In three or four months in an additional surgical procedure, the oral surgeon will open the surgical site and place a crown on top of the implant to complete the procedure. In the non-submerged approach, developed in Switzerland and called the Swiss approach, the implant extends above the gum line, eliminating the need for a second surgery. Both techniques require three or four months for the patient to completely heal before the crown can be attached to the implant. They also have discovered that the implant s surface is a contributing factor in the time it takes the implant site to heal. By using acid to sandblast the surface of the implant material, we have developed a rougher surface.
Bone cells seem to like the result.
When the rougher surfaced implant is used, the body heals in six weeks as opposed to three months with the smoother implant, cutting recovery time in half. We also have developed a tighter bond between the bone and implant surfaces. Oral implants must integrate with the bone, the connective tissue and the gums. Later, no significant differences were found on either hard or soft tissue between the two approaches, and it was decided that both the submerged and non-submerged techniques could be clinically successful. We now acquire our BMP from Genetics Institute, which manufactures the protein in a combination of forms.