Despite the fact that our dental implant fees are not as expensive as many other dental clinics I understand that it is still an expensive treatment in the UK. I am occasionally asked by some of my patients as to why different dental clinics offer dental implants with different prices. Even sometimes they say that someone they know has had dental implant treatment in another country for much cheaper price and they wonder why it is more expensive in the UK.
Regardless of the significant differences in currencies, wages and expenses and many other factors between different countries, to simply answer this question I must say that dental implants are available in hundreds of brands within different qualities and prices offered by their manufacturers. Also it needs a few stages to complete the treatment and it is highly recommended that after completion you get it checked regularly at least annually by your treating dentist. So it does not seem to be a good idea to have it done in a different country as sometimes you need to have some more treatments on it and if the system they used is not available in the UK, it will be a great challenge for you to deal with it as every system has its own kit and it may cost even more to keep travelling away, if need arrives. Plus, It is very important to rely on reviews and comments from only those genuine patients whose implants have been placed at least more than 10 years ago when it comes to travelling abroad for having dental implants because I personally have seen many failure cases after just 2-3 years and those poor patients had to spend even more money to rectify the problem.
Like many other things in the world market, we need to remember that whatever we pay for is whatever we get. It may sound harsh but it is the truth. The type of dental implants which are offered cheaper by some clinics even in the UK actually generate more profit for those clinicians who are ok to place them inside their patients' mouth despite the fact that they know that these brands do not have enough or sometimes any long term evidence and research behind them and have been seen to have more risk of early failure or fracture which can result in lots of highly regrettable complications for their patients. Unfortunately most patients do not know that there are different brands and they think implant is implant.
In fact, Dental implants are meant to be long term solution for replacement of your missing tooth and it is worth to spend a few more hundreds pound to save yourself from much more costs and regrets and dental visits in the future. Most of times there is a good reason for something being more expensive. The longest evidence based record for dental implants is approximately around average of 25 years which belongs to Swiss Strauman company, as far as I know. This company has put lots of funding into research and advancement of dental implant technology and science which has made it comparably much more successful and reliable for long term result. At Wimpole Street Smiles we are proud to provide this brand as our first choice implant system to our patients as the choice of dental implant system is one of the important factors in a successful result.
Another very important factor in determining the success rate of implants is the knowledge and surgical skill of the surgeon. If an implant is placed with the least trauma to the hard and soft tissue in the site of missing tooth and with the least disturbance to blood flow in the surrounding tissues in the shortest time possible, it inevitably increases the chance of initial stability and integration of the implant fixture with the bone and decreases the chance of inflammation and pain after the surgery. Unnecessary delay and heat during the placement of implant fixture inside the bone can cause necrosis (death) of tissue cells and affect the implant long term success rate. Our Implantologost specialist surgeon is Mr Amini who is an experienced oral and Maxillofacial Surgery consultant in London hospitals and Some private clinics and has placed thousands of implants for many patients and has lectured about different aspects of Oral surgery and dental implants for years. I personally think he is one amazing artist when I watch him place the implants inside the jaw bone. He has treated many of my patients and without exaggeration out of all my patients I had none to complain about any pain after his surgery. Sometimes they thought he had not done the implant surgery at all!
Furthermore, the knowledge and skill of the Restorative Dentist and the dental technician in fabrication of the crown and type of the crowns are equally important as these have direct impact on controlling the plaque (bacterial load) around the implant fixture under the gum, as well as the amount of favourable and unfavourable loading forces over the implant fixture. Visiting your dentist and your dental hygienist on regular basis and wearing a nightguard at night, if you suffer from bruxism, are two other important factors that are commonly overlooked.
Last but not the least and perhaps the most important factor in maintenance of the dental implants is how patients look after their implants by having a good oral hygiene regimen and a healthy life style and diet as your vitamin D and calcium level can be important. Do not forget that Smoking is one of the main risk factors for success of dental implants and your gum health. Also stress can highly contribute to failure of implants and gum disease. Therefore to reduce your stress we take the dental implant fees in instalments when we proceed your dental implant treatment. To book your implant free consultation feel free to book it online.
In another post I will try to briefly explain different stages of placing a dental implant hopefully with some videos.
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