More than just a few of our hard earned tax dollars have been spent lately in the midst of a recession on attempting to make something out of nothing. While I can’t say this is anything new, one is compelled to bring reality into focus when looking over the taxpayer funded marketing used recently by the University to manufacture a “Dental Implant Center” out of thin air in an effort to profit a small self-aggrandized team of providers.
As a specialist in dentistry who also treats patients for this problem, one can only be amused by some of the advertising in the local newspapers and radio which would have you think that dental implants were something new, “cutting edge” and very difficult to provide. We are led to believe that only a “think tank” of scholars could possibly figure out how to engineer the replacement of missing teeth with tooth shaped objects (crowns) sitting atop overpriced titanium screws. In one of the more recent advertisements seen in a local paper, one of the “Implant Center” providers was touted as being “world renown.” Yikes! Can you imagine what that moniker took to achieve? Unfortunately, probably more travel and talk than downright time in the field treating patients. How lucky we are to have this individual finally decide to land outside of Hartford, CT, and open an appointment book ready to accept you as a patient!
Pardon my cynicism, but if the truth be known the restorative dentists and oral surgeons in your communities have been delivering reliable dental implant care for more than 25 years. They have the “hands on” experience of having provided years of “clinical” treatment with dental implants and not just writing about it. More simply put, your local dentist and oral surgeon have “walked the walk and not simply talked the talk.”
Are dental implants a good treatment? You bet they are! However, consider the following list before being lured by deceptive marketing:
Consider having your implant surgery and treatment planning done locally with the dentist that you already like and know. Have your surgery done by experienced specialists that your dentist knows and trusts.
The technology and equipment that the so called University “Dental Implant Center” (DIC) would like you to believe is unique to their facility is available locally with your usual dental implant team (restorative dentist & oral and maxillofacial surgeon). This includes the use of cone-beam scanning and CAD CAM treatment planning.
The dentists that you see being touted as “experts” at a local university “Dental Implant Center” (DIC) are likely to have significantly less “hands on” experience than your own dentist or others found in your own community. Your dentist has been in the trenches seeing and treating patients, not just reading and talking about it.
Do you really want to fight the bureaucracy of another government run organization to obtain treatment that is universally available in your own back yard?
Don’t let expensive marketing that is being paid for with your own tax dollars deceive you to think that an academic (“dry fingered”) dentist or surgeon can provide you with something special, when dental implants are a routine area of treatment in every contemporary dental practice.
On a practical basis, why struggle to find parking and then see a stranger to have dental implants when your personal dentist can take care of you in a familiar and comfortable surrounding?
In summary, don’t be caught going to the “DMV” or in this case the “DIC” for your dental implant care by being a victim of attractive and expensive advertising. Call your local private dentist for details on obtaining dental implants and/or call Connecticut Maxillofacial Surgeons for a referral to a restorative dentist in your area who can help you obtain predictable results with dental implants. Your local private dentist knows you and your dental history. He or she will do it better for less expense and with fewer hassles. And guess what? When you have a problem with your treatment you will not have to call the government to be seen for a fix.