Editorial

Since Brånemark's work on osseointegration and its clinical application in 1980, implantology has developed considerably and has made a sensational entry into the professional world. It has significantly transformed the practice of periodontists, especially those concerned with the preservation of the dentition, and it has allowed us to reconsider prosthetic treatment plans.

Biocompatibility, emergence profile, the condition of the implant surface, the recipient site, surgical technique and the loading of the implant have been analysed and are regarded as essential parameters for treatment success. These parameters allow us to evaluate the long term success and to identify problems such as maintenance and the first signs of breakdown, so that corrective action can be taken.

Many implant systems have been placed on the market and comparative results have been subject to assessment by practitioners.

Every practitioner, by virtue of his competency, results obtained, the ease of use and expertise gained by long term experience, makes his own choice on the type of implant to use and the reasons for the success that he achieves.

We therefore requested three teams to explain the reasons for their choice of type of implant not only in connection with the surgical stage of treatment, but also the prosthetic stage.

We have selected the three implant systems most used by the profession:

- the Brånemark system (Nobel Biocare);

- the 3i system;

- the ITI system (Straumann);

and have asked Urs Belser and Jean-Pierre Bernard (Geneva) to deal with the ITI implant, Frédéric Chiche, Mithridate Davarpanah and Henry Martinez (Paris) to deal with the 3i implant and Patrick Palacci (Marseille) and Philippe Rajzbaum (Paris) to deal with the Brånemark implant.

At the outset, we chose « Prosthetic realities in implantology » as the theme for this special issue but it seemed to us to be more reasonable and more precise to opt for « Implant and prosthesis: the reasons for choice ».

Our proposal has been restricted to three types of implant, there are others as valuable but it is a matter of choice.

This has not been an easy issue to produce and, on behalf of the readers of JPIO , we thank all the contributors who have given the fruits of their experience and of their choice.

With this special issue, subscribers to JPIO will receive, free of charge, an out-of-series issue on the subject of the Internet.

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