Dental Implants...Cheap???

brook2jack

zagfles wrote: »

You just can't trust these forriners.

Good advice.

My friend had 2 visits for his implant, and is now just seen by his regular UK dentist. Some other places wanted 4 or 5 visits and charged twice as much. 3 years down the track no problems.

In general many implantologists see greater failure rates on immediate load implants than multi stage implants. Particularly on older patients and those with poorer quality of bone. I'm assuming one visit to x Ray , ct scan , treatment plan, discuss options and one visit to fit. Very unusual.

Usual stages
Visit one x Rays, ct scan , treatment plan and discussion.

Visit two remove tooth if necessary . If infected leave to heal , if not place implant with healing cap.

Visit three some months later , remove healing cap, place superstructure and take impressions for crown (may need some gum contouring )

Visit four fit crown and adjust

Visit five post op x Rays and review visit to check all is well and patient happy. Check hygiene around crown and signs of perimplantitis.

All of this is for a straight forward single implant , no grafts and nothing else going wrong eg infections. The average success rate for implants is 95% , in other words one in twenty fail in the short term.

duchy

brook2jack wrote: »

The average success rate for implants is 95% , in other words one in twenty fail in the short term.

Ermmm
The maths seems a bit off here
Surely that's a 5% failure rate ? (or 5 out of every hundred)

brook2jack

And 5 out of 100, is the same as 1 in 20

That is one out every every twenty implants placed will fail, not one in every twenty patients will have an implant fail. A significant statistic when you consider most dental tourists who have implant treatment have multiple implants placed.

zagfles

brook2jack wrote: »

In general many implantologists see greater failure rates on immediate load implants than multi stage implants. Particularly on older patients and those with poorer quality of bone. I'm assuming one visit to x Ray , ct scan , treatment plan, discuss options and one visit to fit. Very unusual.

Usual stages
Visit one x Rays, ct scan , treatment plan and discussion.

Visit two remove tooth if necessary . If infected leave to heal , if not place implant with healing cap.

Visit three some months later , remove healing cap, place superstructure and take impressions for crown (may need some gum contouring )

Visit four fit crown and adjust

Visit five post op x Rays and review visit to check all is well and patient happy. Check hygiene around crown and signs of perimplantitis.

All of this is for a straight forward single implant , no grafts and nothing else going wrong eg infections. The average success rate for implants is 95% , in other words one in twenty fail in the short term.

Thanks. What is the short term? Any stats on success rates abroad vs UK? I guess a major factor in failure is oral hygiene, for instance those who need implants due to poor oral hygiene maybe will be more likely have problems unless they improve. In the case of my friend it wasn't poor oral hygine, it was a trauma many years ago. He needed a bone graft but still only 3 visits (I said 2 before but didn't count the initial consultation). There was no infection etc.

brook2jack

Statistics will depend on the individual implantologist. The difficulty is what qualifies as a failure, in most statistics it is complete loss of the implant. However many implants can be loose , infected for quite some time before they fall out or are removed and these are not counted as failures.

The other problem is when people have implant failures from work placed abroad, for a variety of reasons , the remedial work is mostly carried out in the home country. Because dental tourism is seen as a one off treatment, these patients are not followed up in the same way that a patient being treated in their home country would be. So failure rates may not be all they seem.

Oral hygiene, smoking , brushing (teeth grinding) , general health conditions (eg diabetes) all contribute to failure rates. The difficulty with dental tourism is often the thing that caused the patient to lose the teeth in the first place is not addressed so they are doomed to lose the implants as well.

Implantologists who screen out smokers, grinders, people with medical problems have better success rates but some implants fail anyway for a variety of reasons including the implant design and in some cases no one knows why. Quality and quantity of bone is also important so eg your friend with a bone graft would have had a higher chance of failure.

mumps

How do you know if a high quality, reputable, implant is being used in UK? I have used the same dentist for 20 years but he has recently retired and a chain has taken over the surgery. They seem a bit.... slick? Lots of selling of cosmetic procedures etc. I might need an implant, have all my teeth in my 60s and hate the thought of gaps or dentures. Not sure I trust the new people.

brook2jack

If you have all your teeth in your 60s it is very unlikely you are ever going to need much doing unless your general health or diet deteriorates.

The key to everything in dentistry is trust, not just in implants but in the relationship in general.

If you do not trust your dentist then it is time to ask friends,family , workmates for recommendations and move on .

A dentist, patient relationship where there is no trust will not be satisfactory for the patient or dentist.

Part of the informed consent for implants should be a discussion on the implant system used, the dentists experience and personal success rate. If you are not happy with the answers then find someone else.

mumps

Thanks for that. I guess I need to give the new people a chance, it is hard to suddenly replace a 20 year relationship. I am a bit stuck for recommendations as all my family use the same surgery, although some see a different dentist. I live in a smallish town so not alot of choice.

L.S.D.

boiler_man wrote: »

There is an implant deal that has just been posted on the Quick Grabbit forum. Might be worth a gander

Have you a link, we can't find it?

L.S.D.

As a matter of interest my problem is a gum boil. An x-ray shows a small abscess. It seems root canal treatment was done before & is unlikely to work a second time. I know about 11 years ago I had an operation in hospital that could have been related but I seem to remember it being to the next tooth but could be wrong.
I was given these options. Have my tooth out & have a tooth on a 'denture' or plate. Having a bridge, around £1000-00. Seeing a specialist at around £600-00 with no guarantee of anything being done or a refer to hospital but they probably would not be interested. Whilst looking on the net at these options I came across Implants & the rest you know about. Any advice. In the meantime I have a gumboil that is not getting better. I try to look after my teeth & never miss a dentist appointment & have most of my own teeth with a couple of caps.

Just to repeat had it been a back tooth I would have had it out, but it is one of the main front teeth & I don't fancy a denture for one tooth.