Affordable & Free Dental Implant Options

Are you somebody who’s hesitant to get affordable dental implants because you’re not sure if dental implants are reliable? Say no more, you’re about to learn how advancements in medical technology are making dental implants more affordable than ever. Before we can get into any specifics, it’s important to know that dental implants are a permanent solution for missing teeth.

Affordable Options For Dental Implants

Dental implants require special procedure work which is why dental implants used to be expensive, costing upwards of $3000 or more. Luckily advancements in technology have made dental implants affordable for everyone looking to get them. There are many options one can take to find the best deals available. If you have dental insurance or a dental discount plan you can save thousands of dollars. Medigap and Medicare Advantage plans offer dental insurance for a small fee each year. Many seniors have been able to save up to 80% on dental implants.

How To Get Free Dental Implants

Wondering how many seniors have been able to get dental implants completely free? There are many ways to get dental implants for free such as grants, charities, clinical trials, and dental schools. There are many options to consider so we’ll help you get the best answer.

Free Dental Implant Programs

Cosmetic Dentistry Grants (CDG) is a nonprofit organization and its mission is to help everyone have a healthy beautiful smile. CDG offers funding for a wide range of procedures which includes dental implants for free to people who reach out to them.

Dental Lifeline Network is another nonprofit organization that gives access to dental care for people with disabilities, people who are 65+, and people who are medically fragile. Their Donated Dental Services (DDS) program involves 15,000 volunteer dentists and 3,700 volunteer laboratories. This program provides free treatments to patients including dental implants. All you have to do is apply to their program.

Dental Schools offer free dental implants to many people who need them as well. Dental schools are incentivized to offer free services so that their students can gain experience performing procedures on real humans. Check out your local dental school and see what free services they are offering. In many cases, people have gotten complete dental work for free.

Free Dental Implants For Seniors

Seniors over the age of 55 and need dental implants can look into a program called Program of All-inclusive Care for the Elderly (PACE). This program is a community-based program that helps the elderly get the services needed. PACE helps pay for services, like implants, that medicare doesn’t cover.

What are dental implants?
It’s important to know what a dental implant is, and how it differs from other dental procedures like denaturing. A dental implant is a surgical procedure that involves drilling a titanium post into the sockets of the jawbone where the missing teeth once were. The titanium post is crowned with one or several ceramic teeth that look and feel just like real teeth. The titanium post is essentially the root of the ceramic teeth, and the jawbone will fuse with them to hold them in place for life. It’s an incredible achievement in dental technology and the best part is, you don’t have to take them out every night before bed like dentures. The procedure seems daunting, but depending on the health of your jawbone, oral tissue, and the specific type of implant, it is a quick procedure.

So what kind of technology improvements?
Well, titanium has been used in dentistry since the 1940s and it continues to be improved, it’s a biocompatible metal which means it binds to organic tissue and bone. It’s known for its resistance to corrosion from bodily fluids, its biointertness, capacity for osseointegration, and a high fatigue limit. These characteristics have been strengthened by adding materials to the surfaces of the titanium, which inhibit osseointegration. The surface modification includes the following: sandblasted and acid-etched, titanium plasma-sprayed, anodized, oxidized, and hydroxyapatite. Dental implants have also been improved with the assistance of computer-aided design and manufacturing, and also 3D printing. Other improvements include tilted implants that better fit a patient’s jawbone, better grafting materials, and some other alternative techniques like shorter implants.

Tons of studies have been done that have helped speed up the healing times of the implants. Research in the materials and techniques used to complete the surgery have reduced healing times, which are anywhere between 3-6 months. Shorter implants are also now being used to decrease patient discomfort, healing times, as well as lower procedure costs and shorter surgery time. Improvements have been made in sinus lifting, which is an augmentation of the sinus and bone grafting to successfully insert dental implants into the upper jaw while avoiding complications of sinuses. Tilted implants, which are angled titanium posts, are now being used to avoid sinus augmentation altogether.

3D printing has been a technology phenomenon in the past few years. 3D printers used to be huge machines that took a painstaking amount of time to print even the simplest materials, but 3D printing has now evolved to become not just a household item, but also capable of printing biological material, like skin tissue. Thanks to advancements in 3D printing technology along with computer-aided design (CAD), it has developed a widespread use in modern dentistry. Prosthodontists, the professionals responsible for designing the teeth, are now able to custom make crowns and bridges that are completely unique to each patient, and the design process is incredibly quick thanks to 3D printing. 3D printing had already been in use for prototyping the materials to use in such dental procedures, but thanks to the rapid developments in 3D printing technology, it’s being used for the actual production models that are implanted in the jaw. The 3D printers are able to print not only the ceramics used in crowns and bridges but the titanium posts as well. 3D printing has also created innovative surgical guides made of tough plastics for placing the implants, which greatly minimizes human error. Experiments on monkeys have also been done on the possibility of using CAD and 3D printing to create a custom titanium post that more organically resembles the missing root rather than a threaded, straight, or tapered design. The fusing of bone to titanium had proven to be quickened, which ultimately lowers healing times. For example, say a patient needs a dead tooth to be replaced. Before even removing the tooth, dental professionals can scan the tooth and create a 3D image of it in a computer. They can then 3D print a dental implant resembling that tooth and its root and has it ready for replacement, which eliminates the need for a second surgery altogether.

So why are these improvements important?
Such advancements in the technology of the materials, techniques, and designs have increased the success rate of dental implants dramatically, so much so that dental professionals are recommending them over other more temporary solutions to your missing teeth. Also, these advancements don’t just make dental implant procedures easier for surgeons, it’s easier on you, the patient! Imagine being told that after your surgery, you’ll experience minimal discomfort for a short while, and you’ll only have to wait a couple months for healing. Then you can use your permanent, new teeth for the rest of your life! Compare this to the awkward, discomfort of wearing dentures for the rest of your life. The advancements in dental implant technology have made dental implants such a great choice for people that denture use is on the decline. In a scientific journal, a study showed declined denture use has been on a downward trend since the 1980s, which is when dental implants were first becoming a widespread practice.

Where do I find the most advanced dental implants?
Finding dental implants that put to use the latest technology in dental implant procedures is of utmost importance. You have to know where to look. Start online and look in your area. Find maxillofacial surgeons that boast state-of-the-art equipment and professionals. They will employ the latest in dental implant technology that will make your surgery quick and relatively painless.

Citations

https://www.mayoclinic.org/tests-procedures/dental-implant-surgery/about/pac-20384622
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5671421/