I think what’s really good for patients to remember is that I and we here at the clinic are also patients ourselves so, I’ve had to attend to see other surgeons for consultations for myself so, it's really important to have sort of an inside track on what questions should I ask.
The first thing I think, if you're going to undertake a dental implant procedure, is to talk to the surgeon about how many dental implants they've placed. I know that seems obvious but there's a huge range with surgeons with regard to how many they’ve placed and although numbers aren't everything, there's certainly a level of expertise that is required to do this properly and a level of expertise which denotes that someone is actually reasonably well experienced. I have placed over six thousand dental implants and that's often reassuring for patients that I’ve obviously seen quite a lot of dental implants go in.
The next question you should ask is “how long have you been carrying out dental implant treatment for?” because again, we need to understand the longevity of treatments for our own patients to see how long they last. I’ve been placing dental implants for around 23 years at the present time and understanding how long your surgeon has been placing dental implants for and in conjunction with how many they have placed is an interesting way to sort of assess whether that's the surgeon for you.
Asking “how many have worked?” so, how many of your dental implants actually stay in and as implant practitioners we should know that, and we should measure our numbers really carefully. Here at The Campbell Clinic, we know that year on year our average is about 98% survival rate for implants, as measured by the industry standard one year survival and that's a really high number and is really good. So, ask your clinician how many of their implants have worked and how many have been successful.
Asking your dentist which implant system they use is a really critical question and not all implant systems are the same, in the same way that not all car manufacturers are the same or all watchmakers are the same or all washing powders are the same. Dental implant systems vary in the marketplace from cheap implant systems to expensive implant systems and there's usually a benefit to some systems over other systems so, ask your clinician which system they use and why.
The final question that you must always ask is “what are the advantages and disadvantages of this treatment?” including, what could go wrong and could I be left worse off than when I started and ask your clinician who's looking after you to go through that with you, to help you to understand whether this treatment is something for you.
