Recession-struck Brits Invest In Long-term Treatment
For recession-struck Brits the little luxuries we like to enjoy have been shelved whilst we sit out the economic storm. It is for this reason that the growth in popularity of dental implants during the past 2 years has shocked dental professionals.
It seems that quick thinking dental patients are opting for the permanent solution to their dental needs rather than taking the quick fix even if it does mean forking out that little extra cash. And with the future looking uncertain for our economic troubles maybe these patients have got the right idea.
New figures show that the quantity of patients in the UK opting for dental implants has in excess of tripled since 2008, the beginning of the economic downfall.
Dr Bruno Silva, a dental surgeon and implant specialist in Brighton, said, “We have noticed a big increase in patients having implants.”
Opting for implants rather than dentures or crown work gives a guarantee of around 15-20 years without any additional work whereas dentures and crowns often require regular corrective work. The prices of these little bits of work can soon mount up and by opting for a dental implant it is one cost, one time with the added assurance that further dental work is unlikely to be needed in the near future.
The increasing popularity of dental implants is put down to the lasting solution they provide, their ability to hold back bone loss and their ability to preserve healthy tooth tissue. The implant is a synthetic substitute for the root part of the tooth that during treatment is placed into a pre-drilled socket in the jaw bone to bear a crown or bridge or to hold a denture.
The increase in popularity can also be attributed to the fact that the advances in dentistry in recent years have allowed for many more people to be suitable to receive the treatment. Previously, patients with a shortage of bone density were not able to undergo this sort of treatment. However due to developments in bone augmentation procedures such patients are now able to receive this treatment along with the necessary preparatory procedure.
Bone augmentation entails a surgeon adding artificial bone to the existing jaw bone to provide stability for a dental implant to be attached within the jaw line. Prior to dental implant surgery an x-ray is carried out to determine bone thickness for all patients. Without sufficient bone density a dental implant would not be stable within the jaw bone.
Implants can be costly and patients often look into it only to find that the work is out of their price range; even a single tooth implant can set you back up to £3000. However, with the widened availability, the benefits to your dental health and the added advantage that this one time payment could keep you free of dental bills for up to 20 years, there is no wonder that interest has rocketed in these financially rocky times.
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