Ceramic implant - Leading Implant Centers

For those who want a metal-free restoration or are intolerant to titanium implants, ceramic implants are an excellent alternative. This material is also prized for its bright, tooth-like color, thanks to the dark shimmering metal edges in the anterior region.

A ceramic implant is an artificial tooth root that is used as the basis for a fixed denture in an existing tooth gap. While previous ceramic implants were no longer used due to adverse material properties, modern variants have very high compression and flexural strength. According to previous findings, ceramic implants are biologically fully compatible. However, they still have to prove their longevity.

Overview of this article

Requirements for ceramic implants

In principle, ceramic implants are suitable for every patient. However, it is important that the jaw growth is completed. For girls, this is the case from about the age of 16, for boys about the age of 18 years.

A basic requirement for the use of ceramic implants is a sufficient width and height of the jawbone. If this is not available, a bone build-up must take place before the insertion of the dental implants. In order for the implant to heal well, very good oral hygiene is also required. Furthermore, there must be no untreated periodontitis.

Diseases such as osteoporosis or diabetes do not fundamentally oppose the treatment with implants. However, the patient should not suffer from major general health restrictions such as blood disorders and coagulation disorders.

Material of ceramic implants

Ceramic implants are made of zirconia. There are two different production processes: the zirconia produced by the sintering process, which is also used for crowns and bridges, but is less stable, and the yttrium-stabilized zirconia, which has a very high resistance to breakage.

Although zirconia is less a ceramic material but more a metallurgical material, implants made from this material are considered to be metal-free. Therefore, they offer the best conditions for chronically ill patients, such as rheumatics and allergy sufferers, in which dentists had to do without an implant treatment because of the increased rejection risk.

Construction of ceramic implants

Ceramic implants can be both one-piece and two-piece. One-piece variants must be protected against premature loading during the healing period by splinting. Immediate loading is not possible. Since an individual shape can only be achieved by grinding the structure, there is a risk of cracks and premature signs of aging of the zirconia.

In the case of ceramic implants, development is now moving in the direction of the two-part implants, which solve the problem of limited use. In addition to screwed connections, adhesions between the implant and the abutment are used. So far, these are also considered very safe, but there are still no statistics on how they prove in the long-term.

Advantages of ceramic implants

Ceramic implants offer 100% biocompatibility. Incompatibilities and allergies are not to be feared. In addition, the zirconium implants impress with:

optimal tissue compatibility
better gingival attachment
improved aesthetics
lower plaque accumulation and thus a lower risk of gingivitis
no gap between implant and abutment, thus also a low risk of inflammation

Disadvantages of ceramic implants

The healing in the bone takes much longer than with titanium implants. During this time, the implant must not be loaded. In addition, there are the following disadvantages:

with one-piece implants no later axis correction is possible
with glued two-piece implants no change of the body part is possible
possible damage due to required grinding of one-piece implants
no long-term experience, aging processes are still difficult to estimate
long-term stability of two-piece ceramic implants not yet sufficiently documented
higher cost

Ceramic implant vs. titanium implant

Titanium is a proven material that has been used in implantology for many years. Although the ceramic implant offers advantages for high-risk patients, overall the safety, healing time, and flexibility is not quite close to that of the titanium implant. Unless there are no health reasons, most specialists in oral surgery continue to rely on the titanium version.

Cost of Ceramic Implants

Ceramic implants now offer a similar range of applications to titanium implants, but are much more expensive. This is partly due to the material itself, but also to the difficult conditions during the treatment. The processing of zirconia is much more difficult than with titanium. A driving cost factor is in particular the surface optimization responsible for the stability of the ceramic. Because of the lack of standardized manufacturing processes, production is less and slower, which means that the price for the implant and abutments alone is higher than titanium implants.

Ceramic implants also place special demands on the dentist because of the sensitive material. To ensure the highest precision, special diagnostic procedures such as DVT X-ray (digital volume tomography) are often used, which incur additional costs and increase the overall price. Compared with titanium implants, there is also an increased risk of loss, which is also included in the treatment, for example via the increase factor, and thus represents a cost factor as well.

Since one-piece ceramic implants must not be loaded during the healing period, the patient must wear special protective rails, which cause further costs.

Price example for the supply of ceramic implants:

Single-tooth implant in the anterior region: 2,600 to 3,600 euros
Single-tooth implant in the posterior region: 2,200 to 3,500 euros
Implant bridge on two ceramic implants: 4,400 to 6,500 euros
Removable dentures on four ceramic implants: 6,500 to 8,500 euros
Fixed dentures on eight ceramic implants: approx. 23,000 euros per jaw

Does the health insurance cover the costs?

Dental implants are private services. The statutory health insurance companies only pay a fixed subsidy, the amount of which depends on the standard care. Those who complete their bonus book for five years without a break benefit from a twenty percent higher fixed subsidy. For patients who have been on a regular basis for ten years, the subsidy is thirty percent higher.

If a conventional prosthetic restoration without dental implants is not possible, the health insurers recognize exceptional indications. This is the case with, for example

severe jaw and facial defects as a result of accidents or tumors,
genetic disposition of the teeth or
muscular dysfunctions of the mouth and face.

Private dental insurance may help to offset the high cost of ceramic implants. Since the contracts are sometimes significantly different, however, interested parties should compare the offers made by insurers exactly. The following points are especially important:

Is there a waiting period after the contract begins and when does it end?
How far is the performance limited in the first years?
Is the benefit of the supplementary insurance coupled with the advance payment of the statutory health insurance?
What is the excess?

Our specialists are happy to take the time to answer further questions about ceramic implants.

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