Dental implants Richmond have got pretty glittering reviews online and plenty of articles singing their praises but are they really as good as they seem? You may be trying to critically look at oral implants and decide in what situation they may be the best option for you.
Their intended role
Oral implants attempt to replace teeth without requiring a healthy root or any remaining part of the tooth to be built up on. This is one of the biggest limitations of dental crowns: they can repair a structurally unsafe crumbling tooth, but require an unaffected and healthy root. It is unlikely that cavity damage extensive enough to destabilise a whole tooth would leave the underlying root unaffected. So, this is an example of where implants may be more useful.
Treatment home vs abroad
The temptation to seek out treatment abroad is tempting as it is significantly cheaper. It can be very appealing but it is important to consider if the primary reason for your travel is care, the cost of your accommodation and transport has to be considered as part of your medical costs.
The standard procedure does not lend itself immediately to this kind of “tourists” treatment; there is a significant risk of complications, especially during this osseointegration stage between the first and second appointment. During this, new bone is being laid down and the titanium part of the implant is fused into the jaw bone. As most patients seeking appointments abroad will return home in between the two appointments, it will be difficult to attend the clinic for checkups or x-rays to check on progress and catch any complications early.
It also means you may return to the overseas clinic, only to find out that your integration is not complete and that loading is not an option. This often puts pressure on both patients and clinics to load teeth that are not quite ready rather than having to rebook a later appointment and increased travel costs.
There are significant regulatory differences across the world. It can be easy to assume that all standards in dental care are the same, but this is partially the reason why international costs are cheaper. The regulations that make the UK dental services safe and consistent also increase their costs which are inevitably passed on to their patients. This makes shopping for medical services abroad very much a buyer beware market, that can catch UK patients unaware.
Fixing failed implants
After a long spate of poorly performed implants having to be finished by NHS dentists, the formal NHS policy on repairing implants has changed. Only extraction will be offered as a treatment method so if implants do fail, repair work would have to be carried out in private clinics and be entirely self-funded or simply extracted.
Payment plans and credit schemes
Payment plans and credit options are widespread in UK surgeries but it becomes a little bit more complicated when using foreign services. Credit schemes are available but are not accredited to a similar standard as the financial conduct services in the UK. Unclear interest rates are a common aspect, so great care should be taken when signing any credit agreement overseas.
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