Interview with Joanna Hahs-Gaborska from HAHS Dental and Implantology Clinic in Szczecin.

It’s not a secret that a healthy and beautiful smile helps in life: it makes social and professional relations easier!

You are definitely right. This belief can easily be seen in our patients’ expectations. More and more they stress that an attractive smile as an effect of the treatment is important to them. We like that kind of an attitude since applying the newest methods and materials enables us to meet those expectations. Currently, dentistry is, next to plastic surgery, one of the basic fields of esthetic surgery. It offers and constantly develops solutions, which enable patients to improve or regain the lost beauty of their teeth. With the aid of a dentist, a patient may thus change the color and shape of his or her teeth or improve their alignment.

One of the most severe problems for a patient is the loss of one or more teeth.

Single losses happen even to individuals, who care for their teeth (e.g. as a result of a fall while skiing or riding a bicycle). Therefore, it is not a problem relating solely to aging but it also pertains to young people. It is a serious esthetic problem (tooth loss is hard to conceal) and something more. Each tooth has its task to fulfill. The loss of any tooth disturbs the function of the rest, leads to unfavorable changes in a bite and, as a result, to disorders in other teeth and a gradual bone atrophy in the place of the missing tooth. So patients should not wait too long to get the gaps filled in.

What are the solutions offered by dentists to patients in such situations?

There are several options. Dental bridges and skeletal dentures are used to fill in single losses, while in case of missing teeth – complete dentures. In each of these cases, there are many types of constructions and materials which may be used. Implants constitute an especially recommended, and used virtually in all types of tooth loss (also in a total lack of teeth) solution. Dentists agree that among all methods, implants reconstruct missing teeth in the most perfect manner. Our long-standing experience proved that thanks to implants, tooth reconstruction is possible even with patients suffering from paradonthosis.

Implantology treatment is becoming more and more popular. What are the causes of the rising interest in this type of treatment?

More and more patients see advantages of teeth reconstruction through implants and decide to undergo this procedure. In the past year, at the HAHS Clinic more than 300 implants were carried out. Patients may regain their smile and functionality of missing teeth. Implants give them the feeling of recovering missing teeth. No other prosthetic solution fulfils both criteria to such extent. Conventional solutions (bridges, dentures) cause patients many problems. While placing an implant on a bridge or denture allows the patient to avoid problems connected with traditional prosthodontics such as: removing and falling out dentures, difficulties in eating, talking, the necessity to grind healthy teeth or visible claps supporting dentures.

The above mentioned benefits result from the implant’s features. An implant is a small screw which substitutes the root of a tooth. After joining it to the jaw bone, an implant constitutes a natural and highly stabile base for the new tooth. This allows to secure prosthetic supplement: crown, denture or bridge depending on the number of missing teeth. The effect satisfies even the most demanding patients.

Which factors affect the success of the treatment?

There are two most important factors: experience and the skill of a dentist and materials used. At the HAHS Clinic, implantology procedures have been carried out for over 7 years. At the beginning, we used Brandmark System and Replace System implants, produced by Swedish company Nobel Biocide. These systems were chosen because of their reliability and the constantly widening possibilities of use. This allows us to apply increasingly improved treatment of more and more complicated cases and also to give patients a 10-year guarantee.

In which direction is implantology treatment developing?

There are approx. 300 different implantology systems around the world. Brandmark System is most widely described implantology system, used most commonly and used by dentists the longest. Its undoubted merit is a constantly growing offer, taking expectations of patients from around the world into consideration during the development process. The newest solution, which we offer our patients, is the NobelPerfect implant. Up to now, implantologists were more interested in the function of implants (stabile and durable teeth) than in obtaining perfect cosmetics. As a result, although esthetics of these solutions were better than of conventional solutions, it was not ideal. NobelPerfect implant is the world’s first implant which perfectly imitates a tooth, its natural anatomy. The profile of the implant was designed in order to reconstruct and maintain the outline of the gum between implant and tooth or between two implants. This eliminated “black triangles” between teeth, which are the results of gradual bone atrophy, occurring after loosing teeth. The features of NobelPerfect implant are especially favorable in reconstructing teeth in the so-called esthetic zone that is the front teeth including “fours”. While speaking about implantology, opportunities which it brought into orthodontic treatment is also worth mentioning. Application of implants in orthodontics allows us an exceptionally effective treatment not only of children and youth but also adults.

Can patients, therefore, count on the fact that a dentist will find an effective solution to their problem?

Effective but also with excellent cosmetic virtues. Patients of our clinic demand from us services at a high, world level. The current level of dentistry development allows dentists to combine the achievements of different domains of dentistry and obtain desired effects.

Conducted by: Małgorzata Annusewicz