I wanted to get a dental implant and went to a dentist who has done a lot of dental implants in the past. He said I was a good candidate and I went forward with the procedure. Apparently, when he went to do the procedure he discovered I was not a good candidate and said I needed some bone grafting. I agreed to do that too because I really wanted a dental implant. I had the bone grafting procedure done then waited for the healing time to end. Once that happened I went back in for the dental implant. Again, he told me there still wasn’t enough bone left. Now he is suggesting I get a dental bridge. Is there really no way for me to get the dental implant I want?
Mark
Dear Mark,
Yes, you can still get that dental implant if you want. It will require another bone grafting procedure though, if you are up for it. I wouldn’t be too hard on your dentist with this one, though. There are a couple of things here that tell me you have a good dentist. First, he is trying to add new skills to his procedural base. Not many dentists know how to do the bone grafting procedure and it sounds like he is investing time in learning every procedure he can for his patients. That is a good quality for a dentist. An even better one is his integrity.
When he attempted the first procedure, he realized his error. He told you instead of hiding it and attempted a fix. When that didn’t work, he must have felt horrible. Some dentists would have placed the dental implant anyway in order to protect their reputation. Your implant would have failed, but not right away. You would have never known the reason behind the failure. He humbled himself and told you the truth. I’m telling you that dentist is a keeper.
That being said, he has not had time to develop his skill in bone grafting. You will have to go to a more experienced dentist to do that. Once that is done, you should be good to go for the implant.
This blog is brought to you by Hoffman Estates Dentist Dr. William Becker.
Click here to read about sedation dentistry.