What are implants?
A dental implant is an artificial root which is gently inserted into the jaw bone. After a period of 3 months, your bone cells fuse to the surface of the implant, thus allowing them to support a restoration such as a bridge or crown. Dental implants can also be used to stabilise patients with loose dentures.
Once the implant has fused to the bone, a post is then screwed into the implant. A crown can then be cemented to the post. For larger gaps, multiple implants may be required.
Advantages of Dental Implants
| Long-lasting (can last more than 20 years) |
| Strong, stable and the most secure, fixed option available |
| Other teeth are not affected or involved with treatment like bridges, so the remaining teeth stay intact |
| Dental implants and the crown counterpart mimics natural teeth perfectly |
The greatest advantage of dental implants is that they do not affect the teeth next to them, and research over 30 years consistently shows restorations supported by implants are the longest-lasting, especially when compared to dentures or bridgework. Multiple research papers show success rates of 95-99%.
Treatment can be arranged under sedation if requested. For more information on dental implant costs, click here.
Typical Implant Costs
| Complete Single tooth implant | from £2,400.00 |
| > Single implant only | £1,300.00 |
| > Dental Crown | £800.00 |
| > Titanium Abutment | £300.00 |
| CT Scan | £120.00 |
| Multiple implants | £1,100.00 |
| Implant crown | £1,200.00 |
| 3 Teeth on 2 Implants from | £4,800.00 |
| 5 Teeth on 3 Implants from | £7,200.00 |
| Teeth in a day (all-on-four) | from £12,000.00 |
| Fixed Bar on 4 implants | from £10,000.00 |
| Overdenture on 3-4 implants | from £5,500.00 |
Implant Treatment Options
What if I’m scared?
The implant surgery can feel like a big procedure, but it’s often reported to be painless. That said, we know that pain is relative, and often, the thought or memory enhances fear and pain. Nervous patients can rest assured that some practices cater for phobic and anxious patients. Some might offer dental sedation like IV sedation or oral sedation, but make sure to widen your search, as not every practice in the UK is fortunate to offer this service.
Types of implant treatment
Although it may be possible to provide implant-supported teeth in a day, treatment involving implants usually takes longer than the other options and involves several stages.
It may, therefore, be necessary to fill the gap with a temporary restoration, such as a temporary denture or bridge, while the implant is healing to the bone. Some minor oral surgery is also required, which inevitably leads to some swelling, bruising and discomfort for a few days after surgery; recovery, however, is usually very quick.
If there is insufficient bone to place an implant, we can usually bulk out the bone volume when we place the implant using the Guided bone regeneration technique. If a large amount of bone is missing, the missing bone may need to be generated with a block bone graft. This would delay implant placement by another 3-4 months.