Branemark dental implants

He is widely known as the father of modern dental implantology because of his milestone contribution in the field of implant dentistry; Per-Ingvar Branemark was born on the 3^rd of May 1929. He studied at Lund University in Sweden and he became a professor of Anatomy at Gothenburg University in 1969. Branemark has been awarded many prizes for his work, including the coveted Swedish Society of Medicine’s Soederberg Prize in 1992 which is often referred to as the mini-Nobel and the Swedish Engineering Academy’s equally prestigious medal for technical innovation. Branemark has also been honored with the Harvard School of Dental Medicine Medal for his work on dental implants in the United States and holds more than 30 honorary positions throughout Europe and North America, including the Honorary Fellowship of the Royal Society of Medicine in the UK. Branemark dental implants have been developed over the years so as to provide lasting solutions to the current and emerging problems.

A highly significant breakthrough for modern dental implantology happened in 1952 when Branemark discovered that the metal titanium can successfully adhere and integrate with human bone tissue. This earned him the honor of being called the Father of Modern dental Implantology. Leading to the discovery, Branemark was studying the properties of bone healing and regeneration.

Branemark dental implants use titanium as the material for implants today, but you may be wondering how the material came about, the first use of Titanium in any form of implantation occurred at Cambridge University. Research scientists at the university discovered a way to create a titanium chamber which could be embedded into the ears of rabbits to study in vivo blood flow. A little while later, Branemark otherwise known as ‘the father of dental implants’ adopted the same method for use in the Rabbit Femur for studies on bone regeneration and healing. When he came to remove the chambers he found that it was impossible for him to do so because the bone had actually adhered to the titanium. Branemark coined this term ‘osseointegration’. He wanted to take these studies further using the femur or hip but he found that the mouth was more accessible for continued observation.

It is recorded that the birth of modern dental implants occurred in 1965, highly experienced practitioners from Worthing Dental Centre say that this was the year when Dr. Branemark first placed a titanium dental implant into the jaw bone of a human volunteer. With the success of the first titanium dental implant, the process of studying the implantation of titanium into human bone for missing teeth options was then started with due urgency and with much more depth and intensity.

It can be said that branemark dental implants have provided an avenue for the advancement of dental implants, today the branemark system is one of the most used implant systems on the market. They are the most scientifically documented in the world with more than four decades of publications on their safety, predictability, clinical success and longevity.