THE USE OF BIOMATERIALS IN DENTAL IMPLANTOLOGY

Recent progress in dental implantology lay on the notion of Osseo-Integration (OI); that is to say a direct anatomic junction between the reshaped living bone and the implant. Many metals have been experimented. The best biocompatibility was obtained with pure or mixed titan. Various elements are conditioning the OI : the surface condition of the implant, the coating through hydroxylapatite, the morphology, the length, the diameter. Among surgical factors damaging the OI, the main responsability comes from thermic raising during the drilling of tissu bone cavity. The procedure consists of 2 stages : Ist stage : drilling the cavity and setting the implant under the gum; 2nd stage : after 6 months, uncovering the implant. In implantology, biomaterials have other uses : filling materials of natural or artificially created tissu bone cavities. Main biomaterials used are autogenic bone, substitutes of heterologous tissu bones, coral, hydroxylapatite or tricalcic phosphatic ceramics. Rebuilding of osseous ridges can be well improved by using barriers.