The use of metallic implants in the study of facial growth in children: Method and application

Abstract

On the basis of experience gained over a number of years, an account is given of the technique for insertion of the implants, the radiographic method, and the graphic procedure for preparation of growth tracings. Small pins of hard tantalum are hammered into the bone under local analgesia with a pencil‐shaped instrument, in the tip of which the implant is placed. No surgical exposure is necessary. Because of remodeling resorption of the bone and eruption of the teeth, the implants can be placed only in certain places in the maxilla and mandible. In implant studies it is necessary to observe a high level of reproducibility in positioning the head in the cephalostat. An X‐ray cephalostat with a built‐in image intensifier has been designed which enables the position to be monitored by televison. In the graphic procedure, drawings of the arches from dental casts are incorporated in tracings of profile radiographs; the paths of eruption of the teeth and development or the arches can then be examined with the metallic implants as references.