A dental implant is not a false tooth glued in place. It is a precision titanium root placed where your natural root once was. Over eight to twelve weeks, living bone fuses to its surface — a process called osseointegration — until the implant is as firmly anchored as the tooth it replaced.
Onto that root goes an abutment, and onto the abutment a crown, bridge, or full arch. One implant can carry one tooth; four to six can carry an entire jaw of fixed teeth.
Because the root is back, the bone around it stays stimulated and stops shrinking — which is why implants, unlike dentures, preserve the face as well as the smile.
Figures are typical ranges for conventional implants in healthy bone; your plan is engineered to your anatomy.
Enamel, dentin, pulp — and the root canal at the center. A cinematic tour of the tooth, and the honest line between saving one and replacing one.
When years without teeth have dissolved the upper jaw, conventional implants have nothing to hold. The zygomatic implant bypasses the missing bone entirely — a long implant anchored in the zygoma, the dense cheekbone that never resorbs.
For patients told "you don't have enough bone for implants," this is very often the honest answer: fixed teeth, without years of grafting.
The back of the upper jaw is where bone disappears first — and where sinus grafts usually become necessary. The pterygoid implant takes a different path: angled behind the sinus into the pterygoid process of the sphenoid bone, dense anchorage that is simply out of the sinus's way.
The result: fixed molars without a sinus lift, shorter treatment time, and support exactly where chewing forces are highest.
When conventional placement isn't possible, anatomy offers alternatives. Knowing all of them is what turns "you have no options" into a plan.
| Implant Type | Bone Engaged | Typical Length | Main Use | Surgical Difficulty |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Zygomatic | Zygomatic bone (cheekbone) | 30–60 mm | Severe maxillary atrophy | ★★★★★ |
| Pterygoid | Pterygoid process of the sphenoid bone | 15–25 mm | Posterior maxilla without sinus graft | ★★★★★ |
| Transnasal | Lateral wall / floor of nasal cavity | 20–30 mm | Severe anterior maxillary deficiency | ★★★★★ |
| Transsinus | Through maxillary sinus to anterior wall | Variable | Moderate posterior maxillary resorption | ★★★★★ |
| Tuberosity | Maxillary tuberosity | Variable | Distal maxillary support | ★★★★★ |
| Transalveolar (Tilted) | Angled within alveolar bone | Standard | Avoiding sinus / nerve without grafting | ★★★★★ |
Difficulty ratings reflect relative surgical complexity. Advanced techniques are recommended only when a CBCT scan shows conventional placement is not the better answer.