Are you looking to get a dental implant? If so, you need to choose the right implant dentist. After all, this is an important procedure and requires the utmost skill and experience.
The question is: how do you go about choosing an implant dentist? There are 7 factors to consider we recommend that you consider,
1. Educational Experience
First and foremost, you should ensure that your chosen dentist has the educational qualifications to make a good implant dentist. This, of course, requires a degree from a dental school. However, it also requires specific training in the placement of dental implants.
This information can be found on a dentist’s website, usually under the ‘About Us‘, ‘Meet the Team‘ or ‘Services‘ sections. If you can’t find it on the dentist’s website, you should call the dentist and ask about their qualifications over the phone.
If you call your prospective dentist, ask them about the types of dental implants they use. Many types of dental implants are produced by different companies worldwide. Truly experienced implant dentists will be familiar with various implant providers, understand their relative strengths and weaknesses, and typically have 1 or 2 providers they prefer to use.
2. Work Experience
You can also inquire about their educational experience and work experience. In other words, you should ask your prospective dentist how long they’ve been inserting dental implants. Generally speaking, the longer they’ve been doing this, the better.
Experience is essential as it ensures that the dentist will have encountered a range of different situations. In addition, every implant job is a little different, so the more the dentist has worked on dental implants, the more likely they’ll be able to handle your implant properly.
At a minimum, your chosen dentist should have two years of experience inserting dental implants and have undertaken dedicated training with one of the more prominent dental implant providers. This, coupled with real-world experience involving placing implants, the more at ease you can be.
3. Experience With Related Procedures
Not all dental implant procedures are as straightforward as placing a metal implant covered by a synthetic cap. Some require other procedures as a means of facilitating the implant.
For instance, you might require a portion of your gums removed before the implant can be inserted. Or, you might have to have your gums or jaw bone grafted.
When choosing an implant dentist, you must ensure they can perform these related procedures or work with a specialist dentist who can provide these services. If they’re not, you could find that the process could be much more complicated than initially believed.
It is also very common to have a general or cosmetic dentist perform the ‘restoration’ or fitting of the new crown (tooth) to an implant placed by a dental implant specialist. This way, you can have the best of both worlds, receiving an implant from a specialist familiar with all aspects of implant dentistry and getting a natural-looking, aesthetically pleasing new tooth.
4. Reputation
One of the biggest things to consider when choosing an implant dentist is the dentist’s reputation. Dentists who have a positive reputation will likely do good work. On the other hand, if their reputation is spotty, they’re probably best avoided.
Wondering how to determine a dentist’s reputation? The easiest way is to read online reviews from past patients. These can be found on Google.
Go to Google and type in the name of your prospective dentist. This should return a list of different review sites, most of which will be labelled with yellow stars; the rating is out of 5 stars, the maximum rating possible. Next, click on the link, read the available reviews, and use them to inform your decision-making.
5. Location
You should also consider the location of your implant dentist. You’ll have several appointments with this dentist, so you want them to be relatively close by. Proximity can also be beneficial if an emergency occurs.
We advise choosing a dentist within, at maximum, an hour of your home. That said, the closer your dentist is, the better off you’ll be.
Keep in mind that you could experience some discomfort after your procedure. Therefore, you might want to keep driving distance to a minimum.
6. Before & After Pictures of Their Work
Dental implants are physical entities, and therefore, they can be photographed. This is something you should take advantage of when choosing an implant dentist. Namely, it would help if you asked to see pictures of their past work, including before and after images of previous implant and restoration cases.
Please don’t rely solely on beautiful stock images from their website. Instead, they can provide several recent examples of dental implants and restorations.
Before and after pictures let you see whether the implants and their restorations look aesthetically pleasing next to a patient’s teeth. This gives you a good idea of the quality of the dentist’s skills and better assists you in making a final choice.
7. Dental Implant Costs
The last thing to consider when choosing an implant dentist is cost. After all, dentists charge different rates based on their experience, the types of implants used and their qualifications. So, before you decide, set a budget and be clear about what you can afford to pay, but also make sure you’re getting comparable quotes for the same type of dental implants. That you will want to choose a quality dentist is assumed, and you should be able to find plenty of good implant dentists at affordable prices instead of the higher prices sometimes charged by specialist dental implant dentists, especially if there are no complications.
We recommend you call several implant dentists in your area and ask them about the cost of an implant procedure. Many will require in-person consultations and X-Rays before providing a written quote. Ensure you get written quotes during your consultation to assist with your evaluation process and to allow a like-for-like comparison of quotes. Most in-demand, quality dentists won’t provide a quote over the phone or via email without first seeing you in person. This is likely to include a consult fee and X-rays or OPGs so they can develop a detailed treatment plan and assess issues around bone density or the amount of bone loss.
When comparing, you should be a little sceptical of very low prices. Extremely low prices often indicate a lack of experience or skill of the treating dentist or the types of dental implants used.
Find an estimate that aligns with your budget and a dentist you feel comfortable with. They should be a solid choice if they meet all of the other criteria on this list.
Collaboration between Specialist and General Dentists
Finally, it is not uncommon for a general or cosmetic dentist to refer the patient to a dental implant specialist (prosthodontist) who will place the dental implant. The General or Cosmetic Dentist will then perform the ‘restoration’ (placement of the tooth portion atop the implant).
This way, you can access the best of both worlds with a specialist dental implant dentist whose rooms will be well-equipped to deal with all contingencies. And you can leverage the experience and skills of a general or cosmetic dentist to provide a natural-looking tooth so that you can smile again with confidence.
Choosing an Implant Dentist Doesn’t Need to Be Difficult
Choosing an implant dentist doesn’t need to be complicated when it comes down to it. Just consider the 7 factors discussed above, and you should be able to make the right choice of your various dentist options.
Are you looking to undergo a dental implant procedure in Adelaide? If so, Adelaide Cosmetic Dentistry has you covered.
Contact us now to schedule an appointment!
