Are you looking for cheap dental implants? What are the best ways to explore to make those implants affordable with your limited budget? We know dental implants are the most durable and natural-looking teeth replacement solutions among the many options available to replace lost teeth. They certainly are the most sought after alternatives in modern dentistry.
However, not everyone can afford the procedure because the cost for dental implants can reach several thousand dollars, even for a single tooth implant and you probably have also other important expenses in your to-pay list .
Please also keep in mind, cost is definitely important, but make sure the dentist or surgeon is experienced and trustworthy. Your teeth and your health are priceless.
So, how can you get that much-needed dental implant without breaking the bank, so to speak?
Here are some alternatives to explore:
Use the know – it – all trick and the 2 resources you will need
To get affordable dental implants, the first basic way is to learn as much as you can about this topic. I know it can sound pretty obvious, but keep reading, as it is not as simple as you think.
Most people do tend to rely too much on their dental expert and take for granted their words without some questioning, which somehow encourages dentists to use their “authority” to charge higher fees.
Of course, I don’t say you should not believe or trust him (or her), but remember your interest is not always aligned with your dentist interest, which is earning as much money as possible sometimes without your health in mind… (Ok that is probably the worst case scenario)
Luckily, most dentists are ethical professionals who might charge higher fees for many reasons but wouldn’t dare to get sued or get a bad reputation for malpractice.
So when meeting your dentist, if you know your topic enough, and kind of “show” you can’t be fooled easily like a newbie, (this is what I call the know – it – all trick), chances are this dental expert won’t be tempted to quote you outrageous prices.
Remember knowledge is power….
How to get clear and unbiased information on dental implants? Use our 2 resources. Simply read our super clear 101 guide to understand what dental implants are, the surgical procedure, the risks and benefits.
Once you know pretty well your topic, you need to take a look at our complete consumer guide on dental implant cost, which will give you everything you need to know about average dental implant cost per tooth and for full mouth, the 6 factors that influence the cost, insurance coverage.
Be a cheap dental implants detective with our free step-by-step guide
If you really want affordable dental implants, you need to roll your sleeves up and go to hunt those more affordable solutions. It will need a little work but at the end of the day, it will be worth it.
Every dentist has specific implant costs that can vary a lot from one dental implant center to another. So to find the cheapest solutions, you can’t possibly just get one quotation.
You will need to visit (check if the consultation is free or not) or contact several dentists and dental implant experts to get their prices for you situation. Of course depending on your budget, you will have to increase the number of dentists to visit or to contact. The lower your budget, the more dentists you need to check to increase your odds to find low cost dental implants.
Yet, it can be pretty daunting to contact all those professionals without being organized. You can easily lose track.
So to avoid being overwhelmed and be lost by all the information, be methodical and create what we call a “Dental implant hunt document “, it is mainly a quotation chart, which will serve to keep note of all your comments and prices in one place. So you can better compare them at the end.
OK ready to dive in? Follow our action list step by step:
- Make a list of the dentists, dental implant centers, dental clinics to contact (not to visit at this stage): you can type “dental implant dentist” in google for example to list down all the dental professionals in your city. Note down the ones you want, the more, the better of course, but it will depend on your time, your motivation and the number of dental implant specialist in your area.
- Find 2-3 clinics, which offer FREE consultation, this is very important. As these free consultations will serve you to list down exactly what procedures you need for your specific case and get your starting point for comparison. I really insist on finding at least 2-3 clinics so to be sure you get valid dental recommendations and advice. If you only have one clinic, it will be hard to be sure you have not been fooled.
- Contact these 3 clinics and set up an appointment as quickly as possible.
- Before any appointment, read our 2 articles here and here; it won’t take you more than a few minutes. And you will then be a dental implant expert. Nah, we are kidding, but you will know enough to know what is cheap or not, and know what important questions to ask
- Visit each dental clinic and note down prices, materials, options they do recommend for your dental problem. Check you have similar advice and recommended procedures for your case from all 3 dental implant centers. If those 3 clinics recommend different procedures, then you will have to find another one free consultation clinic to confirm which option is for you.
- Now you are ready to create you own dental implant hunt document. You will list down all the procedures involved for your situation (you know them now, thanks to these free consultations) Your document could look like the example below.
Date : 10/2/14 | Name | Address | Phone | Website | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Dental clinic | clinic A | D street | 0123 | example.com | info@example.com |
Dentist / Clinic impression | Dentist arrogant and acting high and mighty, but seems to be very skilled | ||||
Before afters | nice before and afters, but a bit looking too fake for some pics, will need to be clear about looking natural |
Procedure | Price | Materials / Comments |
---|---|---|
Consultation | ||
X- rays | ||
Ct scans | ||
Tooth extraction | ||
Implant for 1 tooth/ 2 teeth/ full mouth | ||
---implant--- | ||
---abutment--- | ||
---crown--- | ||
Anesthesia | ||
Additional procedures | ||
Bone augmentation | ||
Sinus lift | ||
Bone block |
- What to do with this document? You now know exactly what you need for your dental implants, so you can ask very specific questions to any dental centers of your original list without consultation (especially if they are not free). Call them or check their website. They often have a page where you can send them your enquiry. Ask them by email to give you their range cost for the specific procedure you need (again, you know what you need so you can be very specific and avoid wasting time) Of course, feel free to take advantage of other free consultations if you find more of them.
- As you go along and contact each dental implant center or clinic, note down the prices for each element and any useful comments about material used, your overall impression of the dentist if you can meet him. The key idea is to be really organized to keep track of the various prices you will gather, as you can easily forget what is what….They would sometimes give you all-inclusive prices, so be sure to note it down clearly.
- If you contact some dentists through their website, remember also to note down every clinic you contacted through their contact page to make sure you don’t end up contacting the same clinic several times. Believe me I did it several times…. I learnt my lesson…
- At the end, you will end up with several quotations from maybe 10 -15 dental centers. You can compare them through several criteria, take a better decision and possibly find the cheapest dental implants.
Please note you could have only checked free consultation clinics but from our experience, we know that clinics, which offer free consultations, are not always the cheapest ones as they somehow charge higher fees for their services to offset this free consultation. Yet, they can help you in your quest for cheap dental implants
Be a little more adventurous
You probably checked the dental clinics in your city or town, but you will probably have to check other towns close to your area of residence. You can set a limit as to how far you might want to go.
It would be interesting to look for implant experts in less crowded cities close to your home, as prices tend to be lower and more interesting.
I am sure you won’t mind driving for four hours, if you can save a thousand bucks or two, then it is still worth a try. You could also take a bus, or a plan ticket; the additional cost would certainly be lower than the price difference.
In one research done for this article, we found a dental expert in Ohio offering dental implant for about $4,000 to $5,000 while another one located in California offers the same service at $9,000. Even with travel cost included, the $4000+ difference in prices is still a bargain.
Group discount with a dash of creativity
If you have made up you mind and know which dental clinic you want for your dental implants, then there is an easy way to get cheaper prices.
Try to find among your family, or friends other people who are also looking for affordable dental implants, so you could go together and get substantial discount as a group.
It would certainly be worth trying for financial reason but also for emotional support. Even though the dental procedure is a “simple” procedure, going together with friends and family can be a pretty nice journey to do and certainly more fun than doing it alone… You can support each other and make this whole process way less stressing.
Before contacting your family or friends, I advise you to contact the dental implant center of your choice, and ask them how much discount they would be willing to give you for a group. You will need to secure this deal by requiring precise numbers in written form: nothing too formal but at least how many patients, the price ….
If you can’t find any other potential patients among your family and friends, then you could certainly try local organizations, clubs. Be creative, don’t be shy. There are certainly people out there who also need discount dental implants just like you. Let other people know what you want and you might come across other people who were also interested in having implants but could not afford the cost.
With potential discounts, that could help you and them. What a perfect win win situation even for the dentist!
Can you contact your local radio? I know it may sound far fetched but hey, who knows, local radios are always willing to help the local community, and this is great opportunity for them to do so…
Don’t stop there. What about the social media? Facebook, twitter are certainly the best way to find the lucky patients of your dental group, send messages to your digital friends, ask them to help you forward your message indicating you are looking for people around your area who may consider getting affordable implants, explain your reason and why you are doing this as you obviously don’t want people to think it is disguised advertising…
You could also share this article and add your message as well 😉 , chances are you will find those extra people, find new friends in the process, help others in other areas, and help us as the same time. Haha. Anyway, if you do share it, thank you in advance, if you don’t, it is ok, we are already happy you spend some time reading it.
Ok let’s keep on checking other alternatives to find inexpensive dental implants.
Be a guinea pig
Not literally of course, but did you know you could approach dental schools in your area and ask them if they have a dental implant program for new dentists?
These young graduates need to get their hands on anyone’s tooth just to gain the experience they need to charge very high professional fees in the future. Don’t worry, they are always guided and supervised by a senior dentist… and must usually pass several assessment tests way before “touching” any patient teeth….
If you are able to get yourself in the waiting list, then you are in luck. But more often than not, these schools offer dental implant service to people who have low-income. If you can make a case for yourself, then you’re in with low cost dental implants.
Charity case
Of course, there are also charitable institutions and dental societies that perform dental implants for free or at very low prices.
Again, the preferred patients are those who are financially limited. If you belong to a certain demographic group like persons with disabilities, veterans, and the likes, check your local organizations or associations and see if they offer dental implant services.
Have a look at the American Dental Association website that lists both state dental associations in its directory.
Most people often forget the many benefits they are entitled to, and proposed by their local organizations which aim to help and enable a wider access to health services. So give it a try.
Chunking one big task down into achievable steps
If you know that you have a good credit rating, you may want to look for financing companies that cover dental implants. It is the possibility of achieving one too big a goal with multiple achievable steps.
That is the case of Care credit, that helps you finance health, beauty and dental expenses by giving you the possibility of paying for the procedures immediately.
In exchange of getting the total amount required for your dental implants, you will pay several small installment (usually monthly payments), which is definitely easier for most of us.
There will certainly be some fees and interests that you need to pay, but the good thing is you don’t need to wait any longer to get access to the teeth implants you need for your confidence and dental health.
If necessary, you can also probably also check if you can lend some money from your family and friends but please keep in mind, you need to be careful and be really sure you can pay them back. Don’t ruin these precious relationships.
Be a member and get exclusive discounts on dental implants
Did you know you could get discount dental implants by being a member of dental plans? What are those dental plans? They function like a membership with you paying monthly or yearly fees.
In return, you get access to very interesting reduced rates ranging from 10 to 60% on your dental implants.
Depending on your needs and more importantly your budget, you can choose from more than 40 dental plans ranging from $80 per year to $ 300 per year, which offer savings on dental implants but not only, they can cover dental checkups, braces, x rays….almost anything related to dental care.
The advantage over traditional dental insurance is you don’t really have paperwork… (Ok I am little biased, I hate paperwork like most of you, it drives me crazy. Don’t you think things could be so much easier?….)
The drawback is that you will only work with the dentists or dental service providers affiliated with the dental plans but frankly, with over 100 000 participating dentists nationwide, I think you can probably find your ideal dental expert. Check the different dental plans available for affordable implants here
Dental tourism: get even more adventurous
Dental tourism is a viable alternative when seeking cheap implants that can even be as low as half price dental implants.
Every year, about 400 000 Americans do travel abroad for dental care. This is a trend that keeps growing. So you won’t be the only one if you decide to find inexpensive dental implants outside the American borders.
Many countries, especially in Asia, Central and South America do provide dental implant services at a cost less than half of that in the US, UK, and other advanced nations.
In a cost comparison made among dental clinics in seven countries in Asia based on their dental implant advertisement, India has the cheapest dental implants with a cost a little above $600, while Singapore offers dental implants at a cost close to $4,000.
For some of you, that would be a great way to combine low cost dental implants and vacation, which is why dental tourism is so popular. We frankly think it can be pretty interesting as many patients chose to go abroad to get those low cost dental implants and were very satisfied. There are great dentists everywhere…. We heard good reviews for Mexico, Uk, Philippines, Costa Rica, and Hungary in Europe or South – Korea in Asia. Many offers are available.
Keep in mind you may get cheap teeth implants, but you need to take into account the language issue and several additional expenses like the flight tickets, the accommodation and what you will pay to eat delicious foreign food.
So weigh the pros and cons, add up every expense to check if it is worth it for you and your teeth situation.
Seek Other Alternatives
If all the previous alternatives are not available for you, then you may consider getting other forms of dental treatment that are less costly like a bridge, that would use the 2 surrounding teeth as support.
It would mean grinding and shaping those teeth so to fit dental crowns, which would serve as support for the replacement teeth in between.
It would be less expensive for sure, and could last an average of 15 years or so. But the main drawback is that the bone right under the replacement tooth would atrophy slowly with time, which could eventually affect the 2 surrounding teeth. It would mean new dental expenses that could easily be even higher than the cost of a single dental implant. So if possible try to find cheap implants, as according to most dentists, dental implants are certainly the best way to keep healthy teeth and healthy bone in the long run.
I spent some time reading your posts as I will soon need dental implants to replace 2 teeth. They are very informative. thank you
hi tania
thank you for the compliment. yeah rhino posts are coming soon…Feel free to come by whenever you need 🙂
I absolutely love your blog and find your
posts to be clear and really informative. I shared you post with one friend of mine. will you write about rhino soon?
Hi tarra,
thanks 🙂 yeah I am working on the nose part it should be online in a few weeks 🙂 stay tuned
I’m glad I found your nice website. my husband needs 2 dental implants, so I was looking for some information. perfect timing ! thanks for sharing.
hi holly, no pb. Feel free to keep us updated.
I do not even know the way I stopped up right here, however I
assumed this put up was good. I do not know who you might
be but definitely you are going to a well-known blogger in case
you aren’t already. Cheers!
hi darren
well that is really kind of you, fingers crossed 🙂