Comparing Metal and Non-Metal Dental Implants

Dental Implants
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Dr. Azadeh Khajavi has practiced as a dentist and oral implantologist in San Diego since 1994. A holistic dentist, Dr. Azadeh Khajavi has received a number of honors and awards, including an award for Excellence in Full Mouth Reconstruction. Dr. Amy Khajavi is especially skilled in areas of non-metal dental implants, including zirconia implants.

Dental implants may be composed of various materials, though metal and ceramic rank among the most commonly used. While both materials provide certain benefits, non-metal implants enjoy a number of important advantages.

Zirconia ceramic implants, for instance, are extremely durable and hypoallergenic. Unlike metal-based implants, zirconia implants are also noncorrosive. By eliminating the risk of corrosion, zirconia implants significantly reduce a patient’s chances for developing soft tissue irritation and related oral health issues. Corrosion can also necessitate a complete implant reconstruction.

Zirconia implants are not inserted as deeply into the jawbone as metal implants and generally entail a shorter healing period. Healing processes are further promoted due to the bio-compatible composition of zirconia ceramics, rendering the procedure tolerable for even the most sensitive mouths. To determine whether or not zirconia implants are a good fit for you, discuss implant technology and materials with your dentist.

The American Academy of Implant Dentistry 2018 Annual Conference

 

AAID Annual Conference
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A graduate of Oregon Health & Science University with a doctor of dental medicine, Dr. Azadeh (Amy) Khajavi is experienced in full mouth reconstruction and metal-free implants. Dr. Azadeh Khajavi remains active in her professional community and maintains membership in the American Academy of Implant Dentistry, which will hold its 67th Annual Conference from September 26 through 29, 2018.

The AAID Annual Conference will take place at the Hyatt Regency Dallas and will bring together dentists from around the world for an event full of interactive educational opportunities. In addition to poster sessions and table clinics, the event will feature hands-on sessions with pig jaws and cadavers and an exhibition hall with more than 130 exhibitors demonstrating new dental technology and equipment.

Dentists can earn up to 20 continuing education credits at this year’s conference, and they can even bring their office staff to engage in staff training that will improve patient care and office productivity. Attendees can expect to hear from a number of leaders in the industry, including keynote speaker Dr. Sanjay Gupta of CNN and Dr. Adam Hamilton of the Harvard School of Dental Medicine. Finally, the annual conference offers numerous social events for dental professionals to network and share best practices they can take back to their patients.

The Aesthetic and Structural Benefits of Zirconia Implants

 

Zirconia Dental Implants
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Based in San Diego, Dr. Azadeh “Amy” Khajavi maintains a holistic dental office and offers implants created from non-metal materials. With titanium linked to cancer, Dr. Azadeh Khajavi promotes strong and durable zirconia as a biocompatible implant alternative that promotes osseointegration, or bonding with the bone.

In addition to its standing up well to heavy-duty use, zirconia is hypoallergenic, which contrasts with metal implants. Titanium implant sensitivity can manifest long after surgery, with inflammation and itchiness arising around the site of the implant. This can lead to implant failure and bone loss.

At the same time, zirconia’s flexural strength enables it to accommodate the demands of everyday mastication, or chewing. The implants are tooled precisely using computer-aided design, which enables a precise fit.

Another aspect of zirconia that makes it preferable is its tooth-like color, with no graying or color variation issues. Unlike titanium, there are no metal margins showing, and without the metal substructure, it has an overall more natural appearance. Using next-generation coloring technologies, the colors can be adjusted minutely to reflect the overall look of the natural teeth.

Zirconia is also a recommended material for any type of full crown restoration, including inlays and crown-bridge combinations.

Benefits of Metal-Free Dental Implants

Dental Implants
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A dentist and oral implantologist in Mexico, Azadeh “Amy” Khajavi offers metal-free dental implants and full mouth reconstruction. Dr. Azadeh Khajavi shares her knowledge of and experience with metal-free implants through the Zirconia Implants Institute, where she serves as an instructor.

Titanium may be well-known as a source material for dental implants, but zirconia offers a number of advantages. First, because zirconia belongs to the ceramic family, it is an inert material and thus fully biocompatible. Where some patients may experience an allergic reaction to titanium, this is not a risk with zirconia.

Zirconia also removes many of the issues associated with the use of metal in the mouth. Where titanium can react with metals and metal alloys used in prior dental work, causing an electric reaction in the mouth, zirconia has no effect on the body’s electric field. Zirconia is also immune to corrosion, has no metallic taste, and offers a better color match to the patient’s natural teeth.

Fortunately, patients do not have to sacrifice strength when they choose zirconia. The material itself is stronger than titanium, and the biocompatible nature of zirconia invites soft tissue to grow around the implant itself. This reduces a patient’s risk of bleeding gums and helps to secure the implant within the gum tissue.

Zirconia Dental Implants

Zirconia Dental Implants
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A holistic and neuromuscular dentist, Dr. Azadeh “Amy” Khajavi offers full mouth reconstruction using dental implants through her practice Excellence Dental in Rosarito, Baja California. Azadeh Khajavi’s practice is the only office in Mexico that offers patients metal-free, zirconia dental implants.

Many dental implants are anchored to the jawbone using titanium materials. However, those materials present not only aesthetic challenges but also immunologic problems in some patients. As an alternative to titanium implants, oral health practitioners have developed new implant materials that provide strength similar to titanium but without the downsides.

Zirconia, one such material, has advantages over titanium in that its color is suitably tooth-like, it has low plaque affinity, and it is biocompatible. An innovative white ceramic, zirconia is Food and Drug Administration accepted for use in dental clinics.

Unlike titanium, zirconia does not degrade over time as a result of corrosion. Moreover, zirconia implants are designed in one piece, meaning they do not include sub-gingival connections that can harbor harmful bacteria.

In addition to dental implants, dentists use zirconia to form crowns and bridges.

Ceramic dental implants are the best!

Compared to titanium implants, Ceramic dental implants are the best. The gums love Zirconia. It is just amazing how well they do in the mouth.

Bone Augmentation Using Autologous Material

Bone Augmentation
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As a privately practicing holistic dentist, Dr. Azadeh “Amy” Khajavi focuses primarily on implant procedures. Dr. Azadeh Khajavi uses patients’ own growth factor proteins to perform bone grafting, which can help a patient’s jaw to support an implant more effectively.

To hold a post and the artificial tooth that it stabilizes, a patient’s jaw needs to have sufficient structural integrity. Many patients come to the implant procedure with bone that is insufficiently high or wide, and while such patients may still be eligible for implants, they require additional bone volume before the dentist can introduce a post. The process by which bone volume is increased is known as bone augmentation.

In many cases, the dentist is able to retrieve a bone graft from the patient’s own body. This bone typically comes from the chin or the back of the jaw, though some patients may need additional bone from the hip or shin. Once introduced to the area where the dentist will ultimately place the implant, the autologous bone graft fuses to the jaw over the course of a few months.

Holistic Approach to Amalgam Removal and the Associated Benefits

Dr. Azadeh (Amy) Khajavi leverages extensive experience in the dental field to deliver cosmetic and implant dentistry services through her practice in San Diego. In her practice, Dr. Azadeh Khajavi also focuses on holistic dentistry and removal of amalgam (silver mercury) fillings.

According to an article published in the Journal of Environmental and Public Health, an integrative treatment approach is necessary to ensure the safe and effective removal of amalgam, which can result in a number of benefits for patients. The article explains that a holistic approach to amalgam removal should combine cutting-edge dental practices, a detoxification and diet plan lasting several months, and regular testing to examine progress. According to the article, patients should continue working with a physician to further flush stored mercury from their body after the amalgam removal procedure.

The article’s author states that patients have reported a number of health improvements after amalgam removal and detoxification, including more energy, better concentration, and the elimination of metallic tastes in the mouth. In a Norwegian study conducted in 2011, researchers also found that amalgam removal significantly decreased general health and intraoral complaints among the participants in the study’s treatment group.

Best-selling Textbook Explores Processes in Oral Impantology

With more than 20 years of experience as a dentist, Azadeh (Amy) Khajavi, DMD, focuses primarily on cosmetic and implant dentistry at her practice in San Diego. Azadeh Khajavi, DMD, also maintains membership with the California Implant Institute. The organization’s academic chairman Louie Al-Faraje, DDS, is an expert in oral implantology and a well-known author in the implant dentistry field.

Dr. Al-Faraje’s most successful book was published in 2011 under the title Surgical Complications in Oral Implantology. The textbook serves as a multifunctional self-instruction guide to help implant surgeons prevent, diagnose, and respond to surgery-related issues in implant dentistry.

On one level, the textbook provides important resources for implant surgeons who need concise and useful information on how to react to implant complications in high-pressure situations. The book delivers practitioners a detailed treatment-planning procedure to facilitate early detection and prevention of possible surgical complications.

A best-selling textbook published in seven languages, Surgical Complications in Oral Implantology also acts as an implant surgery primer with information on each stage of the implant process, including consultation, treatment planning, and the restorative phase.

Dental Implants as a Way of Preventing Bone Loss

Based in San Diego, California, Azadeh “Amy” Khajavi, DMD, has more than two decades of experience as a dentist and is familiar with TMJ and neuromuscular issues. Dr. Azadeh Khajavi focuses her practice on cosmetic issues and offers patients state-of-the-art implant dentistry. She emphasizes the importance of implants as a means of preserving oral health, cautioning “if the tooth goes, the bone will follow.”

In order to maintain optimal density and form, bone requires stimulation. The alveolar bone in the jaw receives that stimulation from the teeth. Hence, losing a tooth also causes bone loss, with a 25 percent bone width decrease being typical within 12 months. In addition, bone height decreases over the next several years after tooth loss.

Dental implants not only replace teeth in an aesthetically pleasing way, they also provide an anchor to the bone. Implants help preserve the long-term viability of the jawbone and prevent more aggressive treatments, such as surgical regeneration of bone tissue, from becoming necessary.