Reference sheet · plain-English parts catalogue
Types of dental implants, from the drawing
Every dental implant is the same three-part assembly — post, abutment, crown — but the post's placement, size and material come in genuinely different types. This sheet is the parts catalogue: what each type is, where it is used, and what the evidence says, with sources named.
Sheet index
The two placement types
The American Academy of Periodontology sorts implants by where the hardware sits. Endosteal implants — “in the bone” — are by far the most common: “screws, cylinders or blades surgically placed into the jawbone”, each carrying one or more replacement teeth. Subperiosteal implants — “on the bone” — sit on top of the jaw with a metal framework whose posts come through the gum; they belong to cases where bone height is too poor for in-bone placement and conventional grafting is off the table. If your quote does not say which you are getting, it is an endosteal screw almost every time — but ask.
The three parts every implant shares
Whatever the type, the assembly is constant, and it is worth naming because each part is a separate line on a quote. The post is the surgical part, placed in or on the bone. The abutment is the connector that passes through the gum. The crown — or bridge, for several teeth — is the visible restoration on top. The cost sheet prices these lines from published guides; this page stays with the hardware.
Materials: titanium and zirconium oxide
The FDA's consumer guidance on implant systems names two materials: “most systems use titanium or zirconium oxide”, with any implant system required to demonstrate safety and effectiveness matching what is already on the market before it is cleared. Titanium is the long-standing default; zirconia (zirconium oxide) systems are the metal-free alternative often raised by patients with cosmetic concerns about grey showing through thin gums or with metal sensitivities. Which suits your case is a clinical judgement — material choice interacts with bone, bite and restoration design in ways no website can weigh for you.
Standard-diameter vs mini implants
Size is a real type distinction with a real evidence base. A 2024 systematic review in Oral Health & Preventive Dentistry defines mini dental implants as roughly 1.8 to just under 3.0 millimetres in diameter, against standard implants at 3 millimetres and up. In the studies it pooled — mostly implants stabilising lower dentures — survival ran 89% to 98% for minis versus 99% to 100% for standard diameters, and it concluded minis are “a viable alternative” where retention of a lower overdenture is the goal. The narrower hardware places with less surgery and less bone, which is exactly why it is marketed hard; the trade-offs are on the mini implants sheet.
One tooth, several teeth, and where this file stops
A single gap gets a single post and crown. Several neighbouring gaps are often bridged — two posts carrying a span — which is why quotes for the same mouth can differ by whole implants; the cost sheet's published figures cover both. Replacing a full upper or lower arch on a handful of posts is its own discipline with its own vocabulary (“full-mouth”, “all-on-4”) and its own price scale; it is out of scope for this file, and a site that quoted single-tooth figures at you for full-arch work would be doing you a disservice.
The procedures around the implant
Some “types” in marketing copy are really preparatory procedures. The American Academy of Periodontology lists sinus augmentation — raising the sinus floor to make room for bone in the upper back jaw — and ridge modification, rebuilding a jaw ridge too thin to hold a post. Both are covered, with healing timelines from Cleveland Clinic's patient guidance, on the bone grafts and sinus lifts sheet. When an ad promises implants “without bone grafting”, it is usually describing one of three things: a jaw that never needed grafting, narrower hardware, or an angled-placement technique — and only an examination says which applies to you.
Who is a candidate for any of them
Every source we verified draws the same boundary. The ADA says candidacy is about “good general health” more than age, warning that chronic illness like diabetes or leukemia can interfere with healing and that tobacco slows it. The FDA adds that smoking “reduces long-term success” and uncontrolled diabetes raises infection risk. Cleveland Clinic's list of reasons an implant may not fit includes active gum disease, severe jawbone loss, unmanaged diabetes and smoking or vaping. None of this is a checklist you can score yourself against — it is the agenda for the examination where a licensed dentist decides with you.