Osseointegration and Dental Implants
Chapter One
Implant Dentistry:
A Technology Assessment
HOW MANY IMPLANT SYSTEMS
DO WE HAVE AND ARE THEY
DOCUMENTED?
Asbjorn Jokstad
Introduction
We have today close to 600 different implant
systems produced by at least 146 different
manufacturers located in all corners of the
globe. Last year alone, at least 27 new dental
implant companies surfaced in the market
(Table 1.1).
Is anybody troubled? At least some representatives
of the profession have expressed
their concern about the seemingly unstoppable
avalanche of new implants. Alarm was
raised in the United States in 1988 about the
heterogeneity of implant designs and the
effectiveness of the then 45 different implant
systems (English 1988). One of the world's
foremost experts in the field, Dr. Patrick
Henry, in 1995 challenged the profession and
the industry and asked whether implant hardware
changes should be regarded as science
or just commodity development. He may
perhaps have succeeded in slowin ... read full excerpt from Osseointegration and Dental Implants ebook
