What do dental implants cost and why ?
Please never make the mistake of thinking that dental implants are as easy as putting a screw in a wall. The human body is a living thing and responds to the ‘screw’ in complex ways.
It’s all to do with the bone.
To place a dental implant there needs to be adequate bone i.e. there’s good quality and quality of bone in the correct place. Whatever happens we need that bone when we do an implant. The implant needs to bone to be strong and stable.
A failed implant is a costly mistake
It will cost money more to fix
It will take more time
It will often cause more pain
It may affect you health.
A cheap implant, or one which is incorrectly placed will destroy the bone often meaning that the implant fails and the bone is destroyed. Then the cost, time and complexity for removing the bad implant, rebuilding the bone and placing a better implant is many times more than the cost of the implant in the first place. Find out more about dental implant cost below.
Getting cheap or poorly planned dental implants wrong
Let me give you some examples of cheap dental implants and mistakes and compromises.
- – Health – If the dentist skips out the medical history assessment, he may miss out what medication you are on. For example, if you are on blood thinners and there is too much bleeding during the surgery this could be life threatening. Another example is uncontrolled diabetes which increases the chances of the implant failing.
- – Social History – If the dentist skips out the social history, he may miss out that you smoke. Smoking significantly increases the chances of an implant failing. We ask our patients not to smoke for 2 weeks before and 2 weeks after the surgery at the very least to allow the implant to work.
- – Not respecting physics – Cantilevers are death to implants. Where the height of the crown is more and the implant is less (this is often done when there is less bone height available in the first place), the forces on the implants can be under too much force, the bone around the implant dissolves away and the implant will become loose.
- – Not using the right kind of implant – Too small implants exert too much forces on the bone which dissolves it away and makes the implant loose.
The most common implant mistake is the the dentist does not place the implant in the right place
- – The implant damages the tooth next door. Now you have double trouble, and more than double cost of the dental implant.
- – The implant gets lost in the sinus (an air space connected to your nose). Now you’ll need to referred to a specialist to get it removed.
- – Implants get placed too close together (they should be at least 3mm away from each other). Now it is impossible to keep clean and gum disease will start, and the bone will gradually dissolve away.
- – The Implant touches a nerve – This can cause irreversible pain or ‘tingling’ and may need a referral to specialist for further treatment.
- – The implant damages an artery – This can result in uncontrollable bleeding and need a stay at the hospital.
- – The implant is placed too deep – The distance between the crown and the implant should be 2-3 mm. If it’s placed too deep it will not look good as the gum will be less in that area and additional surgery at additional cost will be needed to fix.
The cost of dental implants when you get it right first time.
It may not be the cheapest way at when you look at the headline prices, but we say…. “if you are going to do something, do it properly”, and we believe that it will save you more in the long term.
- We use checklists to make sure that we are not missing anything
- We use risk analysis to balance the benefits and risks of different techniques
- We do crown down treatment planning which means that implants are properly placed to support the crown
- We have a CT scanner on site so that we can plan for and predict problems even before we start
- We have the knowledge and skills to plan the implants on the software
- Where required, we use surgical guides that locate the planned locations in the mouth in the same position as planned on the computer so that we get the implants in the ideal location.
- We use the best implant systems (we have a selection that we choose from for each individual case), with the highest grade of Titanium for better healing and success rate.
This may take more time and money initially, but we think that it’s worth it. Get it right, first time.
Find out more
Exactly what you need is subject to assessment first, so book in for our initial assessment to find out more. Alternatively you can find independent advice with regards to the cost of dental implants.
Flexibility
Because there are so many options when it comes to replacing teeth, especially where there are multiple teeth missing we can adapt our treatment plan to meet your needs. Let us give you an example. To replace a full top jaw there are all of the options below, which all different costs and different advantages and disadvantages. For examples, implant supported dentures are easier to clean, so may last longer if you are prone to gum disease.
Alternatively we can offer finance, subject to acceptance with our banking partner.
Please remember the main factor affecting which implants you can have and the costs involved is the quality, quantity and location of the bone left to place the implants. That’s why we advise you come in for a consultation first so this can be assessed and a personalised quote for you to be made.