ABOC relaunched
New Life Teeth champions relaunch of the Associated Brånemark Osseointegration Centers
In a significant advancement for the global dental community, UK and Ireland-based company New Life Teeth has played a pivotal role in the relaunch of the Associated Brånemark Osseointegration Centers (ABOC).
Founded in 1989 in Gothenburg, Sweden, by the pioneering Professor Per-Ingvar Brånemark, the ABOC network remains dedicated to advancing the principles of osseointegration – a revolutionary discovery that has transformed both dental and orthopaedic medicine.
Under the leadership of Dr Robert Gottlander, a long-time collaborator of Professor Brånemark, the ABOC has revitalised its mission with a modern digital presence, including a new website and active social media engagement.
no-one should die with their teeth in a glass of water
Dr Gottlander highlighted the renewed focus on research, training and patient care, stating: “Professor Per-Ingvar Brånemark was an extraordinary researcher and clinician who placed patient care at the heart of his work. He firmly believed that no one should go through life without teeth, famously stating that ‘no-one should die with their teeth in a glass of water.’ Dental implants are truly life-changing, and ABOC members are at the forefront of research and innovation in implantology.”
Founded in 2012, New Life Teeth rapidly established itself as a leader in full-mouth dental implant rehabilitation in the UK and Ireland. With four clinics located in Manchester, Belfast, Edinburgh and Dublin – and further expansion planned – New Life Teeth is the longest-established ABOC member in the region. The company is committed to upholding Professor Brånemark’s principles, ensuring that implant treatment is safe, simple and widely accessible.
Dr Gottlander acknowledged its contribution, stating: “New Life Teeth plays an integral role in the global relaunch of the Associated Brånemark Osseointegration Centers – a prestigious network of clinics dedicated to maintaining the pioneering treatment protocols established by Professor Per-Ingvar Brånemark.”
To honour Professor Brånemark’s enduring legacy and commitment to patient care, New Life Teeth has announced the Brånemark Memorial Patient programme. Through this programme, it will provide one deserving patient each year with a completely free full mouth dental implant treatment. This life-changing gift represents its dedication to Professor Brånemark’s belief that everyone deserves the dignity of functional, beautiful teeth.
Recipients of this initiative will receive their world-renowned Zirconia Teeth Forever Bridge – the same high-quality treatment provided to all its patients – complete with its comprehensive care approach
and long-term support. By giving this gift annually, it aims to honour the professor’s humanitarian vision while making a profound difference in the lives of those who would otherwise be unable to access this transformative treatment.
Dr Stuart Lutton, Founder of New Life Teeth and a recognised expert in full-mouth dental implants, expressed the company’s dedication to the ABOC: “We are proud and privileged to be part of the Associated Brånemark Osseointegration Centers. Our mission is to continue promoting Professor Brånemark’s vision by making high-quality implant treatment safe, simple and available to as many patients as possible.”
The relaunch of the ABOC, supported by New Life Teeth, marks a renewed commitment to advancing the field of implantology. By fostering collaborative research, professional training programmes and patient-focused care, the network ensures that Professor Brånemark’s transformative legacy continues to shape the future of implant dentistry.
For more information on the Associated Brånemark Osseointegration Centers and New Life Teeth’s role
in this global initiative, visit www.branemark.se and www.newlifeteeth.co.uk
Professor Per-Ingvar Brånemark
Per-Ingvar Brånemark was a Swedish orthopedic surgeon and research professor whose accidental discovery made him the father of the modern dental implant.
Implants have been a major advance in dentistry, liberating millions of elderly people from painful, ill-fitting dentures, a diet of soft foods and the ignominy of a sneeze that sends false teeth flying out of the mouth. But addressing those problems was not Dr Brånemark’s initial intent.
At the start of his career, he was studying how blood flow affects bone healing. In 1952, he and his team put optical devices encased in titanium into the lower legs of rabbits in order to study the healing process. When the research period ended and they went to remove the devices, they discovered to their surprise that the titanium had fused into the bone and could not be removed.
Brånemark called the process ‘osseointegration’ and his research took a whole new direction as he realised that if the body could tolerate the long-term presence of titanium, the metal could be used to create an anchor for artificial teeth. But first there was a long period of safety testing. Rabbits were not his only test subjects. To make sure that titanium would not be rejected by the body, Brånemark enlisted 20 students working in his lab to have titanium instruments inserted into their upper arms.
But even after years of experimentation it was difficult to convince the medical and dental establishment that titanium could be integrated into living issue. The conventional wisdom was that the introduction of any foreign material into the body would inevitably lead to inflammation and, ultimately, rejection. Moreover, previous efforts to install dental implants, relying on mechanical devices to keep them in place, had failed miserably and left many patients in great pain.
For years, Dr. Brånemark’s applications for grants to study implants anchored in bone tissue were rejected. The US National Institutes of Health finally financed the project, and in the 1970s, Sweden’s National Board of Health and Welfare approved the Branemark implants. Brånemark’s first titanium dental implant patient, in the mid-1960s, was Gosta Larsson, a man with a cleft palate, jaw deformities and no teeth in his lower jaw. The operation giving him four titanium implants allowed Mr Larsson to use dentures until his death four decades later.
Titanium implants have spread beyond dentistry, with osseointegration now used in medical and veterinary applications. Brånemark was awarded the Swedish Engineering Academy’s medal for technical innovation, the Swedish Society of Medicine’s Soderberg Prize and the European Inventor Award for Lifetime Achievement, along with many other honours and honorary degrees.