Generally, dental implants can successfully treat edentulousness (ee-DENT-you-less-ness) or toothlessness, restoring both functional chewing ability and aesthetic appearance. The particular treatment chosen for each case may vary by the type of implant chosen as well as by the method of insertion, according to the specific oral health conditions involved. For example, when one or more teeth are missing from the mouth and sufficient alveolar (al-vee-OH-lar) or jaw bone exists, the condition may be treated with rootform endosseous (en-DOSS-ee-us) or bone-inserted implants. This treatment relies on a two-part implant: the post or anchor that is surgically placed into the bone for integration, and the top or prosthesis (pross-THEE-sis) that is surgically built onto the post and capped with an artificial tooth. If bone grafting is feasible, these rootform implants may even be used to treat toothlessness accompanied by atrophied (AH-troh-feed) jaw bone. If the remaining jawbone is extremely thin and bone grafting is not an option, or if space is too limited for placement of rootform implants, the condition may be treated with an endosseous blade implant instead of the post-shaped variety. Or, when either jaw is completely toothless without enough bone height to accommodate either of these two options, the condition may be treated with subperiosteal (SUB-pare-ee-AW-stee-uhl) implants placed below the gum tissue but on top of the bony jaw ridge. However, in some cases, the completely toothless lower jaw atrophies to the point where even a subperiosteal implant cannot be stabilized. Such situations may be treated with a ramusframe (RAM-us-fraym) endosseous implant surgically inserted into the jaw bone in three key places: both sides of the back jaw, and at the chin area.
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