Complete Mouth Dental Implants Cost: Saving Tips & Insights

From the perspective of lifetime cost, the obvious long-term value of dental implants as a long-lasting solution for tooth replacement therapy (TRT) may not be fully appreciated by patients who still have some of their own teeth. They or their insurance may be more interested in just the initial cost of the therapy rather than its longer-term value. For patients who no longer have any of their own teeth, the improved quality of life provided by dental implants may be immediately more evident. The point to be made is that, in both cases, the initial cost must be balanced by the larger picture of lifetime cost and benefits. Clearly, the lifetime fixed replacement restoration (FRR) cost of conventional tooth replacement therapy, crowns on teeth or dentures, requires a specific annual budget for the lifetime of each patient. Complete mouth dental implants have been known to last over ten years, even a lifetime thus far; and when they are cared for, they also provide a lifetime of maximum oral function and health for each and every patient.

The initial fixed cost of dental implants in TRT can be unacceptable or a fatal decision driver for some patients. This potential price barrier should not deter more comprehensive thinking because of the longer-term patient benefits and societal advantages. After a fixed cost agreement is reached, the costs are acceptable if viewed in the comprehensive program of lifetime cost, benefits, and value. The obvious long-term value of dental implants as a long-term solution may not be completely appreciated by all patients, notably by those who still have some of their own teeth, though the long-lasting solution concept should be easily understood by government healthcare authorities. It must not be treated as a single annual budget item for patients receiving dental implants with the implant treatment free if any of the dental implants should need to be replaced in the future. Dental implants also offer the hope of a lifetime solution to at least a portion of those patients that have substantial dental restorative materials and who have received no treatment. The dental profession, patients, and their governments all recognize that fixed restoration dental implants are resilient, practical to provide, easy to use, and their long-term value concept is easily understood providing many benefits to society by allowing patients to purchase additional middle class oral healthcare utilizing a sustainable annual economy model based on enhanced patient use of these implants. Dental society currently opposes legislative attempts built and designed by others, in contradiction to society’s fiscally responsible track record, to force such an impractical and unsustainable concept by placing hard limitations of $850 per annum for each patient with severe budget caps on dental benefit providers.