Emphasis on titanium versus zirconia as a dental implant material – a critical review

Purpose: Dental implants also known as oral or endosseous implants have been used to substitute missing teeth for more than a decade. The success is largely influenced by the ability of the implant material to assimilate with the surrounding tissue. Titanium (Ti) was the most commonly used biocompatibility material with mechanical and physical properties, such as resistance to corrosion, high strength and low weight. Study selection: The literature search for articles written in the English language in PubMed, MEDLINE, Embase and Google Scholar database from 1990 till date was retrieved by using MeSHterms “zirconia”, “implant material”“zirconia implants”, “titanium implants” “Zirconia Vs titanium”. The present evaluation is to provide a broad literature review on the conventional titanium implants as well as increasingly prevalent zirconia dental implants. Observations: It was observed that the major disadvantage of Ti causing hypersensitivity reactions and predominantly poor esthetics. With improvement in technology, ceramic materials are attempted as implant substrate especially “Zircon” type of dental implants can offer better aesthetic results as color of the implant components is completely of “tooth colored”. Conclusion: It is not arbitrary to conclude that the implant material should be selected carefully and a restorative driven approach should be implemented to avoid an unwanted result.