With the ever increasing costs of dental care in the US, more and more people are looking to Mexico for dental care, especially for Dental implants. It has increasingly become common to go to Mexico for implants. This is because in dentists the Mexico are very well trained, and do the identical procedures for less than 35% the cost as in the US. A dentist in Tijuana can save up nearly $3000 on the total cost of each implant.

When we get older, we begin to loose teeth. Dental implants can be the solution for many people. With a permanent bridge, the dentist has to basically ruin the teeth on either side of the missing tooth, by grinding them down to a post to be crowned, serving as anchor teeth for the bridge to fill in the gap of the missing tooth. They work well, but they are not going to last forever, so eventually, you have the possibility of loosing the other two as well. The option of a partial, presents other problems because then you will have a piece of plastic and metal in your mouth all the time that you can constantly feel. A dental implant has the look and feel of the original tooth, and it is there permanently.

To help you determine whether you the procedure is for you, here are the steps of what the dentist must do. First, it is not something that can be correctly done in a day. It takes months for the implant to heal and for the surrounding bone to grow and adhere to the implant. My friend recently went to Mexico to have this procedure done in Tijuana, here is his experience:

1. Only after an oral examination, complete with ex-rays, the doctor will be able to confirm if you are a good candidate. You have to have good bone density and the jaw bone has to be in good shape. Some people will have to start with a bone graft in order to build up the surrounding bone. If you need to first have an extraction, especially if it is a molar tooth, you will probably have to have a bone graft, in which they surgically implant an artificial calcium material that the bone adheres to and grows around. The procedure takes about 1 hour per tooth, and will take about 45 days for the healing process to be done, and to be ready for an implant. If you have lost the tooth a long time ago, and the jaw bone is in good shape, you won't need to have this step done. In Mexico, a bone graft costs $350 per tooth, still much less than the $1200 it costs in San Diego.

2. The dentist will then pre-drill a hole into the jawbone. He will use a scanning machine that will allow him to see, like with an x-ray, where he is drilling into the bone so as to avoid hitting a nerve. The implant, made of titanium, is then screwed in. It is coated with hydroxyl apatite, which is the main mineral of which dental enamel is comprised. This will aid the bone to grow around and bond to the dental implant more thoroughly. After insertion of the implant, the gum is sutured closed with dissoluble sutures. The procedure only takes about 1 hour, but you will then have wait for 3 to 4 months for the bone to heal and grow to the implant. Some people have heard about mini-implants that the dentist will attach a crown to the same day, but this procedure in not highly recommended. The fact is, if you are using the implant before the bone can heal and adhere to the implant, it will work loose. Mini implants do not have a very long life expectancy, and may need to be
replaced in a couple of years. It is best to do the slower procedure, and have an implant that will last for the rest of your life.

3-4. When you come in to attach the abutment and crown, it will take 2 visits to the clinic, but they can be back to back. First, the dentist will drill into the titanium implant to attach the abutment. He will then make an impression of this post and the surrounding teeth, and send the impressions out to the lab. It normally takes a couple of days for the finished crown to be ready, but if arrangements are made with the lab, the crown can be ready to put on the very next day, and in some cases the same day.

The costs of a dental implant with the abutment and crown in Mexico runs from $1500 to $1850. The same thing in San Diego or Los Angeles runs from $3800 to $4,600. As you can see, the savings is significant.

Some folks are concerned about safety issues. They ask, "Is it safe to have this done in Mexico?" Although this is not a procedure that can be done by just any dentist, and requires a lot of specialty training in the techniques and procedures, there are many Mexican dentists that have been very well trained to do dental implants. They get a lot of practice at it because this has become a procedure that has become common in Mexico because of the many thousands of Americans who have go over to have it done.

My freind, went to a clinic in Tijuana, Mexico. They have a specialist that comes in to do implants who is an oral surgeon with 12 years of experience, and who has a very good reputation. He was very happy with the end result. His smile is back.