All That You Need to Know About Zirconia Dental Implants (Part 6)
Zirconia is unlike early forms of all-ceramic restorations. It’s not only used as implants due to its toughness to metal implants. It’s also used for teeth due to its combination of form and function or excellent dental aesthetics.
Swedish chemist Jöns Jakob Berzelius first isolated zirconia and it took about 150 years before it was considered for usage in biomedicine.
It was Helmer and Driskell who published the scientific study of zirconia’s medical viability back in 1969.
In 1972, Garvie and Nicholson discovered that using zirconia with magnesia, yttria, and calcia could make it more stable.
In 1980s, the metal dental implant used to only have two parts—the abutment where the prosthetic crown is placed and cemented and the fixture or post that’s screwed into the jawbone.
The emergence of zirconia for dental purposes made it possible for an abutment to be part of the fixture as one whole implant piece in the 2000s.
Zirconia made it possible for the abutment to be made of tough ceramic. This material is known for its tissue-friendliness.
In 2005, full ceramic implants made of zirconia were introduced in Europe.
By 2011, the US Food and Drug Administration approved use of these zirconia implants.
There are a percentage of patients who have metal allergy and cannot take having metal fused to their bone as part of an implant procedure. All ceramic or zirconia implants serve as the alternative to metal implants.