The Guidelines for Patient Examination Before Dental Implant: Literature Review

Loss of teeth produces profound morbidity regarding the esthetic and functional demand of the patient. The decision for the type of treatment to replace missing teeth is made by multiple replacement therapies such as removable and fixed appliances. Nowadays, Dental implants represent the best solution for such cases, however, the possibility or not of the treatment and the decision for appropriate treatment plan depends on different factors; some of which are related to the patients such as general health, presence of systemic diseases, medications that interfere with the treatment and may affect short and long term success of the dental implant, in addition to the condition of the oral cavity such as: gingival tissue, oral hygiene, type of occlusion, caries index, in addition to the condition of the planned implant site that include: available bone height and width, bone density, etc. all these factors should be assessed carefully by the oral surgeon utilizing intra and extra-oral clinical examination and radio graphical examinations by two or three-dimensional methods to reach the correct treatment plan for each case separately according to the acquired information after completing these tests. And to decide the type of treatment, number, length, and width of the implant and whether other modifications are needed such as a sinus lifting procedure, ridge splitting, or adding a bone graft.