5 Tips to Finding Affordable, Quality Dental Implants – A Patient’s Journey

The following post was submitted as a comment by user evagoblin. Due to it’s size and wealth of advice, we have posted it here. Please note that views expressed are those of evagoblin and not necessarily those of Dental Implant Cost Guide.

Over to Eva:

I spent a lot of time finding out the following information so you wouldn’t have to spend YOUR time, as I am getting no money, I am hoping for good karma (will buy my lottery ticket today!) or brownie points for heaven! I live in Southern Ca so information on specific dentists are mentioned from there but you can use the other tips for YOUR search!

3 Clinics That Offer Good Prices in Southern California

There are three in the Southern CA area I can recommend on price (have not had service there) and that is adhp.com and http://www.onestopimplants.com, (the first two are owned by the same owner) http://www.atlanticdentalgrp.com, and and what is good about them is that on their website they post their prices, so you know exactly what the cost is (I hated when I was shopping for implant costs that other dentists wanted you to come in for a “consultation”).

1) Dentists Should Provide Detailed Explanations of Their Prices

The best thing about them is the detailed explanations as to how they were able to offer a much lower cost than other dentist without compromising quality or “parts”. They decided on their prices by finding out what the other dentist in their area were charging, so YOU do not have to, saving you time and so they know they are offering the lowest prices (and they do because I DID some comparison shopping too.)

The down side for adhp is that they are only in Torrance one day, because they go to other locations during the week (which may be good for the other cities) but the One Stop Dental office is open for more hours in one location and for Atlantic Dental, it is that he wants to do the whole procedure including the crown and abutment (I will need a bridge so will have that done in Mexico but prefer the implant done in the U.S. if I have any problems with the implant taking).

2) Watch Out for Price Bait and Switch

There is another site I would NOT recommend and it does a bait and switch http://implants399.com Whittier Dental Center. Heavily advertised on billboards AND their website they offer implants for only $399, yet nowhere on the their billboards or website do they FIRST inform you, that you have to do the crown and abutment there so the total comes out to $1500 which is not a bad price.

So why not be honest and upfront about it as the first three, I HATE companies that try to trick you or are not transparent about their cost and wonder if they are dishonest in other ways.

I know one dentist (and hope there are others) that offer discounted services for the indigent, in Torrance it through a First Lutheran Church program called Serve, but his 50% cost is $1500 and only does this one Friday a month.

3) Look for Dentistry Grants

There is a company that gives grants, www.cosmeticdentistrygrants.org but there are disadvantages in that the locations they gave me were not close by (actually the cities seemed affluent so I think the dentists would charge higher) and the grants ranged from 15 to 50% you can NOT find out prices beforehand but have to get a personal consultation. So I think that their costs would be high and the grants would only bring it down to what the cheaper implant dentists already listed would charge.

4) Pros and Cons of Dental Schools

I have heard that USC and UCLA dental schools are cheaper and that USC may charge only 1K, but it is impossible to get an advance quote and at USC you have to pay almost $100 for fees/xrays before they even will accept you as a patient and then ANOTHER $55 for a consultation AFTER they accept you and none of those fees are applied to the cost (think UCLA is the same).

Plus even though they are supervised do you really want someone with NO experience doing the work when for ONLY a couple of hundred dollars more with the dentists I mentioned, you can get experienced doctors who can do the work much more quickly because that is all they do (the dentists I mention above can do it less than an hour).

The schools take much longer and often involve multiple trips-but if you live near there and have a lot of time. (caveat emptor though, I have seen on Yelp, complaints of dental students botching up more simple procedures).

5) Prioritize Clinics Who Post Prices Online

Rule of thumb always check first with implant provider who post their prices online, they are the cheapest (which is why they do). A strange thing is that if you google implants at dental schools you may not get the schools but you WILL get cheap implant dentists, that is how I found this dentist I am going to see http://www.healthysmilescalifornia.com/la-crescenta/ as he has a special of doing implants for $599 and I can get a ride as he is not nearby and he is willing to just do the implant without the reconstruction.

That is another thing which is good, is that often dentist offer implants specials (at least on one tooth) a dentist in my area offers a special $890 for an implant on one tooth, no crown, abutment, although he WILL charge more for the other teeth, drjoedentistry.com.

Closing Thoughts

First, do not accuse those who criticize others for seemingly begging on this site, I too resent it, thinking with their tales of woe or just being poor, someone will hand them money and why, those who earn more paying higher taxes often rarely use the services so they already helping people in poverty to have goods and services that people are asking for on here.

I am extremely compassionate in helping others, having been burned over almost 20K by those who were lent money, but never paying it back which has made me disillusioned about the honesty of others) but have just put that behind me, hopefully (and my vindictiveness is very understandable after what I’ve been through) their karma will come back to hurt them or they may not have difficulty getting into heaven LOL!!

One person said to someone that they may not be as clever as him, in using the resources of the internet to find a way to get help or cheaper implants. Well, if you are poorer, you NEED to learn these skills to do so, if you HAVE money you can just simply pay for things. I am 62 and when I was younger it was not so easy as it is now to find out helpful information.

With those that decry the lack of help that our government offers, I hope you did not vote for Trump (many who did are in the MOST need of these services), he just lowered the tax rates for wealthy individuals and corporations and with his high expenses of going to Mar Largo each weekend, well these could be your tax dollars that could be going to money to help your dental care.

However it IS a fact that Americans on the whole are more self absorbed than Europeans who have much better dental care due to their willingness to put the good of society over the own self interests by paying higher taxes to pay for it.

What to Read Next

• Does Medicaid or Medicare Cover Dental Implants?
• Find a Dentist Using Our Clinic Locator Map
• How to Find a Dentist You Can Trust
• Dental Schools That Provide Dental Implants

Over to You

Did you find these tips helpful? What tips do you have to share for finding a quality dental implant provider? Let us know by leaving a comment below!