What 5 Questions To Ask Yourself If You Are Considering Implant Retained Denture?

5 things you need to know prior to offering dental implant service

• Implant system

Implant therapy’s main fixed costs derive from the implant system and materials. When choosing an implant system, it’s smart to choose the same device as the professional you regularly work with. If you’re not happy with the reconstruction of the device, choose one your expert has in his or her office or installed before. The explanation for that will later be explained.

The cost will vary tremendously, depending on the implant system. The implant body itself would be the most constant and recurrent expense of implant therapy. Some systems for “active” surfaces will run as low as $250, and some as high as $500 to $600.

• Professional training

You may already have received training in implant placement at the dental school. While this is great, I’d advise you to attend one of the major implant symposia held once a year. The expense is generally relatively cheap, which means you can attend for less than $1,000. Through completing this, you’ll complete most of your continuing education for your two-year licensing period.

If your budget is tight, consider placing implants in a synthetic bone or bovine bone for courses that give an affordable charge. While that may provide some preparation for you, your patients have no bovine or synthetic bone structure in their mouth. This is a sort of deal, “you get what you pay for.” There are courses on the flip side which start at about $5,000 and up.

• Hidden costs

Now let’s dig into some of the hidden costs which are fixed as well. First is the expense of drills. In your brand new surgical kit you will have a full setup; however, these drills are only suitable for between five to ten uses depending on the type of bone. As a general rule, you should count about $100 in drill costs per implant case to be set aside.

Next comes irrigation. For your implant motor, you need to pay for the irrigation bags and lines. These can be bought in bulk, and shouldn’t cost more than $20 to $30 per implant case. In implant dentistry this is the standard of care now. It used to be that dentists might get irrigated by hand. That is not the case any more. Do not attempt to do so, especially as an inexperienced surgeon. This may lead to excessive failures in the implants.

• Staffing

Support is the biggest overhead to any work. You need to ask yourself how the addition of implants would affect your work. Let’s say that you are well trained in simple dental surgical procedures and that your team is well trained to support you. A well-trained surgical assistant in implant dentistry will be able to handle just about anything. The biggest shift in your overhead will be the amount of time spent on the chair when managing your learning curve. Only you can predict how long this will take, and how much.

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• Don’t break the status quo

First is something that many dentists fail to consider — keeping a degree of status quo in your professional relationships to network. You once were the dentist in restoration and you referred to a specialist. You need that relationship to be sustained. Learn this over again. Not every situation is a “slam dunk.” In the future the professional with whom you have had a relationship for years will need to bail you out. It is not a matter of whether, but rather when. You will continue to refer him or her to a couple of “easy” cases every now and then. Specialists have general dental requirements and need to regularly send items out. In their need period you want to be there.

It is especially valid when teaming up with a periodontist or oral surgeon for a case. You’ll probably not be doing a lot of bone grafting or controlled tissue regeneration in the early days of your dental implant journey. When you need to refer the bone building to implant site harvesting, it may be helpful to your partnership with specialists when you already have the implant put on them. Not only do they appreciate the referral, but it can be helpful for patients as well as they will benefit from a sinus lift or a ridge splitting procedure that will allow them to prevent a second implant placement surgery.