What affects the cost of dental implants

This page explains what actually sits behind the number, so you can compare quotes properly and understand what you are being asked to pay for.

What a single implant actually involves

A dental implant is not one item. It is made up of several parts:

• The implant itself, a small titanium screw placed into the jawbone, which takes the place of the tooth root.
• The abutment, the connector that sits on the implant.
• The crown, the visible tooth, made to match the teeth around it.

In practice the abutment and crown are usually planned and made together as one piece of laboratory work rather than bought separately, and the finished restoration is then either screwed or cemented onto the implant.

That choice matters more than it sounds. A screw retained crown can be unscrewed and taken off again, which makes it straightforward to clean, adjust or repair years later. A cement retained crown is fixed in place with dental cement, which can give a better result where a screw access hole would otherwise show on a front tooth, or where the implant sits at an awkward angle. They use different components and involve different laboratory work, so they do not usually cost the same.

Between placing the implant and fitting the final crown there is a healing period, while the bone grows onto the implant surface and holds it firmly. That is why implant treatment is normally spread over months rather than weeks.

Whether the implant goes in straight away

An implant can sometimes be placed at the same appointment as the tooth is taken out. In other cases the socket is left to heal first and the implant is placed later.

Immediate placement can mean fewer surgical appointments, but it is not suitable for everyone, and it often needs grafting around the implant at the same time to fill the space the root left behind. Delayed placement is more predictable in some situations and may avoid that extra work.

Separately, a temporary crown can sometimes be fitted on the day, so you are not left with a gap while the implant heals. Whether that is possible depends on how firmly the implant sits once it is placed, and on where it is in the mouth.

Each of these routes involves a different number of appointments and different components, which is one reason two plans for the same missing tooth can be priced differently.

Whether your jaw is ready for an implant

This is the single biggest variable, and the one patients rarely anticipate.

An implant needs enough bone to hold it securely. When a tooth has been missing for a while, the bone that used to support it gradually shrinks. Gum disease and some injuries have the same effect. If there is not enough bone, it has to be rebuilt before, or sometimes at the same time as, the implant is placed.

Bone grafting adds bone where there is too little, and then needs its own healing period before the implant goes in.

A sinus lift applies to the upper back teeth. The sinus cavity sits directly above these roots, and when those teeth have been missing for some time there is often not enough height between the sinus floor and the jaw for an implant. A sinus lift creates that height.

How visible the tooth is

Replacing a back tooth and replacing a front tooth are different pieces of work, even though both are “an implant”.

If you have a high smile line, meaning your gums show when you smile, the gum around the implant has to look right as well as the tooth. Where bone and gum have already been lost, rebuilding that soft tissue and bone contour becomes part of the treatment. This can involve gum grafting alongside the bone work, and careful shaping of the gum over several appointments before the final crown is made.

The implant may be the same; the work around it is not.

How difficult the procedure is

Complexity varies widely, and it is a genuine cost difference rather than a pricing policy.

A straightforward single implant in good bone, with easy access and no structures nearby to avoid, is a different procedure from one placed close to the nerve in the lower jaw, in dense or very soft bone, in a tight space between tilted teeth, or where a previous implant has failed and the site has to be repaired first. These take longer, need more planning, and sometimes need additional components.

How the planning is done

You cannot assess bone volume reliably from a standard dental x-ray, which is flat. A 3D CBCT scan shows the bone in three dimensions and, importantly, shows exactly where the nerve in the lower jaw runs, so the implant can be planned around it.

Planning can also be taken a step further. In guided surgery, the scan and a digital plan are used to make a custom surgical guide, which fits over the teeth or gum and directs the implant into the exact position that was planned. The alternative, freehand placement, relies on the clinician’s judgement at the time of surgery. Guided surgery adds the cost of the planning software, the digital workflow and the manufactured guide itself, so it is not the cheaper route. It is particularly useful where space is tight, where several implants have to relate accurately to one another, or where a structure such as the nerve or the sinus has to be avoided by a fine margin.

Planning is a small part of the overall cost and the part that most influences whether the rest goes well.

How many teeth you are replacing

A reasonable assumption is that four missing teeth need four implants. They usually do not.

Implants can carry more than one tooth. Two implants can support a bridge spanning three or four teeth, so the number of implants is driven by where the bone is and how the bite loads them, not by a simple count of gaps. This is why a larger gap is not always proportionally more expensive.

For a full arch, meaning all the teeth in the upper or lower jaw, a fixed bridge is supported on a small number of implants rather than one per tooth, using an approach based on four to six implants depending on the individual case. It is a substantially larger piece of treatment than a single implant: more surgery, more components, more laboratory work and more appointments.

Sedation, if you want it

Implant placement is done under local anaesthetic, and many people are comfortable with that alone. If you would rather be sedated, intravenous sedation is available. It is optional, and worth discussing if anxiety is part of what has delayed you.

Why two quotes can differ so much

When you compare, it is worth asking each practice the same questions:

• What is included? Does the figure cover the implant, the abutment and the crown, or only the surgical placement? Does it include the scan, the consultation and the review appointments?
• Has anyone assessed whether grafting is needed? A quote given without a 3D scan may not have accounted for it.
• If grafting is needed, what kind? Graft materials differ in origin, in how they are processed and in cost, and the amount needed varies a great deal from one site to another. Membranes and fixation components add to this. Two practices can both say “bone graft” and mean quite different things.
• Which implant system is used? Some brands cost considerably more than others. We place Straumann implants, one of the most established and extensively researched systems in implant dentistry, which also means the components remain available years later if anything needs adjusting or replacing. That matters more than it sounds, and it is part of why systems are not all priced alike.
• Is the crown screw retained or cement retained, and what is it made of?
• Is the implant placed freehand or with a surgical guide?
• Who places the implant, and who restores it?
• What happens afterwards, what follow up is included, and what happens if there is a problem?

A lower quote is not automatically worse. But a quote that is lower because it excludes the crown, the scan or the grafting is not actually lower.

Treatment abroad

Implant treatment overseas is often priced well below UK treatment, and some people have it done successfully. The practical questions are about what happens after you come home: who reviews the work, who maintains it, and who deals with it if a component fails or loosens in a few years’ time. Components vary between systems, and a UK dentist cannot always service an implant placed elsewhere.

That is worth thinking through before the saving is the deciding factor, rather than afterwards.

What it costs

Because so much depends on the individual case, guide fees for consultations, scans, implants, grafting and full arch treatment are set out on our pricing page.

After your consultation and scan you receive a written treatment plan setting out the full cost of your particular treatment, itemised, before anything is booked. Nothing proceeds until you have seen it.

There is more about the treatment itself on the dental implants page.