Aldercross

We will tell you how long it takes before you decide.

Implant treatment is measured in months, not appointments, and the practices that do not say so are the ones you should be careful with. Here is the whole timeline, including the waiting, before you have spoken to anybody.

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GDC registered · CQC regulated CBCT scan before any plan Bristol & north Somerset
3D

A scan, not a flat x-ray

A CBCT scan shows the bone in three dimensions, including how close the nerve and the sinus sit to where an implant would go. Planning without one is possible. We do not think it is good practice.

12–24

Weeks of healing, and no way round it

Bone grows onto the implant surface at its own pace. It cannot be hurried by paying more, and anybody offering you a finished result in a fortnight is describing something else.

1 in 6

Consultations end in us saying no

Sometimes the bone is not there, sometimes the general health does not justify the risk, sometimes a bridge is simply the better answer. You will hear the reason rather than a softer version of it.

How long it actually takes

The bone sets the pace,
not the diary.

Pick a treatment. The top rail is how it runs when everything goes smoothly, the bottom rail is the same plan when it needs longer. Both are drawn on the same months, so the gap between the two ends is the honest uncertainty rather than a number we have rounded in our favour.

A single gap, one implant, one crown.

In the chair Healing at home Being made
5.6 to 9.7 months Start to final crown
3 Appointments in the chair
6 months Longest single wait, integration with the bone

    Where these figures come from

    The healing figure is osseointegration, the period in which bone grows onto the implant surface and locks it in place. 12 to 24 weeks is the ordinary published range, longer in the upper jaw than the lower and longer again where a graft has been done. It cannot be shortened by paying more.

    Published long-term studies report implant success at 95 to 98 per cent at ten years, in published long-term studies. That is a figure about a population, not a promise about you: smoking, uncontrolled gum disease and diabetes all move it, and we will say where you sit on your own consultation rather than quote you the average.

    These are typical ranges for planning, not a clinical opinion about your mouth. Nobody can give you that from a web page.

    What we do

    Four treatments,
    one way of planning them.

    01

    Single tooth implants

    One implant, one crown, without touching the teeth either side of the gap.

     02

    Multiple implants and bridges

    Several teeth replaced on fewer implants than teeth, where the bone allows.

     03

    Full arch treatment

    A fixed full arch on four to six implants, for patients with failing or absent teeth.

     04

    Bone grafting and sinus lifts

    Rebuilding the site first, when the scan says there is not enough to work with.
    A dentist talking a patient through a scan on a screen beside the chair A CBCT scanner in a bright treatment room The practice reception, quiet and daylit
    1,240
    Implants placed
    2007
    Practising since
    45
    Minute consultation
    3D
    Scan before any plan

    How it goes

    Five stages, and you get
    the plan in writing.

    01

    Consultation and scan

    About 45 minutes. We take a CBCT scan, which shows the bone in three dimensions rather than the flat picture an ordinary x-ray gives. It is the difference between planning and guessing.

    02

    The plan, in writing

    What is possible, what it involves, how long it takes and what it costs, on paper before you decide anything. Including the option of not having treatment, where that is reasonable.

    03

    Placement

    Usually under local anaesthetic, usually an hour or two. Most people work the next day, and we will say so plainly rather than overstate the recovery.

    04

    Healing

    Three to six months while the implant integrates with the bone. You are not without a tooth during this time; a temporary is fitted where the site allows one.

    05

    The permanent crown

    Made to match the teeth either side, fitted, then reviewed. After that it is an ordinary check-up and hygiene appointment like any other tooth.

    What patients say

    They told me at the consultation that I needed a graft first and that it would add five months. Another practice had quoted me a date three weeks away. I am glad I listened to the one that slowed me down.

    Margaret H. · Henleaze

    The scan was on the screen and he talked me through what he was seeing rather than turning it round at the end. First time a dentist has explained anything to me like that.

    Ian C. · Portishead

    Two visits combined into one because of the drive, without us having to ask. Small thing, made a real difference.

    Sue and Ray P. · Nailsea

    Where patients come from

    Bristol and
    north Somerset.

    Clifton

    Bristol

    Redland

    Bristol

    Bishopston

    Bristol

    Henleaze

    Bristol

    Portishead

    North Somerset

    Nailsea

    North Somerset

    Thornbury

    South Gloucestershire

    Bath

    Somerset

    Start with the scan,
    not the price list.

    A 45 minute consultation, a 3D scan, and a written plan with a cost on it. If implants are the wrong answer for you, that is what the plan will say.

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