New teeth in a day

Dental patients will soon be able to visit their surgery and walk out with new teeth on the same day.

Scientists in the U. S. have created mini dental implants which can support anything from a single tooth to a full set.

Until now patients who didn't want dentures faced up to five hours of surgery for standard implants.

The procedure was also invasive and painful and could take six months to complete.

The new technique, which is also less than half the price of traditional surgery, works through the use of titanium pegs no more than the width of a matchstick.

These are placed into tiny perforations in the gum, which are made under local anaesthetic.

The titanium peg is then used as a 'virtual root' to which anything from a single tooth to a complete set of replacement teeth can be attached.

The existing procedure involves cutting the gum tissue, peeling it away from the bone, screwing in large implants up to a quarter of an inch wide and stitching up the wound.

Patients are left bruised, and must wait up to six months before teeth can be attached to the implants.

Because the new technique is less invasive and the peg is smaller, dentists say new teeth can be attached on the same day.

It also costs around £18,000 for a full top and bottom set of teeth, rather than around £40,000 for traditional implants.

Tariq Idris, who is offering the mini implants at his practices in London's Harley Street and in Chester, said: 'This is great news for all the patients who in the past could not bear the trauma of complex dental surgery.
'The treatment is complete in a matter of minutes.'

Patient Ricky Dixon, 36, of Chester, had the treatment last week.

He said: 'I've had root canal work done in the past and to be honest with a metal implant I was expecting the worst.

'But this was over in less than six minutes. I felt no pain whatsoever.

'I had a little jab in my gum and then the implant went in. A couple of hours later I had forgotten that I had been to the dentist.'

Dr Gordon Watkins of the British Dental Association said: 'Mini dental implants are a recent development and we will be very interested to see the results of long-term clinical trials.'