[6] In 1978, the first Dental Implant Consensus Conference was held, sponsored jointly by the National Institutes of Health and Harvard University.

Brånemark's investigations into the phenomenon of osseointegration, or the biological fusion of bone to a foreign material, reinvigorated the field of implantology.

The Toronto conference brought widespread recognition to the Brånemark implant methods and materials and is one of the most significant scientific breakthroughs in dentistry since the late 1970s.

[10] It was previously thought that both of these implant types relied on mechanical retention, as it was heretofore unknown that metal could be fused into the bone.

[9] Brånemark's son, Rickard, has taken this success and is developing orthopedic prostheses in the form of artificial arms and legs anchored to the human skeleton.

Larsson, a Swede who was edentulous (toothless) at the time and had been born with severe chin and jaw deformities, agreed to the test because he wanted to have teeth again.