Here at Sheen Dental we regularly place dental implants in Richmond patients and whilst it’s true that we like to talk about all the advantages and benefits of these dental devices, we wouldn’t be doing our job as dentists if we didn’t also touch on the disadvantages. So let’s take a look:
Dental implants involve surgery
It’s very unlikely that you will need to undergo a general anaesthetic and to be fair most dental implant procedures are carried out in your dentist’s chair. However, the fact of the matter is that patients will be given a local anaesthetic and undergo a surgical procedure. This alone could be enough to scare many people off and since there are other tooth replacement treatments which require no surgery whatsoever, they may choose an alternative.
Costs may be too high for some people
It’s fair to say that dental implants don’t come cheap and can be in excess of £1500 per tooth. If you need multiple implants then you don’t need to be a wizard at maths to fathom out this is a a heck of a lot of money. However before dismissing implants as being way out of your budget, there are different ways to make them more affordable. If you do your research carefully you may find a dentist located out of town who is just as good but has lower overheads so can afford to charge less. Have a look at patient testimonials of some of the cheaper dentists to see what their patients had to say. You could also arrange to take out a loan, or consider some of the payment options that most dentists already have which spreads the costs over several months or years, making them more affordable. Finally, there’s always dental surgery abroad, although this can be risky so again it pays to do your research.
Your treatment may involve a bone graft
If you’ve been missing teeth for some while or are a long term denture wearer looking to switch to dental implants, you may be told that you don’t have enough bone to support a dental implant. In this case the dentist may suggest a bone graft. This is a common procedure and nowhere near as scary as it sounds. However it does incur extra costs and will lengthen the timeline of your dental implant treatment.
5% chance that implant won’t bond with your bone
There is a small chance that the titanium implant placed in your gum will fail to bond with the surrounding bone, meaning that there is no way your dentist will be able to proceed with the next step of attaching a crown, bridge or denture to your implant/s. In this circumstance he may have to remove it, let the site heal and try again. If it still doesn’t work there may be no alternative but for you to have a bridge or denture.
If you’re still interested in a dental implant in Richmond then we’d be delighted to help. Call us on 020 8876 5277 to book a free no-obligation consultation whereby you can meet Dr Harmit Kalsi, have your questions answered, and take a tour of our premises. We can also discuss all of your tooth replacement options to help you make the right decision. Feel free to visit our website at www.sheendental.co.uk for more information.