has
effects on what you just said interms of, like, development,
(12:17):
moving forward and aging.
Really fascinating stuff For mebecause I've had experiences.
You know, I have a checkereddental history and I've had a
lot of trauma associated withthis.
There's a lot of pain thatcomes up and I think a lot of
people hear implant surgery andthey immediately go to like, oh,
(12:37):
is this going to be painful?
But I mean, you've you've saidto many patients that nowadays
it's in many cases it could beeasier than an actual extraction
, right, oh?
Speaker 3 (12:42):
100%.
I'll take it a step further.
I I had a young man of mid tolate 60s have an implant done on
his lower left first molar, um,you know tooth with a lot of
dentistry had gone South.
We decided, all right, we'll,we'll extract the tooth.
(13:03):
We took a more delayed approachwith his treatment, so we
extracted the tooth.
Then a couple months later wewent in and placed the implant
and uh, I called him, uh, youknow, the day after his his
procedure to check in on him andsee how he was doing.
And he goes, alex, like thatwas less than a cleaning and
that like just kind of stoppedme in my tracks, cause obviously
(13:26):
this is a procedure that we doa lot and I know that patients
have a fairly easy recovery whenit's when it's straightforward
implants, but no one had everput it quite that way right when
it just really sort of hit meand it's a story that I share
with my patients.
And, yeah, compared to anextraction, I was telling the
extractions the hard part right,with an extraction, even when
(13:48):
you're super numb, you feel alot of pressure Post-operatively
there's, you know, no matterhow good your surgeon is,
there's always discomfort, right, you had a piece of you removed
and there's just like a fewdays where things are kind of
achy and sore and with implantslike that's frequently not the
case at all.
(14:09):
You feel some vibration duringthe procedure.
Feel some vibration during theprocedure and then afterwards
maybe some gum irritationbecause the gums the gums do
feel what we do, but the bonedoesn't.
Bone isn't innervated, so thatosteotomy, that hole that we
drill in the bone, causes nopain.
(14:30):
Then the implant goes in, it'shealing as soon as you walk out
of the office.
Patients just go on about theirbusiness while that implant
heals for a few months and thenthey come back and get their
implant crowned and it'sgenerally a very smooth,
predictable, easy process.
Speaker 2 (14:51):
I got these 15 years ago Are implant, do they
typically last for your lifespan?
Is there a point where I mayhave to go in Like I guess at
some point maybe you got toreplace the crown on top but the
actual anchor, the implant intothe bone, is that something
that should hopefully last formy whole life, or am I going to
have to get that potentiallyreplaced at some point?
Speaker 3 (15:13):
Potentially right, but there's so many factors that
go on when we're dealing withan environment like the mouth,
right, and it's biology, andthings change and we are
requiring the body to stay at acertain healthy level in order
for things to stay healthy right.
And when those things changewell, stay healthy right.
And when those things changewell, it can be a little bit
(15:35):
unpredictable.
I'll say this, though Generallyif an implant isn't going to
take right osteointegrate,that's generally going to happen
earlier on in the process,right, If you've had an implant
that's been in function for 10,15 years, unless something
dramatic happens, right, Traumaobviously can, can knock an
(15:58):
implant out, right.
The same way it can knock atooth out, Um, sometimes
periodontal disease, right, Gumdisease, if that's not well
controlled.
The same way that process canerode the bone around our teeth.
It'll erode the bone aroundimplants.
But if those implants areproperly placed and properly
restored, even when those thingshappen, we can frequently
(16:22):
salvage the implant and therestoration by intervening early
enough.
So the answer to your questionis a complicated yes and yes,
they can last a lifetime.
Speaker 2 (16:35):
Restoration.
I'm not knock on wood here.
I want it to last my life.
I don't want to have to go backin there, absolutely.
Speaker 3 (16:41):
You know that's the goal for all of our patients,
right, like ideally, I want todo the last dentistry that you
ever need.
How realistic is that?
In every case, it's not right,but we try to determine the
factors that could get in theway of that being a reality
right and address those so thatwe increase our odds.
Speaker 2 (17:04):
So, from where I sit, it seems like if you're missing
teeth, implants are ano-brainer.
But, that said, there are otheroptions out there.
Right?
Everybody's heard of a bridgeand dentures and things like
that which, although I haven'theard about it much lately, it's
usually for the oldergenerations.
But if somebody is debating,let's say, you're missing teeth,
like, how do you help someonemake the best choice for them?
(17:27):
Like, is there ever acircumstance nowadays where it
makes more sense to do a bridgeor or dent as opposed to an
implant?
Because it seems like, again,finances aside, it sounds to me
like doing an implant would bethe best course of action, would
it not Like?
Speaker 3 (17:47):
98% of the time, 98%.
So there's like rarecircumstances, right.
I don't believe in absolutes inlife and one thing that I take
a great deal of pride in is iskind of tailoring treatment and
and taking into account factorsthat maybe go outside of just
the immediate local mouthfactors.
Right Of what's best for apatient.
You know there are certainthings that that could increase
(18:10):
potential complications with aprocedure.
Right, and yes, you saidfinances aside.
Right, finances are aconsideration of the ways that
we have available to us toreplace teeth.
Implants are the gold standardand, of course, the most, the
most, the biggest investmentright, the most expensive.
You get the most in return foryour investment, but it is a
(18:33):
consideration.
You get the most in return foryour investment, but it is a
consideration.
No-transcript, you know there'sa reason for that.
(18:54):
Right, they are, they'reserviceable, they can be
uncomfortable, maybe not themost aesthetic sometimes, but
it's better than not havingteeth right.
It does improve our function,it does improve the appearance
and, like you said, we also havebridges right which have also
been used for a long time andare a very good replacement for
(19:15):
missing teeth, although they dorequire us to do a lot of
dentistry to the surroundingareas of that missing tooth,
which oftentimes is somethingthat we want to avoid.
We definitely don't want tohave to drill a tooth that
doesn't absolutely need it inorder to replace a tooth if we
(19:37):
have an implant as an option.
Speaker 2 (19:39):
Yeah, I want to talk a little bit more about the
financial considerations becauseI think I want to start trying
to change people's perspectivearound this right.
Like, when you're presentedwith an option for something
like implants and there's ahefty price tag associated with
it, a lot of folks don't want tooutlay that money, so they go
(20:02):
for a less expensive option.
Can you talk a little bit moreabout how patients will actually
save not only money but theirdental health, like in the long
run, how it's a good investmentfor them, uh, to proceed with
implants?
Speaker 3 (20:12):
yeah, no, absolutely.
Um, that's something that wetake.
You know I personally take veryseriously, right, that any sort
of treatment that patientsdecide to go with is a
commitment of you know, theirtime, their effort, sometimes
significant amounts of money,right, and that matters.
But to address your question,yes, an implant can be, upfront,
(20:36):
maybe the most expensive optionto replace a missing tooth or
missing teeth, right, but whathappens?
So the implant can be, you know, five to six $7,000, start to
finish.
Right, you have a tooth thatgoes bad, it needs to be
extracted.
You need some surgery to buildup the bone, place the implant,
(20:59):
then get your beautifulporcelain crown, right, that's a
process and it carries asignificant price tag, you know,
comparing it to, perhaps, maybe, something like a bridge, which
may be maybe a couple thousanddollars cheaper, and maybe a
partial, which could be, youknow, maybe $3,000 cheaper,
right.
But what happens downstream,right, if we go with the implant
(21:21):
?
Now, that implant, first of all, does it require you to cut
down the teeth next door, right,which opens the door to
complications for those teethdown the line?
Right, because the more we'refiddling with stuff, the more
procedures we're doing, the morewe open the door for
complications and to have toredo procedures down the line,
right.
So the more we preserve theintact nature of our teeth, the
(21:46):
better.
Right, the implant is alsogoing to help preserve the bone
in that area where we're missinga tooth.
So something that we haven'ttalked about that's super
interesting is when we take atooth out, if we don't put
something into the jawbone, thebone, the body starts breaking
down that bone because now itserves no purpose, right.
(22:09):
So the body is very smart andvery efficient and it says, okay
, this bone isn't doing anything, there's no root, there's no
implant here, let's break itdown so that we don't have to
waste resources and maintenancethere.
Okay.
So what happens downstream?
There, we start losing bone,right, it starts affecting the
teeth next to the empty space.
(22:29):
Now, they will loosenprematurely.
We may lose those teethprematurely, right, and it puts
us on this hamster wheel ofdental treatment for life, right
.
So getting back to thelong-term savings right, that's
it.
Yes, it's a bigger investmentupfront, but the amount of
(22:51):
problems that you avoiddownstream right, financially,
time-wise, you avoid downstream,right, financially time-wise
pain, discomfort right,comfortability.
Speaker 2 (23:00):
yeah, it's a no-brainer.
Speaker 3 (23:00):
It really is.
Speaker 2 (23:01):
It's a no-brainer, it really is.
So you mentioned in the blogand you've not just in the blog,
we've talked about this atlength this connection between
overall health, oral health andoverall health and things like
heart disease, diabetes, evenosteoporosis.
What role do implants play inoverall health beyond just
restoring a smile?
Speaker 3 (23:23):
Yeah, absolutely so.
With rehabilitating someone'smouth their ability to function
and chew, I would say that thandentures and partials and things
like that will, which is goingto have a downstream effect on
(23:51):
our nutrition status, right.
Our ability to digest our foods, the better we're able to chew
them, things like that.
It's also going to help us feela lot better when we replace
teeth and look and feel betterand when we have that confidence
and security that our teeth areare going to be there when we
need the most, right, and it'sgoing to help preserve that
(24:13):
facial structure, right, it'sgoing to help preserve bone
levels in both jaws.
It's going to help preserve theheight of the lower half of the
face, like we were discussing,right, so it's going to help
stave off that, that prematureaging too.
And, yeah, I'm a big believerin the psychological impact that
(24:34):
dentistry has on us, right,it's one of the most rewarding
facets of my career and we learnmore and more about the impact
that our emotional well-beinghas on our physical health, our
physical well-being, right.
Like when we feel good, thingsgo better, right, and that is
(24:59):
one of the really one of themost beautiful things that
implants provide us Really oneof the most beautiful things
that implants provide us,especially for the folks who,
you know, have what we callterminal dentition.
Right, maybe they had a ton ofdentistry when they were younger
and that dentistry has failedand now they have to have all of
(25:20):
their teeth removed, you know,or a large portion of their
teeth removed, and this ispsychologically a huge burden.
Right Like this is not atrivial matter.
For people, right, and to gofrom, it's huge.
And for a lot of people to gofrom, because it's one thing
(25:41):
right, you have a missing toothdown here and you get the
implant and now you're morecomfortable.
That's great.
Right, is that going tosignificantly impact your life?
Probably not.
But for the patient who'sdealing with a denture that's
floppy and they can't chew andthey can't eat and it's
uncomfortable and it's rubbingtheir gums and they're miserable
(26:02):
, right Like a denture is amiserable experience, especially
a lower one.
Putting in a couple of implantsfor that patient and
stabilizing that denture isrevolutionary.
Speaker 2 (26:16):
Right like now they're able to chew and talk
and sneeze, right withoutwithout an issue, without
worrying about the denturespopping out, literally,
literally, and laughing rightand enjoying their lives the way
dentistry enables us, sometimesright.
Speaker 3 (26:38):
So that is really the patients who see the biggest
impact on their overall healthright.
The more we are replacing withimplants right, the bigger the
impact on their overall healthright the more we are replacing
with implants right, the biggerthe impact on the overall health
.
Speaker 2 (26:53):
So many, so many positive aspects of implants and
just just from the aestheticaspect of it, like there's
having a bright, beautiful smile, like I remember many, many
years back I had my teethwhitened.
I've only done it once and Iremember after I had the
procedure done I pulled up.
I was at a parking place and Ipulled up and I saw the lady.
I gave her my ticket and I gaveher a little smile and she's
like oh, what a beautiful smileyou have.
(27:14):
It just radiates out.
It's just something about like,of all things right, like when
you have a beautiful, brightsmile and you meet somebody, you
tend to get a lot ofcompliments on that, like, oh
well, I mean, I know it'ssomething I noticed for sure.
Speaker 3 (27:27):
So it's interesting you mentioned that we actually
have a slide on the office thatgoes around.
There was a study done a fewyears ago and it was in the
American Journal of Psychology,I think it was, and the study
was what is the most memorablefeature when first meeting
someone?
And smile was number one.
(27:49):
Like 50% of people whoresponded responded the smile.
It's the number one featurethat sticks out in your mind the
most when you first meetsomeone and that was followed by
you know how they dress, howthey talk, how they smell.
You know their eyes, right,people always think the eyes is
(28:09):
the first thing that you makecontact with and sticks in your
mind.
No, it's the smile, right, itis your business card for life,
the gateway to the soul.
There you go, oh I like that.
Speaker 2 (28:24):
So we talked a little earlier about where implants
are at today and I mentioned howI got them 15 years ago.
What's on the horizon, like?
What are we looking at in thefuture?
Are we moving towards a placewhere we're going to have fully
bioengineered teeth thatregenerate just like the real
thing?
Am I going to get to a pointwhere I'm missing a tooth and I
can actually stimulate the bodyto grow it back?
(28:46):
I'm missing a tooth and I canactually stimulate the body to
grow it back?
Like is this like way, way offthinking?
Speaker 3 (28:55):
Or are these things that are actually topics of
conversation right now in themedical community?
Yeah, where we're headed isthat AI is coming for all of us,
and who the hell knows whatthings are going to look like in
five to 10 years, right.
But yeah, so currently goldstandard for replacing a tooth
or teeth is the implants likewe've been talking about.
Uh, there is a team out injapan actually that is working
on growing new teeth, right,like basically implanting a
(29:18):
tooth bud into your jaw becausethey grow the tooth in a lab and
then implant the tooth right in, not not growing it from.
No, no growing it from growingit from like, like in vitro
fertilization of your tooth inyour jaw, and it develops and
you get a brand new shiny tooth.
There you go, yeah, there yougo.
(29:38):
So this is still in its, youknow, early stages, right, but
uh, there's definitely progressbeing made in that front of
regenerating teeth.
Speaker 2 (29:49):
Regenerative medicine .
Man, it's the big new thing.
I mean, it's where things areheaded right.
And as we incorporate AI, justthe evolution of these things is
just going to, you know, yeah,because the human body has an
unbelievable capacity to healitself right, and there's other
animals that exist in the wild,that regenerate in the wild,
that regenerate their limbs andthings like that.
(30:10):
Why that wouldn't be availableto our species, given the right
technology and being able to tapinto it, you know.
Speaker 3 (30:17):
So we're going to be able to have a lot of uh, a lot
of a lot of biology in the nextuh handful of years, for sure,
the next decades to come.
Speaker 2 (30:26):
All right, anything else you wanted to add before we
wrap this one up?
I think I got through.
Speaker 3 (30:31):
I think I got through everything, but if there's
anything else on your mind, letit shine, yeah you asked me
earlier about if there was acase that stood out to me with
regards to implants, and Imentioned my ds3 and as we were
talking here, someone else cameto mind that it was just such an
impactful story that I wouldlove to share.
(30:51):
So this guy comes to the office.
You know facilities guy, bluecollar dude, salt of the earth,
just an amazing guy, and youknow, if you were to just see
him you'd be a littleintimidated because he's a big
dude but just an absolute teddybear and nice guy.
(31:14):
He was in his late 30s, wasmissing a front tooth and then
the other front teeth had reallysort of like rotated and
splayed out of the way becauseof you know, years of neglect
and, um, you know, he literallynever smiled right, he would
(31:37):
sort of like smize but like notwith his lips.
Yeah, yeah, always making sure,always had like his mustache
real long, you know, and he wasfeeling really down about
himself and life and just whathis prospects were and out where
things were headed, and he wasvery self-conscious about his
(31:59):
mouth and he finally decided todo something about it and he
came to see us and you know wetalked about what his goals were
and put together a treatmentplan.
And you know we talked aboutwhat his goals were and put
together a treatment plan.
And you know we had to removeadditional front teeth that had
been compromised due toperiodontal disease.
And then we went through anInvisalign journey where we
(32:19):
aligned his bite andstraightened things out.
And then, you know, we restoredthe missing teeth with a few
implants and got him his finalcrowns and, oh man, I get
goosebumps talking about it.
It was so transformational forhim, right.
He, literally a week or twoafter getting his crowns and
(32:45):
feeling that confidence, got anew job, was promoted within a
month, found a girlfriend, gotmarried.
And he credits all of that tothe confidence, the confidence
that he felt right.
Not necessarily the implants,but the transfer, the confidence
that he felt right.
Not necessarily the implants,but the transfer, the
(33:06):
psychological transformation ofgoing from I don't want to be
seen to I feel good, right, andthe impact that that has on the
rest of our lives is huge.
So it's just, it's such anhonor, right.
It's such a gift to to be ableto be a part of of experiences
like that for people to to beable to be a part of of
(33:30):
experiences like that for people.
And um yeah, implants aren'tnecessarily the cure-all for
everything and everyone, butthey definitely make a big
difference powerful stuff,getting getting goosebumps.
Speaker 2 (33:39):
Just hearing the story and I know for me, having
gone through that myself, youknow I could I could kind of
empathize.
Remember when I, when I lost myteeth and they gave it was was
right before my honeymoon.
I couldn't even get the.
I couldn't even get the workdone.
They gave me some like littleplastic molds to put on.
I went to Italy for myhoneymoon and I had to
experience all the lovely foodout there with this little
plastic mold in my mouth.
(33:59):
So all right, man.
So if you're out therelistening and you have had an
experience with dental implantsgood, bad, indifferent, whatever
that is let us know about it.
Leave it in the comments below.
We're always interested to hearyour feedback and, of course,
if you'd like this content,don't forget to like and
subscribe.
We thank everyone for joiningus on this journey and wish you
(34:22):
all a very happy and healthy dayand remember, keep smiling out
there.
Have a good one.
I wish you all a very happy andhealthy day and remember, keep
smiling out there, have a goodone.
Speaker 1 (34:30):
Thanks for tuning in to this episode of the Seminary
Dental Podcast.
We hope you enjoyed the show.
Don't forget to subscribe,leave a review and follow us on
social media for the latestepisodes.
You can find us at SeminaryDental.
If you have any questions, feelfree to reach out.
We're always happy to help.
Until then, keep smiling andstay curious.
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