Nicola Mobilio

By Mobilio Nicola, Mollica Francesco and Catapano Santo

Titanium is the gold standard material to produce dental implants from more than 30 years, showing high success rate in different clinical scenarios. Zirconia implants were recently introduced to overwhelm some aesthetic and biological problems that can arise from titanium. Preclinical studies show that, from a mechanical point of view, zirconia may be a suitable substitute for titanium in implant fabrication. Three-dimensional finite element analysis (FEA) models found no difference between titanium and titanium-zirconium alloy implants, neither for early nor conventional functional loading. Nevertheless, zirconia presents the same osseoconductive properties of the titanium, even if the few clinical studies show survival and success rates slightly inferior for zirconia implants comparing to titanium ones, and long-term follow-ups are missing. For these reasons, the majority of authors agree to be cautious for proposing zirconia implants as widespread substitute of titanium implants.

Part of the book: Dental Implantology and Biomaterial

By Nicola Mobilio and Santo Catapano

Many conditions can alter the occlusal interface, from tooth wear to tooth loss. The masticatory system is constituted by many components that can influence each other like muscles, joints, teeth and nervous system. This implies that (a) every change at occlusal level makes the other components to adapt and (b) an occlusal alteration may be the effect of an alteration occurred on muscles or joints. Keeping this in mind, traditional principles of occlusal rehabilitation are analysed, and the choice of the restorative materials is discussed.

Part of the book: Dental Anatomy