Are You Tempted By Cheap Dental Implants?
Special offers, often abroad, may be tempting, but is taking them up a wise move?
Dental implants are now becoming an increasingly popular alternative to dentures when a patient loses a tooth, or a number of teeth. There are many reasons for this including longevity and stability of the system.
At Bradley and Partners Dental and Implant Clinic, we are pleased to offer both individual implants as well as multiple implants to replace a full arch of missing teeth.
Because of the materials used in the procedure and the skills required to place implants, they are more expensive than dentures and despite the fact that we offer a number of treatment payment plans at our Canterbury practice, some patients may still be tempted by the special offers for cheap implants which are widely seen online.
The cost of dental implants
Whilst there may be small differences in the cost of dental implants amongst UK dentists, especially where time limited special offers are in place, prices are, by and large, fairly similar across the whole of the UK. The online offers that you see are almost always at dental clinics in other countries. This doesn’t necessarily mean that taking up these offers will result in failure of your implant; indeed there are many excellent dentists all over Europe and beyond, some of whom may have also been trained in the UK. There are significant risks though, and we take a look at some of these below.
Know your dentist
One of the reasons that many people don’t take up this type of offer is that they want to know the dentist who will be performing the procedure. Trust can be very important when you are allowing someone to perform an invasive treatment in your mouth. Our dentists are highly skilled and trained, and our friendly team can make what is a longer treatment seem much easier for patients. This may well not be the case if the procedure is carried out by a complete stranger.
There is also the issue of skill levels and training. Different countries may have different regulations and standards of oral health training and it can be difficult to ascertain just how skilled and experienced the dentists are if you elect to be treated abroad. Many of you may already have seen the horror stories on TV where ‘dental holidays’ have gone badly wrong?
Communication
This procedure often requires a certain level of communication between dentist and patient. Where the language barrier is an issue, this can cause additional stress to the patent undergoing the treatment. With aftercare being an important factor in the ongoing health of dental implants, it is also important that you fully understand how to look after them. Where language is an issue, your new implant may not receive the aftercare that it needs and deserves.
Follow up care
Once a dental implant has been placed, the next three months especially are very important whilst the implant bonds with the bone in the jaw. If you have this treatment at our Canterbury dental clinic, you will be recalled to see us from time to time so that we can monitor their health and make any changes to the aftercare that is necessary. Unless you are planning to make numerous trips abroad to have this done, which would greatly increase their cost, having them placed abroad is not really a very practical option.
In the event that you do take a chance and have your implant placed via one of these offers abroad, if you have any problems afterwards, not only do you have the extra cost and inconvenience of returning to the dentist to have it examined, but, where the problem is caused by either an inexperienced dentist or even where cheap versions of dental implants have been used, ask yourself if you would feel entirely comfortable with the same people trying to reverse the problem?
Our advice to patients of Bradley and Partners Dental and Implant Clinic is not to take a risk with your oral health. Where an implant procedure goes wrong, perhaps through inaccurate placement, it can cause quite high levels of discomfort. You may have a perfectly good procedure abroad, but there are also many unknowns which increases the risk of failure.
At our practice, we have an experienced team who will take good care of you, from the initial implant consultation, right through to the aftercare and ongoing monitoring of your newly placed implant. We may not be as cheap as these offers, but you can be assured that you will be receiving first class treatment. In order to help you pay for the treatment, we offer a number of payment plans to help you to spread the cost and reduce any strain on your finances.
If you would like to find out more about having implants placed here, please arrange to see an implant dentist by calling us on 01227 463529. Our dedicated implant team are on hand to take your call.