Hydroxylapatite-coated dental implants. Biologic rationale and surgical technique.

Implant prosthodontics now offers our patients more benefits than conventional prosthetics. Considerations of bone biology, occlusal principles, occlusal materials, implant design, implant biomaterials, patient health profile, patient bone density and quality, site classification, manufacture quality and ethics, and operator efficiency all go into the prognosis and affect our final product. Emerging biomaterials help the clinician, in certain areas, to achieve a more predictable result. The time-tested principle--such as unloaded healing, atraumatic gentle surgical placement, and machined components--are carried along into the new systems that are being developed for clinical use. The use of the HA-coated cylinder has proved to be of extreme value in these past 5 years. It is another step closer to the ideal implant system.