Dental Implants – Home Or Away?

Have you considered travelling abroad to have a dental implant? If so, please read on….

Most of you will have come across advertisements, often online, for dental implants to be placed overseas. In most cases, the cost associated with these is significantly lower than in the UK, so it is understandable that people might be tempted. We do understand this but feel that it is important that people also understand the risks and the things that could go (badly) wrong. While some people might be fortunate and find a good dentist, sadly, there are far too many who haven’t and often have to live with the consequences, sometimes for the rest of their lives.

It is possible that some people who go think it is ‘just another dental treatment’ but they are probably not aware that dentists in the UK have to undergo several extra years of training before being able to place a dental implant for a patient. This procedure carried out by someone less qualified or more inexperienced could have disastrous results.

If you are considering having teeth implants placed abroad, we recommend that you read the rest of this blog and also contact Bradley and Partners Dental & Implant Clinic before making a final decision.

What can go wrong?

There are so many things that could backfire if you opt for cheap implants. There are very good reasons why they cost less than in the UK and the following are just some of them.

Regulations

The UK dental industry is highly governed and there are plenty of checks in place to ensure that patients receive a good quality of care. All dentists must be registered with the GDC and this is ongoing, with proper training required. This type of situation may not be required at some places overseas and you could be putting yourself in the hands of someone who is not fully qualified to place implants.

Materials

Again, there are certain materials that are allowed to be used in the placing of dental implants and these have to be of a high quality. This may not be the case abroad and poorer quality materials may fail altogether. This is especially the case with the implant itself. Not all materials will bond successfully with the bone that they are placed into. If these, usually cheaper, materials are used, your new implant might fail quite rapidly.

Aftercare

When you have teeth implants placed at our Canterbury clinic, their progress will be monitored on a regular basis until the osseointegration period has passed. This is important and helps to ensure a healthy implant. This is usually not possible if you have this done abroad. Do you really want to have to go to the expense of flights and accommodation if things don’t go as you expect them to? Also, would you really want to go back to that same dentist who may not have been suitable qualified in the first place? If you have a problem and ask your own dentist to try to rectify it, the treatment is unlikely to be under warranty and you will most likely have to pay the full cost of any aftercare work carried out in the UK. If you have the treatment done here, we are always on hand for a ‘phone call if you are at all concerned about anything following your treatment.

Language barriers

In some situations, hand gestures and smiles can cross language barriers sufficiently for whatever is needed. Do remember though that having implants placed is a medical procedure and a lengthy and complex one too. It is important that you can communicate effectively with your dentist. Imagine how you would feel if, during the procedure, you were in real pain and tried to signal this to the dentist who just smiled back at you! When our Canterbury implant dentists carry out this treatment, we will discuss methods of communication before the procedure starts so that you can let us know of any problems during the procedure itself.

These are just some of the problems you might encounter if you choose to have your dental implant placed cheaply abroad. You might be lucky of course, but do you really want to gamble the health of your teeth and potentially ruin your smile for the years to come?

If you would like to discuss having implants placed with us, we recommend getting in touch to arrange an initial consultation. This is an ideal opportunity to ask questions or have any concerns you may have addressed. You can do this by calling Bradley and Partners Dental & Implant Clinic today on 01227 463529. We look forward to meeting you and giving you the opportunity of having this popular tooth replacement method both safely and successfully.