Dental Implantology

I. Department Overview

The Dental Implant Center of the Affiliated Hospital of Qingdao University is the largest comprehensive dental implant outpatient clinic in the peninsula region and is also the site of the Oral Implantology Professional Committee of the Qingdao Stomatological Association. The Department of Dental Implantology of our hospital is a standing member institution of the Implantology Professional Committee of the Chinese Stomatological Association, an institution serving as deputy chair of the Implantology Professional Committee of the Shandong Stomatological Association, and the institution serving as chair of the Implantology Professional Committee of the Qingdao Stomatological Association. The implant clinic has introduced internationally leading dental implant systems, established standardized implant operating rooms, and pioneered the implementation of numerous new dental implant technologies and programs. Its dental implant physicians have traveled to Germany, the United States, South Korea, Hong Kong, and other countries and regions to receive systematic and rigorous professional training. They specialize in implant-supported restorative techniques for different implant systems, bone augmentation techniques for insufficient alveolar bone, maxillary sinus elevation techniques, implant reconstruction after jaw defects using iliac and fibular grafts, immediate implant placement and immediate restoration, and other procedures. In the nearly 20 years since the implant clinic was established, it has successfully provided implant-supported restorative treatment to several thousand patients. These patients have come from the United States, Canada, Australia, Singapore, Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and other countries and regions. The clinic has achieved highly satisfactory clinical outcomes and earned widespread acclaim from patients. Our hospital’s Implant Center has ranked among China’s leading dental implant clinics.

II. Talent Team

After years of investment in talent development, the discipline has grown stronger in team building and has developed into a comprehensive, high-level medical, teaching, and research team covering a full range of specialties, headed by a leader and supported by a large group of highly qualified young and mid-career technical personnel serving as its backbone. The staffing of physicians and nurses meets the needs of current work and development. The discipline currently has 9 full-time physicians, including 2 with senior professional titles, 3 with doctoral degrees, 3 with master’s degrees, and 1 with a bachelor’s degree. The team shows a clear trend toward a younger age composition and can meet the needs of the department’s sustainable development. There are 2 supervisors of master’s students. The academic talent structure is well balanced, the academic leaders are in their prime and full of energy, and all 3 key specialties have the authority to confer master’s degrees. They are also all represented on national specialty study groups and serve as lead institutions for the corresponding specialty study groups in Shandong Province, with overall strength at an advanced national level. There are 4 full-time nursing staff members and 2 technicians. The age, professional-title, and educational-background structure of the nursing and technical teams is relatively sound, and the number and quality of personnel meet the requirements for the department’s medical work.

III. Clinical Specialty Features

Under the leadership of Professor Zhao Baodong and driven by the academic core members of the five major professional directions, including implant surgery, implant prosthodontics, implant periodontics, and implant dental technology, the members of the department use the advanced international level in the corresponding fields as a benchmark and focus on improving clinical technical standards. They make full use of the hospital’s advantages in personnel, equipment, and technology, optimize medical processes, and use advantageous professional directions to promote the sound development of other directions. Breakthroughs have been achieved in several key research areas, including immediate implant placement, internal and external maxillary sinus elevation, implant placement in cases of insufficient bone volume, all-ceramic restoration, implant treatment for periodontal disease, and treatment involving reconstruction of occlusal function after maxillofacial tumor surgery. The ability to manage difficult and severe cases has been greatly strengthened. The department has established and improved a medical quality management system and departmental rules and regulations, strictly implements all regulations and technical procedures, and clearly specifies the corresponding technologies that physicians at each level in the department must master. Particular attention is paid to the training and practical development of young and mid-career physicians in the department’s core technologies. The assessment system has also been improved to ensure that they master the relevant clinical competencies, and the quality of the department’s medical services is reviewed regularly. At the same time, medical quality management is strengthened, quality control for individual diseases is reinforced, the generation of research achievements is emphasized, and the department’s influence and recognition internationally and domestically are increased.

(1) Oral Implant Surgery Specialty

Routine dental implant placement, immediate dental implant placement, implant placement in cases of insufficient bone volume, implantation in edentulous jaws, implant treatment for periodontal disease, occlusal reconstruction after tumor surgery, and other highly complex surgical procedures and functional reconstructions. Among these, immediate implant placement, internal and external maxillary sinus elevation, the GBR technique, implant-supported overdenture restoration for edentulous jaws, in-house fabricated zirconia all-ceramic abutments, and all-ceramic esthetic implant restoration of anterior teeth are at the leading international level; comprehensive treatment of oral tumors, restorative reconstruction of maxillofacial bone and soft-tissue defects, and dental implantation and denture restoration are at an advanced domestic level. Among these, “reconstruction of mandibular defects with a composite fibular tissue flap” was first performed in China and received the Third Prize from the Ministry of Health. Mandibular distraction osteogenesis and immediate dental implant placement are new technologies introduced over the past two years. They have been a boon to the preservation of function in patients with oral cancer, the esthetic and functional correction of micrognathia, and the immediate implant restoration of lost teeth, and are at the leading level in Shandong Province.

(2) Oral Implant Periodontics Specialty

The specialized department dedicated to implant treatment for patients with periodontal disease and to the diagnosis and treatment of periodontal disease after implantation is one of the larger periodontal specialty departments in the province. It has advanced concepts of systematic periodontal therapy and comprehensive treatment, and possesses internationally first-class basic periodontal treatment modalities.

(3) Oral Implant Prosthodontics and Dental Laboratory Specialty

The Department of Prosthodontics now provides implant-supported overdenture restoration for edentulous jaws, implant precision-attachment restoration, all-ceramic implant prosthesis restoration, maxillofacial prostheses, speech-correction appliances after cleft-palate surgery, and various implant-supported porcelain-fused-to-metal crowns and bridges.

(4) Immediate Implant Placement and Immediate Restoration Technology

Immediate implantation refers to the immediate placement of an artificial implant after tooth extraction. Regarding the timing of implant placement after tooth extraction, the current consensus classification divides it into four categories. Immediate implantation is the first category, defined as placing the implant immediately after tooth extraction. The second and third categories can be classified as early implantation after tooth extraction. The fourth category is also called delayed implantation. With the development of implant technology and the continuous improvement of implant design and surface treatment, numerous studies over the past ten-plus years have shown that, with strict selection of indications, the outcomes of immediate implantation are similar to those of implant placement in a healed alveolar ridge. At present, immediate implantation and immediate restoration have been successfully applied clinically, providing a better option for restoring missing teeth. Their advantages include: immediate restoration without waiting for the extraction wound to heal, early recovery of masticatory function, fewer surgical procedures, and a greatly shortened treatment period; immediate placement of bone-grafting material or an artificial tooth root after extraction can effectively prevent alveolar ridge resorption and avoid disuse atrophy caused by tooth extraction, minimizing bone loss; by following the direction of the original tooth root, the implant can be placed more easily in an ideal position, the crown can coordinate readily with the adjacent teeth, and a natural contour and prominent gingival papillae can be formed, increasing esthetics while providing maximum soft-tissue support and preserving the height and width of the alveolar bone.

(5) Maxillary Sinus Elevation Using the Disc-Drill Technique

Maxillary sinus elevation procedures are divided into external and internal maxillary sinus elevation. Compared with external maxillary sinus elevation, internal maxillary sinus elevation can simplify the surgical steps, reduce surgical trauma and postoperative complications, save bone-grafting material, and lower the risks of infection and treatment costs. The main instrument used in the internal maxillary sinus elevation procedure with the disc-drill technique is a self-developed disc drill. The disc drill elevates the maxillary sinus floor by cutting the bony plate of the sinus floor to form a disc-shaped bone block and by using the pressure of the implanted bone-grafting powder. It requires neither a lateral-wall window nor mallet tapping, thereby reducing surgical trauma and postoperative complications and significantly relieving patient discomfort. Simultaneous implant placement during internal maxillary sinus elevation using the disc-drill technique is a safe, minimally invasive, simple-to-perform technique that causes little patient discomfort. It can be effectively used for implant-supported restorative treatment of missing maxillary posterior teeth and insufficient RBH, with satisfactory short- and long-term clinical outcomes.

(6) All-on-four Technology

Professor Zhao Baodong, director of the Department of Dental Implantology, led the team in combining 3D medical imaging, computer-aided design, and 3D printing technology and completed Qingdao’s first “All-on-4” implant surgery for an edentulous patient. This achieved precise, personalized, minimally invasive, and cost-effective treatment for implant patients, reaching a leading domestic level. “All-on-4” implant surgery is a new restorative approach that uses only four implants to restore masticatory function in edentulous patients. Two of the implants are placed vertically in the anterior region, while the other two are placed in the posterior region at an angle of no more than 45°. The tilted implants can avoid important anatomical structures, such as the mental foramen or maxillary sinus, make full use of the remaining bone volume, increase the contact area between the implants and bone tissue, and greatly improve surgical safety. Even when the bone volume is extremely limited, they can achieve optimal bone support and allow the use of a definitive prosthesis of up to 12 units, fully restoring the patient’s masticatory function. The application of the “All-on-4” technique brings benefits to edentulous patients with severe bone defects who cannot be treated with conventional restorative methods and do not accept autogenous bone grafting.

(7) Computer-Navigation-Assisted Implant Design and Manufacturing

Surgical guides designed and manufactured with computer-aided design and manufacturing, together with computer-assisted flapless implant navigation, can accurately place implants in the positions planned before surgery. Guides made manually on computer-generated dentoalveolar models can likewise be used for implant restoration in patients with alveolar bone atrophy. This technology offers clear technical advantages and broad application prospects in treating patients with alveolar bone atrophy and insufficient available bone width. Professor Zhao Baodong of the Dental Implant Center led the team in combining 3D medical imaging, computer-aided design, and 3D printing technology to complete Shandong Province’s first “computer-assisted navigated complex edentulous-jaw implant surgery,” achieving precise, personalized, and minimally invasive treatment for implant patients.

IV. Teaching and Scientific Research Achievements

The department has increased its investment in teaching, improved the level of teaching in multiple ways, and expanded and refined a standardized and scientific training system for undergraduate clinical medicine students and master’s students, laying a foundation for cultivating qualified professionals. It has further strengthened awareness of quality and innovation, focused on improving the standard and level of teaching, and paid attention to teaching and research. It has explored in depth the appropriate application of bilingual and digital teaching. The department undertakes undergraduate teaching at the Medical College of Qingdao University, including the oral science component of the 7-year clinical medicine class, the 5-year stomatology class, and the undergraduate medical imaging class; teaching for Southeast Asian international students; and graduate teaching in clinical oral medicine and basic oral science, including clinical theoretical lectures, clerkships, and internships. In graduate education, there are 2 supervisors of master’s students. The key training requirements for academic master’s students and professional master’s students have been quantified and refined. Graduate-student and supervisor work meetings are held regularly, and clinical specialty lectures are provided on schedule for graduate students and trainees undertaking further training, strengthening the implementation of bilingual teaching.

The department undertakes national-level continuing education course programs, has organized and hosted international and domestic dental implant conferences many times, and has repeatedly been invited to attend international and domestic academic conferences, conduct academic exchanges, and deliver conference presentations, receiving high praise from peers at home and abroad. Nearly 40 papers have been published in domestic and international core journals, and many have been indexed by SCI. The department has received four Shandong Provincial Science and Technology Progress Awards, four Qingdao Science and Technology Progress Awards, and two Qingdao University Science and Technology Progress Awards; obtained 5 projects funded by provincial and municipal science and technology commissions; and applied for one patent.

V. Equipment and Facilities

The Kodak 9000 3D system perfectly integrates panoramic imaging, cephalometric imaging, and 3D imaging technology. It can perform state-of-the-art panoramic, cephalometric, and 3D imaging, provide optimal image quality, and serve as an ideal, comprehensive diagnostic tool. Its advantages include: the Kodak 9000 3D system has a high-frequency generator, a curved surface with adjustable focal length, a “one-shot” cephalometric measurement function, and high-resolution 3D imaging; it provides high-resolution images that can display the details of individual teeth with exceptional clarity; it uses low-dose radiation exposure, with the average dose required for a single 3D examination equivalent to one to three days of exposure to natural daylight, a dose 10–30 times lower than the exposure dose of other similar 3D systems; it is easy to use and enables rapid, accurate patient positioning, with a dynamic 3D examination completed and all required information displayed within 2 minutes; its clinical applications are extremely broad, including diseases of the teeth and dental pulp, dental implants, surgery, orthodontics, assessment of fractures and periapical disease, and assessment of the temporomandibular joint. The Kodak 9000 3D system is powerful and comprehensive, and its operation is accurate, safe, and simple. The implant motor system can meet almost all the dental implant needs of different patient groups. The turbine handpiece and minimally invasive extraction elevator can achieve minimally invasive and painless tooth extraction.