Hi, I’m Dr Michael Cai, the principal dentist of Pitt St Dental Centre here in Sydney CBD.
Yesterday, I was with one of our new patients, Catherine from Pyrmont. She broke a tooth, and unfortunately, it can’t be saved and needs to be extracted. She is looking at replacing the missing tooth with a dental implant.
We often get calls asking about pricing, so I thought I’d make a short video sharing with you a little bit more about the factors that impact the cost of a dental implant procedure.
Here are a few reasons why there’s such a big range of costs for dental implant treatment.
First of all, the type of implant that is used. In Australia, there are hundreds of brands of implants, ranging from implants manufactured in Korea or Brazil, all the way to Germany, Switzerland, and Sweden.
There are premium implant brands with very good clinical data and many years of research. There are also some relatively new newcomers. I’m not saying that the product is not good, but they just haven’t been around for a very long time. Like many things, European and American brands would attract a premium, but they also provide a greater peace of mind.
So here at Pitt Street Dental Centre, we only use premium brands of dental implants that have had many years of research, so we know they are safe to use with a really high success rate.
The cost of the implant can also be impacted by the location of the tooth. For example, it’s much easier to replace a lower molar with lots of gum and lots of bone.
Compared to replacing a central upper incisor, it’s very difficult to perfectly match the shape and colour of the tooth, and it is also just as important to match the surrounding gum. So additional procedures such as bone grafting and gum graft might be required to make sure everything is perfectly natural and seamless when we complete your implant treatment.
The third factor that impacts the cost of a dental implant procedure is whether the tooth is an immediate implant or a delayed implant. Nowadays, in most cases, what we want to do is to remove the tooth if it requires extraction, place the implant at the same time, and give you a tooth that’s fixated on the implant when you walk out. We do this routinely for front teeth and premolars because it’s just one surgery, so less downtime for you.
You need to take one course of painkillers and antibiotics. You only need to take time off work or study once. It gives you a far better patient experience because you don’t have to wear a denture.
Now to achieve all this in one single procedure is technically very challenging; therefore, the cost is higher compared to, say, if you come in, the tooth is already extracted, and we just need to put an implant in there.
Why is this more challenging?
The extraction needs to be done atraumatically to preserve the bone and gum. We have to stabilise that implant in the socket in its ideal position, as well as preserving the bone and the gum. Afterwards, we also have to fill the socket with bone graft material. Sometimes even gum grafts are required at the same time for the front tooth, and finally we place a temporary tooth on the implant.
So there are lots of steps involved rather than just opening the gum, placing the implant, and closing it up.
Then you wait for the gum to heal for a period before placing the final crown on the implant.
I hope this video has given you some insights into the many factors that a dentist needs to consider when pricing a safe and comprehensive dental implant treatment. Here at Pitt Street Dental Centre, we offer flexible payment plans, so if you or anyone you know has a missing tooth, a few missing teeth or even all the teeth, we would love to help.
Simply call us on +61 2 8000 1832, complete the booking form on our website, or send us a DM on social media, and we’ll be in touch to help you organise your consultation. See you soon.
