Picking an Implant Dentist

Begin with the GDC Register

First of all, search for the dentist's name at gdc-uk.org, the General Dental Council's public register. It's free to use and tells you whether they hold UK registration, which qualifications are registered, and whether they appear on any specialist list. If the name doesn't come up, ask the practice why.

Two things are worth understanding. The GDC keeps no specialist list covering implant dentistry, which means implants are placed by general dentists with further training, and also by specialists in periodontics, prosthodontics and oral surgery. And only a dentist on one of the GDC's lists may use the title specialist. For everyone else, ourselves included, the honest wording is "special interest in implants".

Who Handles the Case From Beginning to End?

The basic dental degree covers implant placement only lightly, so ask the dentist outright what additional training they've completed, how long they've been doing it, and roughly how many patients like you they've treated. A confident clinician won't mind the question.

Find out as well whether one person will plan the treatment, put the implant in and fit the crown, or if you'll be passed between a visiting surgeon and a second dentist. Either arrangement can work well; the thing to establish is who carries responsibility for the outcome. At Ferry Smile Studios, our implant dentist plans each case on a CT scan and places the implant personally.

Is the Planning Done in 3D?

A two-dimensional X-ray shows the height of the bone and nothing more. It can't reveal the width, the density, or the precise position of the nerve and the sinus. A cone beam CT scan captures all of it in three dimensions, and proper implant planning is built on it.

Good follow-up questions: does the practice have its own scanner, or does the scan happen elsewhere? Is it inside the fee or billed on top? Will you be shown the images and get a copy? Our scanner is in our own building in Broughty Ferry, and the charge is £160 whether you need one implant or several.

Will a Surgical Guide Be Used?

A surgical guide is a bespoke template, 3D-printed from the plan made on your scan, that seats over your teeth or gum and governs the angle and depth of drilling. The implant finishes up in the planned position, rather than wherever seemed right in the moment. Freehand placement is within the ability of an experienced dentist, but a guide strips out most of the variability and usually allows a smaller incision. We print ours from your CT plan and use them with MegaGen's R2 guided system.

Which Implant Brand, Exactly?

Worldwide, there are hundreds of implant brands for sale. The established names have years of published research to their credit and use components that any UK dentist can order. Cheaper copies save the practice money, but should you move away or the practice close, your next dentist may struggle to source a matching abutment or crown screw.

Ask for the brand and the model, write both down and keep them with your records. We place MegaGen AnyRidge implants. The implant carries the CleanImplant Trusted Quality seal, awarded to implants that pass independent testing for surface contamination. That seal applies to the product rather than to our practice.

What Does the Price Actually Include?

Among Dundee and Angus practices that publish a price for a single implant and crown, figures run from about £2,600 to £3,050, and plenty publish nothing at all. A low number isn't a warning sign in itself, but you need to know what's inside it before you can compare. Work through this list with every practice:

• The CT scan and the consultation
• The crown, the abutment and the implant itself
• A temporary tooth, where the gap is at the front
• Any bone grafting
• Sedation, should you want it
• Review appointments while you heal

Our fees are listed in the Broughty Ferry implant cost guide: a single implant with its crown starts from £2,605, before any grafting.

Is the Fee in Writing?

By the end of the consultation you should have a written plan in your hand: the recommended treatment, the alternatives, the fee for each stage, a likely timescale and the payment options. It should be yours to take home and mull over. Treat with suspicion any price that's only ever spoken aloud, any discount that runs out on Friday, and any plan that shifts once your deposit has been paid.

What Conditions Does the Guarantee Carry?

Implant guarantees nearly always come with strings attached, and the small print deserves a careful read. For how many years does it run? Is the crown covered as well as the implant? What is expected of you to keep it in force? The usual conditions are not smoking and keeping up regular hygiene appointments, since gum inflammation is the main reason implants loosen over the years.

Ours is a 5-year guarantee for non-smokers who attend hygiene visits every 3 months, and the consent form you sign before treatment sets it out in full.

Where Will You Go for Aftercare?

It's easy to forget this when comparing practices across the region. An implant is a lifelong responsibility: a hygiene visit every few months, routine examinations, and a prompt appointment should a screw work loose or the gum become sore. If the practice is an hour's drive away, those visits turn into a burden, and missing them can invalidate a guarantee.

For a lot of people in the Ferry, Dundee, Monifieth, Arbroath or Forfar, somewhere close to home makes the long-term side far simpler. Whichever practice you choose, ask who provides the hygiene visits, how frequently they advise them, and how quickly you could be seen in an emergency. Outside normal hours, anywhere in Scotland, NHS 24 on 111 is the fallback.

What If It Doesn't Work?

Implants succeed far more often than they fail, but no dentist can guarantee every single one. Ask what would happen if the implant didn't bond to the bone, if the surrounding gum became inflamed, or if the crown chipped. A good answer is specific: who would see you, what they'd do and what you'd pay. "That never happens" is not a good answer. What's usually involved is set out in our guide to failed dental implants.

Looking at the Dentist's Own Cases

Ask to see before-and-after photographs from the dentist's own patients, shared with those patients' written consent. No two mouths are alike and results differ, so view them as an indication of the dentist's approach rather than a guarantee. Be suspicious of polished stock photos that could have been taken anywhere.

Reasons to Pause

• A definite price quoted before anyone has looked in your mouth
• No CT scan, or one that only materialises when you insist
• No named implant brand, or "our own system"
• No one who can say which dentist will place the implant
• Pressure to hand over a large deposit at the first visit
• Permanent full-arch teeth promised inside a few days, with no healing time
• Nothing in writing, neither plan nor guarantee

Any one of these calls for more questions, though not necessarily for walking away.

What a Good Consultation Looks Like

You're examined, scanned if an implant is a realistic option, and talked through what the scan shows. You hear about implants, bridges, dentures and simply leaving the space, with the honest advantages and drawbacks of each. You know who'll carry out the work. You leave with the plan and the fee on paper, and you're welcome to show it elsewhere if you'd like a second view. How ours works is described on our implant consultation page. There's no charge, just a £40 booking deposit refunded once you've attended.

Questions

This guide is general information, not a diagnosis. A dentist needs to examine you to say what is right for your teeth.