KARACHI, Sept 24: Dental implant is the way forward for replacing missing teeth and fabricating maxillofacial prosthesis. Implants are very effective, aesthetically very pleasing and functionally very stable. There is some failure rate, but it is a misconception that it does not work.

This was stated by Dr Kumar Swamy, a Maxillofacial Surgeon from Mumbai while delivering a lecture at a symposium on dental implants organized by the Dow University of Health Sciences (DUHS) in collaboration with the Pakistan Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons here at its Arag Auditorium on Saturday.

Dr Swamy is a leading implantologist in India and is a diplomat of the International Society of Implantologist.

He said implant was the new crop of teeth, which was root substitute.

Dr Swamy was of the view that for undergoing dental implant, strong bone foundation was important.

Patients should always be given options to have type of practice for implants and be informed of possible risks as well. We need to be aware of the implant revolution and have access to it, he added.

Now companies are giving lifetime warranty on their products and patients can have second implant if failed earlier with no cost, he told.

Dr Swamy said that in clinical setup, there was a need of exclusive surgical area with all paraphemalia, instant X-ray developing facility and excellent education material on implants (literature, interactive CDs and models). Any patient fit for extraction is also fit for dental implant, he added.

For having implants, he advised smokers to stop smoking before and after two to three weeks of implant and this would also apply for tobacco chewers.

Success or survival of a dental implant is sure in the absence of persistent subjective complaints such as pain, recurrent pre-implant infections, mobility, continuous radiolucenay around the implant and absence of fracture, he stressed.

Dr Swamy was of the view that we had all the expertise but were lagging behind due to material support. Due to cost effective treatment, patients are coming from USA, UK for treatment in India, he added.

Earlier, in his remarks, DUHS Vice-Chancellor Prof Masood Hameed Khan stressed on collaboration between both the neighbouring countries and suggested that the Pakistan Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons and the Pakistan Dental Association to organize such events regularly, for which he offered his full support.

He told that the varsity was also establishing Dr Ishratul Ebad Khan Institute of Oral Health Sciences, which was in its final stages.

“This institute will be established at the Sindh Medical College campus at 100,000 sq-feet covered area,” he added.

Prof Hameed said that there must be cooperation on local, regional and international levels to be aware of modern developments in the field of medicine. DUHS is also organizing a workshop on temporal bone in November in collaboration with experts from Nepal, he maintained.

Dow Medical College Principal Prof Salahuddin Afsar, MS Civil Hospital Karachi Dr Kaleem Butt, Prof Marven Hussain and Dr Saleem Ilyas also spoke.—PPI