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There are varying prices listed on the internet for the city of London for the cost of dental implants. The range is enormous, from around one thousand upwards to three thousand pounds! What accounts for this difference in price? Are you sacrificing quality by getting cheaper options? The difference is quite staggering, and to make sense of it, let’s see what you are paying for when getting a dental implant.
Parts of the dental implant
Dental implants are made of three parts, and all of them come in a variety of price ranges, depending on materials used, guarantee of longevity (a 5 year guarantee is going to cost less than a 10 year guarantee, etc), and quality as well.
The implant
The bottom most part of the dental implant is the dental implant itself which goes into your jaw to replace the missing tooth root. This is always made of titanium, and can come in a variety of shapes, from ultra narrow arrow types to ultra wide diameter dental implants made for replacing two teeth or large molars. Bigger dental implants tend to cost more money.
Abutment
The abutment is the part that goes on to the dental implant that is visible, and which connects the crown to the dental implant. These are usually standard issue, and there is not much variety in quality price, materials used or really anything at all.
The crown
The visible portion of your dental implant will be a crown or artificial tooth. This portion of the dental implant has a porcelain outer shell that mimics the shade and texture of your real enamel, and the internal structure can be made of surgical steel (cheaper version) or zirconium oxide (more expensive). The difference is purely aesthetic, as zirconium looks more like the insides of teeth, and is significantly more expensive.
Tooth implant costs UK
In the UK, you should be paying around 2500 pounds for a new tooth altogether, with all of the parts mentioned above. This dental implant will be stable, have a good guarantee, come with a metal based crown, and will have everything you can expect a dental implant to have. But do you really need to pay this much for a dental implant? What about claims of dental implants available for three digit prices? Are these cheap dental implants in the UK safe and just as good? In other words, do you really need to shell out 2500 pounds for a dental implant?
Dental implant vouchers and discounts
The answer is not necessarily. Many places now offer dental implants, with everything included for 999 or 949 pounds. Usually these are dental implants being sold in bulk through coupon websites like Groupon or Wowcher. Many people are reluctant to use these services, because they do not understand them. Here is a quick run through about how a website like Groupon can go ahead and make a profit from selling dental implants at almost one third of the cost.
The idea is that Groupon makes a deal with a dental practice. The dental practice supplies the dental implants and the services that they are otherwise qualified for, and that they otherwise sell for a given amount of money. Groupon then advertises the deal they have, like dental implants, and says that they will sell the dental implants for significantly less (half price or less), and that they will only do the selling if x number of patients wants to get it. They then put the voucher up on the internet, and the patients buy it en masse. After that, Groupon takes a share, and the dental practice is left with a number of patients, more than it would otherwise have had, so even making less revenue per dental implant is a small matter, as the volume of dental implants sold will have risen significantly. It is not magic, and it is not a scam either, it is just good business planning.
These vouchers and discounts must come from a reliable source, and always make sure to read the fine print, but other than that, they are a great way to get dental implants for significantly less money. Groupon and Wowcher both make refunds if there aren’t enough people signing off on the deal to make it worth it, and they are reliable, accountable and will not vanish into thin air after the money has been transferred.
Other expenses
Besides the above mentioned dental implant with its parts, there may be other expenses that the vouchers very rarely cover. X-rays will need to be taken of the area where you will be getting the dental implant, and if the x-rays come back inconclusive, you will need to have a CT scan, which is a bit more expensive (around 50 quid in all). Some vouchers cover the expense of x-rays and CT scans, some only of x-rays, and some of nothing of the such. The dentist needs to have the radiograph of your bone to know if it is dense enough to house the dental implant.
If your bone is not thick enough, a bone graft will be necessary. This will cost you anywhere from 150 to 450 pounds, and is only necessary sometimes. Vouchers almost never cover this, as it is needed very rarely, and only in special cases.
Extractions are almost never covered in these vouchers, as they assume you will be arriving with all of the tooth, including the roots and everything else, already missing. If this is not the case, you may need to have some or all of your tooth extracted, and this will not be done for free either. Usually, only surgical extractions cost money, as if it is just a question of pulling a tooth, many dental practices will include it in their price.
Many times the guarantees to the dental implants are dependant on getting half year checkups. These are sometimes free, and sometimes have a nominal fee (less than 50 pound sin most places) that you have to pay every half year, but they frequently include a deep cleaning, and a dentist should see the dental implant every six months anyway. Guarantees are contingent upon getting these checkups, so they are well worth it,a s if anything is wrong with the dental implant in the allotted time, you will get a new one.
