Please introduce yourself.
Hello Alex, first of all I was happy to find out that you are open to share some info about our dental clinic and dental tourism in Romania which is growing fast in the lately years. I hope the info I shall provide to be of help for all your readers interested in treatments abroad.
My name is Dr. Raluca Gurban – Specialist in Periodontology and Implantology, the name of our clinic is Intelident which is located in Bucharest, Romania.
My educational background
Graduated from the Faculty of Dentistry at the “Carol Davila” University of Medicine and Pharmacy – Faculty of Dentistry in Bucharest Romania, Dr. Raluca Gurban participated in training courses throughout his career, such as:
- Periodontology Curriculum – Dr. Anton Sculean
- Current Regenarative Techniques in Implant Therapy – Dr. Istvan Urban
- Parodontology Conference – Dr. Cobi Landsberg
April 2013 – promotion of specialist exam
“Carol Davila” University of Medicine and Pharmacy – Faculty of Dentistry, 2009 – Final Grade 9.75
2009/10 – present Member of Bucharest Dental College
How long have you been in business?
I have started to practice on my own since early 2011, and in early 2014 have succeeded to open Intelident – a brand new dental clinic which has currently a team of 11 doctors covering all dental treatments.
How many dental implant procedures have you done?
Since April 2013 (the date of periodontology specialist exam – which gives me the competence to perform dental implant procedures) I have performed over 150 implants.
Where do most of your patients come from? How do they hear about your clinic?
Most of my patients are locals, but over the last two years a lot of patients from Spain, Italy and UK have come to me for dental treatments – mostly for implants, at my first location and now at Intelident.
Most of the foreign patients were initially recommendations from Romanian patients that work/moved to Spain, Italy or UK. And over the years these foreign patients have recommended me to their friends or relatives.
What procedures do you typically perform?
I recommend what is suitable for each patient and I can perform all of the following: metallic ceramic or zirconium ceramic crowns, full ceramic crowns (E-Max), dental veneers, periodontal treatments, dental implants, metallic ceramic or zirconium ceramic crowns on implants, bone grafting, sinus lifting surgery, etc. If necessary another specialist will see the patient for other procedures like root canal procedures, orthodontics also within our dental clinic.
What type of implants (technology) does your clinic use?
We work only with Bio Horizons (USA) implants and Straumann (Swiss) premium implants. I believe they fully cover all types of patients, thinking of the best ratio quality/cost these two types of implants offer.
Please summarize the steps of getting an implant.
To start the procedure of getting an implant at our clinic, we need to well diagnose each case and create a treatment plan that we present to the patient. A recent and as accurate as possible X-Ray is needed. The first X-Ray is taken in the home country of our patient, so the patient will receive his complete dental treatment plan before even getting his air ticket to Bucharest, Romania. The dental treatment plan will include every aspect about the cost, time needed to be spent in Bucharest, Romania or other important details every patients needs to know.
Please give a quick description of the surgical procedure.
Generally speaking, having implants fitted is not at all painful. Just like any surgery, there can be some discomfort.
Local anesthesia and patient sedation are used to eliminate any discomfort at the time of the procedure. Most of our patients report that they were much more comfortable following the procedure than they had anticipated.
After the anesthesia, the gum is separated and the implant is inserted and then covered by the gum. The abutment is attached at a later date. The implant must be left for 3 to 6 months. This time is called the osseointegration phase, when the patient will have some type of temporary replacement teeth, so that the patient never has to be without teeth during treatment.
When the abutment is in place, a new impression is made. This is almost the final stage of the tooth implant procedure. Based on this final impression, our dental technician partner will carefully craft the dental crown for the implant. The crown is the artificial tooth that will be attached to the implant abutment. We require special attention and communication with the patient, to ensure the right colour and shape so that the new tooth looks like the surrounding natural teeth.
When the crown is ready, we simply attach it to the dental implant. That’s all there is to it!
How much do your procedures cost?
Our total cost for dental implants:
1) 690 USD for Bio Horizons (SUA) implant – the price includes post and abutment and surgery
2) 960 USD for Straumann (Swiss) Implant – the price includes only the post and surgery, while the abutment is separate 240 USD
Separate, there are two options for crowns on implants:
- metalic-ceramic crown on implant 280 USD
- zirconium – ceramic crown on implant 440 USD
How many trips to Romania are needed for 1-2 implants?
For all our patients it is required two visits. First is for the implant placement and this stage will require a 2-3 days visit to Romania, to assure the after surgery check-up. The second visit is for prosthetics stage – dental crown on implant, after 3-6 months from first visit and will require a 7-8 days visit for one or two implants. Also for more implants the length of stay varies very few for both visits.
How long is the healing period?
Healing times for implants vary depending on the quality of the patient’s bone and are often extended in cases where performing adjunctive procedures is necessary. In general, dental implants require three to six months for the bone to heal (without being exposed to extra forces from biting). Over the last years, the mechanism of bone attachment to titanium has improved the healing process which helps to shorten the healing period.
What do your patients do if they have a problem?
We pay the greatest attention possible to the initial phase, starting from request a very recent X-Ray as accurate as possible, followed by the right type of implant suitable for the patient. If these steps are fully completed correct, I trust there should be no problem for any patient. There are cases when problems can appear even to any great experienced dental implant specialist, but the only problem I have in mind is the loosening of the crown on implant, which to me is a simple procedure and could be fixed at a local dentist.
We offer great value to communication with all our patients all the time, starting from the first contact and even after the treatment is completed. We also request all our patients to visit a local dentist every 6 months for simple checkup and prophylaxis in order for the dental implants life to be extended to maximum.
We have had no patient travelling back to Bucharest except the two regular visits yet and we are keen to keep that number to same level.
What other costs are involved?
The roundtrip air ticket from US to Bucharest Romania usually starts from $700 up to $1000 depending on the time of booking and season of travelling. Very decent 3-4 star hotels close to our clinic in Bucharest start from $40-45/night including breakfast, while most of the international chains are present like Radisson, Hilton, Marriott, Intercontinental, Ramada, Crowne Plaza, etc. There are a lot of good restaurants in most parts of the city, and the prices start from $10/very decent meal for a person.
Where do your patients stay?
We have a list of hotels nearby our clinic we suggest to our patients, but they are welcomed to choose any location they find on their own in Bucharest.
What is there to do in your city?
Bucharest is surely the most visited city in Romania by foreign tourists. Bucharest offers a great variety of exciting sights to see. Patients who decide to walk around the town to learn more about it while here for the dental treatment, will be enchanted by the charming squares and streets and all the historic monuments of the town, as well by the magical scents of local restaurants or coffee shops in the famous old part of the city. The suggested time to come for dental treatments starts from March to October when weather is pleasant to be here.
What are the best places to eat in your area? Where can a patient get authentic Romanian cuisine?
There are lots of restaurants with authentic Romanian cuisine all over Bucharest, but on the top list I think would be the ones from old city center which is a 5-10 minutes drive from our dental clinic. I recommend the Caru cu Bere, Lacrimi si Sfinti, Jaristea, Hanul lui Manuc, The Artist restaurants and the list continues – all these have the menus in several languages.
Contact Intelident Dental Clinic
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Please note: This interview is for informational purposes only and does not represent a recommendation of the dentist mentioned. All opinions expressed are those of the interviewee.
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