It’s not that there aren’t skilled, knowledgable, and gifted clinicians in common dental tourism destinations. Of course, there are plenty. It’s just that it’s impossible to provide dental implant treatments that generally take 3-6 months in less than a week!
Diagnostics, treatment planning, fabrication of transitional restorations, dental implant surgical guides, and restorations are time-intensive steps in implant dentistry. And to provide all that in a week or two is not possible. Many patients hope to get dental implants and new teeth at a lesser cost, only to find themselves in difficult situations that ultimately lead to a higher cost than expected.
Express treatment approach often leads to undesired outcomes, including broken teeth, poor fit, poor bites, and a range of implant complications. When such problems happen, traveling back to the destination country is neither easy nor cheap; it ultimately requires more time and money to fix.
Examples like this patient with a fractured set of new implant-supported teeth done abroad are not unusual. Six months after his treatment, his teeth broke in half, and implants developed early peri-implantitis. The fracture of the teeth resulted from poorly aligned implants and teeth concerning his jaw structure. And now he must spend much more time and money to fix it.
Patients can have high-quality dental implant treatments at very affordable prices in the US. Additionally, patients can easily access the required maintenance and hygiene, avoiding lengthy and costly travel. Doing it right the first time is still the best practice.
Dr. H. Ryan Kazemi is a board-certified oral and maxillofacial surgeon in Bethesda, MD