I was interested in dental implants for years and couldn’t bring myself to spend that much money on them. So when I saw an amazing affordable dental implants deal in my area, I jumped on it. I did do some online research and didn’t see any overly negative feedback. I had been dealing with two loose front teeth and so I wanted to have them replaced with dental implants. I thought that was my only option.
When I went in for the consultation, the implant dentist gave me fees for everything, including the surgery to implant the posts and also for the crowns at a later date. While I was at the first appointment, he somehow convinced me to have the two teeth extracted and then also recommended bone beads. He told me these two steps would help me in the healing process. Since, I was pretty much decided when I went in, I did it. Fast forward six months, I still don’t have any progress. He was telling me the other day when I went in for a follow-up that I didn’t have enough bone and I needed to have some gum treatments completed. Did I totally get ripped off? What’s going on? I’m still toothless!
-Jimmy in Minnesota
Jimmy,
First and foremost, sorry you are having to go through this experience. There are too many dentists that will take advantage of a patient’s trust. Not every affordable dental implants offer is legit. Some dentists cut corners, skimp on healing times, or even use substandard materials.
One of the main problems with your story is that the dentist never even addressed why your teeth were loose in the first place. If you had loose teeth due to periodontal disease, you likely wouldn’t have been a dental implants candidate to begin with. Gum treatments should have been administered before moving forward with anything. It may have very well been possible that those teeth could have been saved and you wouldn’t have had to endure this nightmare.
Unfortunately, it sounds like you may require additional treatments prior to getting dental implants. That said, drop this dentist. Find an implant dentist that has experience working on cases similar to yours and focus on researching their credentials. It is very disappointing that this “affordable” ordeal may end up costing you for months, even years to come. It is also worth mentioning that you shouldn’t be toothless either! There are temporary teeth replacement options that would be adequate for your case, like a dental flipper or a partial denture. This would also ensure you wouldn’t have any of the surrounding teeth drifting into the empty spaces.
It’s time to move on and find a new dentist. Best of luck moving forward. Thank you for being vulnerable and sharing your story. Hopefully it helps others to avoid affordable dental implant offers that sound too good to be true.
This post is sponsored by York PA dentist Donald H. Currie, DMD