Top 6 Wants of my Patients

What do my Implants patients want?

“I Want my implants to last a lifetime doctor”, “ I want to look like Aishwarya Rai”

These are some of the wants of my patients, phew!!, being a dentist is not easy.

I have been seeing implant patients since 2007. Observing them keenly, diagnosing & placing implants. These years have taught me a great deal about dental implants & what the patient wants from dental implant treatment.

There are many people in the world who have lost teeth, either one or few teeth or all teeth in a jaw. There are multiple reasons why people lose teeth, right from genetic disorders to poor maintenance, & the most common being ignorance & poor attitude towards oral health. Having lost teeth, eating becomes a challenge. They gulp food & are restricted to eating only soft or liquid food. This has a damaging effect on the overall health of the person. 30% of the digestion happens in the mouth, for which proper chewing is necessary.

Earlier, the only solution available for people was a removable denture. They do work, however they have a lot of drawbacks. The chewing efficiency is only 15% - 25 % compared to natural teeth; as the patient ages, the fit deteriorates, becoming loose & making speech & socializing difficult; they are bulky, the patient cannot enjoy the flavor because of the resin. Patient cannot eat most of the food items, limiting the overall quality of life.

Dental Implants have been a boon for such patients. They are fixed; the chewing efficiency is 85% of the natural teeth; fixed teeth come with their own confidence, making socializing better & food restrictions are minimal. They have vastly improved the quality of life for the patients.

What I have seen is, there is a mismatch between what the patient wants & what is possible. Often, patients forget their present clinical condition & come with very high expectations. Can we deliver these expectations?

Here’s my list of TOP 6 wants from my patients perspective,

1. Want teeth as early as possible

a. Patients want to walk out of the clinic with teeth or have teeth at the earliest. They want to get back to a new renewed life. The wait has been harrowing & they have lost a lot because of lack of teeth.

b. Can we deliver? – YES – with current advances in the prosthetic dentistry especially digital dentistry, this makes it possible. We can give teeth to the patient on the same day

2. Want a comfortable procedure with minimal sittings

a. Patients do not want to undergo big surgeries, they want something simple, they want to avoid bone grafting procedures, nerve lateralisation, ridge splits etc. All these procedures add to the discomfort of the patient, delay the teeth for the patient.

b. Can we deliver a comfortable procedure? – YES – with corticobasal implants we can deliver a comfortable procedure as it employs a single drill, keyhole technique, avoiding the need for bone grafting procedures.

3. Want the dental implants to last a lifetime

a. Patients want the dental implants to last a lifetime. Nothing less.

b. Can we Deliver? – NO. I understand, dental implants are a significant investment. It's natural to expect them to last a lifetime. The only teeth which can last a lifetime are the ones given by GOD, the natural teeth, for free. Nothing else will last a lifetime. There are a lot of factors which come into play which determine the life of a dental implant. When the conditions are right & with proper follow-up you can expect the implant to last a long time. There is a 50 year follow up of an implant that was published in 2016. If not, the life of a dental implant is significantly reduced.

c. The teeth on the implant face a lot of wear. Depending on the material of the teeth, like resin or ceramic or zirconia, there is a need for changing the teeth once in 3 – 10 years.

4. Want them to be easy to Maintain

a. Brush twice a day & be done with it. That is what the patient expect. Something that does not take 30mins to clean everyday as this would be impractical & reduce the quality of life

b. Can we Deliver? – YES – With hygienic design, we can keep the cleaning part simple. Brush & rinse & you are good to go. However, if the patient is having difficulty in maintaining, fret not, we have some great tools which help simplify the process. Tools like specialized brushes and water flossers help.

c. Using Polished surface dental implants helps the maintenance process. As they do not react to being exposed to oral environment, ensuring a good gum health.

5. Want Value for Money

a. We all want value for our hard earned money. Similarly for dental implants, value for money is what the patient desires. Value in terms of ease of use, comfort while chewing, ability to eat food, share the same food as that of the family, spend quality time with friends & family having a hearty laugh, enjoying functions etc.

b. Can we Deliver? – YES – with dental implants we can definitely deliver value for money. With a range of teeth material options we can cater to specific needs of the patients delivering high value.

6. Want them to look good & complement their face.

a. Teeth complement the face & add to the beauty & personality of an individual. That’s why teeth play an important role in the self confidence of an individual.

b. Can we Deliver? – YES. They will serve your purpose of smiling & chewing. Do not expect them to be a replica of natural teeth. Implant teeth are different & their biomechanics are different compared to natural teeth. Hence, they vary in size, thickness, bulk etc. They can restore the function beautifully with a gracious smile.

Can you add more to the list, please let me know in the comment section.

If you like what you have read, please share your email id, I will let you know when the next post is up.