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Dental Implant Nightmare: The “Cheaper” Choice That Can Cost You More · SmileMoreDentistry with Mariliza LaCap, DDS

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: If you're comparing dental implant prices and one option is dramatically cheaper, I want you to hear what happened to Gabriel before you decide based on price alone.
• 0:10
  SPEAKER_00: Gabriel was 55, and by the time he first needed major dental work, he already had a lot going on.
• 0:16
  SPEAKER_00: He was missing teeth, he had infected teeth, periodontal disease, and he needed several extractions along with crown and bridge work.
• 0:23
  SPEAKER_00: Gabriel looked at that number and thought what a lot of people would think.
• 0:28
  SPEAKER_00: There has to be a cheaper way to do this.
• 0:31
  SPEAKER_00: So he found one.
• 0:32
  SPEAKER_00: He went to another country, had the dentistry done there for less, he came home, and for a while he felt pretty good about that decision.
• 0:41
  SPEAKER_00: He had spent less money, the work was done, and he had teeth again.
• 0:45
  SPEAKER_00: From his point of view, the problem was behind him.
• 0:47
  SPEAKER_00: But this is where complicated dental work gets tricky.
• 0:50
  SPEAKER_00: If a crown turns black or a bridge falls out the day after it is placed, you know immediately that something is wrong.
• 0:57
  SPEAKER_00: But if bacteria are getting underneath a bridge and the supporting teeth are slowly breaking down, you can walk around thinking everything is fine while the damage keeps growing underneath it.
• 1:07
  SPEAKER_00: And that's what happened to Gabriel.
• 1:09
  SPEAKER_00: Over time, recurrent decay developed around the dentistry and he ended up losing more teeth.
• 1:15
  SPEAKER_00: But that upper bridge was still in place.
• 1:17
  SPEAKER_00: So whatever was happening underneath it was not necessarily something he could see every morning in the mirror.
• 1:24
  SPEAKER_00: Then one night, Gabriel was out having dinner with his family, and while he was eating, that bridge started moving.
• 1:30
  SPEAKER_00: At first, I can imagine him doing what anybody would do.
• 1:34
  SPEAKER_00: He is touching it with his tongue, biting down carefully, trying to figure out whether it has always moved a little bit or whether something is really wrong.
• 1:41
  SPEAKER_00: Well, something was wrong.
• 1:43
  SPEAKER_00: The bridge kept getting looser.
• 1:45
  SPEAKER_00: He made it through dinner, went home, and by the time he was standing in his bathroom, the entire upper bridge came out into the sink.
• 1:52
  SPEAKER_00: Now imagine that moment.
• 1:54
  SPEAKER_00: You traveled to save money.
• 1:56
  SPEAKER_00: You thought this problem had been taken care of.
• 1:58
  SPEAKER_00: And now you're standing there holding the teeth that were supposed to last.
• 2:02
  SPEAKER_00: That is when Gabriel came to us.
• 2:04
  SPEAKER_00: I've been a dentist for 35 years and treated more than 15,000 patients.
• 2:09
  SPEAKER_00: And when we examined what was underneath that bridge, the bridge falling out was only part of the problem.
• 2:14
  SPEAKER_00: The teeth that had been supporting it were rotting.
• 2:17
  SPEAKER_00: Not one little area, all of the teeth.
• 2:20
  SPEAKER_00: Holding that bridge had deteriorated enough that they had to be extracted.
• 2:25
  SPEAKER_00: So now Gabriel was not simply replacing something that had come loose.
• 2:29
  SPEAKER_00: He had lost more teeth, he needed more surgery, and the amount of dentistry required to rebuild his mouth had become much larger than the treatment he had originally tried to save money on.
• 2:39
  SPEAKER_00: That is how cheaper dentistry can become very expensive dentistry.
• 2:44
  SPEAKER_00: And I want to be clear about something.
• 2:46
  SPEAKER_00: This is not a video about never traveling for dental work.
• 2:49
  SPEAKER_00: There are excellent dentists all over the world and there are bad dentists right down the street.
• 2:54
  SPEAKER_00: The problem is comparing dentistry as if you're comparing the exact same television at two different stores.
• 3:01
  SPEAKER_00: Gabriel did not choose cheaper dentistry because he did not care about his teeth.
• 3:05
  SPEAKER_00: He chose it because he thought he was getting the same solution for less money.
• 3:10
  SPEAKER_00: That is where people can get into trouble.
• 3:12
  SPEAKER_00: Because two treatment plants can both say implants on your quote and still be very different once they're in your mouth.
• 3:18
  SPEAKER_00: What are you actually buying?
• 3:19
  SPEAKER_00: When Gabriel originally needed treatment, he did not simply need a bridge or some crowns.
• 3:26
  SPEAKER_00: He had infection, missing teeth, and gum disease, which means there were decisions that had to be made before anybody started building new teeth.
• 3:34
  SPEAKER_00: Which teeth were actually healthy enough to keep?
• 3:36
  SPEAKER_00: Which teeth were too compromised?
• 3:38
  SPEAKER_00: What condition were the gums and bone in?
• 3:41
  SPEAKER_00: And if a bridge was going to rely on certain teeth for support, were those teeth strong enough to carry it for years?
• 3:48
  SPEAKER_00: Those are the questions underneath the treatment plan.
• 3:51
  SPEAKER_00: A patient may look at two estimates and see the same words on both of them.
• 3:56
  SPEAKER_00: Bridge, implants, crowns.
• 3:58
  SPEAKER_00: And naturally you think, if this dentist wants twice as much money, why would I not just choose the cheaper one?
• 4:05
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe the plans really are similar.
• 4:07
  SPEAKER_00: But maybe one person is treating the disease first and the other is simply building on top of it.
• 4:13
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe one person is saving teeth that have a reasonable chance of lasting and the other is using questionable teeth as anchors for a much larger restoration.
• 4:23
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe the materials are different.
• 4:25
  SPEAKER_00: The planning is different, or the follow-up is completely different.
• 4:29
  SPEAKER_00: You cannot see all of that by looking at the total at the bottom of the page.
• 4:33
  SPEAKER_00: That is why I care so much about the foundation.
• 4:36
  SPEAKER_00: I can make you a beautiful bridge today, but if the teeth underneath it are already compromised and we never fix why they are breaking down, that beautiful bridge may be sitting on top of a problem you cannot see.
• 4:50
  SPEAKER_00: And by the time you can see it, we may already be having a much bigger conversation.
• 4:55
  SPEAKER_00: The part nobody prices out.
• 4:58
  SPEAKER_00: The next thing I wish more people compared is what happens after the dentistry is finished.
• 5:03
  SPEAKER_00: Because the day somebody gives you your new teeth is not the end of the story.
• 5:08
  SPEAKER_00: You still have to chew with them, clean around them, and maintain the gums and bone around them.
• 5:13
  SPEAKER_00: And somebody needs to keep an eye on how everything is holding up.
• 5:16
  SPEAKER_00: Gabriel's bridge did not go from perfectly healthy to sitting in the sink over one course of dinner.
• 5:23
  SPEAKER_00: The dinner was simply the night he finally knew there was a problem.
• 5:27
  SPEAKER_00: The decay underneath had been progressing before that, and the supporting teeth had been getting weaker before that.
• 5:33
  SPEAKER_00: That is why follow-up matters so much.
• 5:37
  SPEAKER_00: I want to find a problem when it is still small enough that we can deal with simply.
• 5:42
  SPEAKER_00: I do not want the first sign of trouble to be three teeth that can no longer be saved.
• 5:47
  SPEAKER_00: So before you choose where to have major dentistry done, ask what the follow-up actually looks like.
• 5:53
  SPEAKER_00: Who is checking the gums around the work?
• 5:56
  SPEAKER_00: Who is making sure you can clean it properly?
• 5:58
  SPEAKER_00: If something starts to feel loose or uncomfortable, who do you call?
• 6:02
  SPEAKER_00: And if you traveled a long distance for the dentistry, how easy is it to get back to the person who planned and did the work?
• 6:08
  SPEAKER_00: Because once the answer becomes go see a dentist where you live, somebody else is now trying to figure out a case they did not diagnose or plan.
• 6:17
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes that's straightforward.
• 6:19
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes it absolutely is not.
• 6:22
  SPEAKER_00: And if you're looking at a large treatment plan right now and the number is making your stomach hurt, I totally understand.
• 6:28
  SPEAKER_00: It does not mean you have to blindly choose the most expensive option because sometimes there is an A plan, a B plan, and a C plan.
• 6:37
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes treatment can be staged.
• 6:40
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes we can deal with the urgent problem first and give you time before doing the rest.
• 6:45
  SPEAKER_00: What I do not want you doing is choosing based on one number without understanding why that number is lower and what you may be giving up to get it there.
• 6:55
  SPEAKER_00: So if you want to come to one of our offices in New Jersey or New York and you'd like our team to help you understand your options, you can contact us through the link in the description.
• 7:05
  SPEAKER_00: Who takes responsibility if something fails?
• 7:08
  SPEAKER_00: This is the question almost nobody wants to ask when they are getting new teeth.
• 7:12
  SPEAKER_00: Because understandably, you are not picturing them breaking.
• 7:15
  SPEAKER_00: You're picturing yourself smiling again, eating again, and finally being finished with the whole process.
• 7:22
  SPEAKER_00: But ask anyway, if the bridge comes loose six months later, what happens?
• 7:26
  SPEAKER_00: If an implant hurts or something chips or breaks, who evaluates it?
• 7:30
  SPEAKER_00: And if the problem is related to the treatment itself, who is responsible for figuring out what went wrong and what needs to be done next?
• 7:39
  SPEAKER_00: That is accountability.
• 7:41
  SPEAKER_00: And it matters a lot more after something goes wrong than it does on the day you sign the treatment plan.
• 7:47
  SPEAKER_00: When the same team that planned the case is following you afterwards, they know exactly what was done and why.
• 7:54
  SPEAKER_00: They have the imaging, they know which teeth were questionable from the beginning, and they know what they were expecting the bite and gums to do over time.
• 8:03
  SPEAKER_00: If you're traveling for care, that does not automatically mean you should not do it.
• 8:08
  SPEAKER_00: It means you need to know what happens once you're back home.
• 8:11
  SPEAKER_00: If every complication requires another flight, another hotel stay, more time off work, or another dentist who has to reverse engineer somebody else's treatment, those savings can disappear very quickly.
• 8:25
  SPEAKER_00: What he ended up paying for twice.
• 8:28
  SPEAKER_00: By the time Gabriel came to us, we were no longer dealing with the mouth he had when he made that first decision.
• 8:35
  SPEAKER_00: Now we had failed dentistry to remove, teeth that could no longer be saved, and a more complicated reconstruction to plan.
• 8:43
  SPEAKER_00: He eventually needed multiple implants and a porcelain crown, and we were able to give him a beautiful result.
• 8:50
  SPEAKER_00: But this is why I do not like comparing major dental treatment by the first price alone.
• 8:55
  SPEAKER_00: If the cheaper option fails and you have to redo the work after losing more tooth structure or more teeth, you are not buying the same treatment twice.
• 9:05
  SPEAKER_00: The second treatment may be bigger because you have less left to work with.
• 9:09
  SPEAKER_00: What I would ask before you choose, if I were sitting on your side of the desk comparing two very different treatment plans, I would want a few things answered before I choose either one.
• 9:20
  SPEAKER_00: I would want to know what has to be treated before the final dentistry goes in and whether there is gum disease, decay, infection, or bone loss that needs to be stabilized first.
• 9:31
  SPEAKER_00: I would want to know which teeth are being saved, which ones are being removed, and why.
• 9:35
  SPEAKER_00: If somebody wants to pull six teeth, tell me why six.
• 9:39
  SPEAKER_00: If somebody wants to keep six questionable teeth underneath a large bridge, tell me why those teeth are strong enough to support it.
• 9:46
  SPEAKER_00: I would also want to know who is doing the treatment, what kind of experience they have with cases like mine, and what the follow-up looks like once I am home and using those teeth every day.
• 9:56
  SPEAKER_00: And finally, I would want a very clear answer to what happens if something breaks or fails.
• 10:03
  SPEAKER_00: Those answers tell me far more than the difference between the two prices.
• 10:07
  SPEAKER_00: Because sometimes the less expensive option really is a good option, then take it.
• 10:13
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not trying to talk you into paying more simply because you can.
• 10:16
  SPEAKER_00: One of my biggest beliefs is that the best dentistry is the least amount of dentistry.
• 10:21
  SPEAKER_00: But if it still has to be dentistry that actually solves the problem and gives you a reasonable chance of keeping the result, Gabriel thought he had solved his for a little while.
• 10:32
  SPEAKER_00: It looked like he had.
• 10:33
  SPEAKER_00: Then the decay returned.
• 10:35
  SPEAKER_00: More teeth were lost, his bridge came loose while he was having dinner, and he eventually ended up standing over his sink holding the dentistry that was supposed to have saved him money.
• 10:46
  SPEAKER_00: That is what I want you thinking about when you compare prices.
• 10:51
  SPEAKER_00: Because the cheapest dental work is not cheap if you have to buy it twice.
• 10:55
  SPEAKER_00: And if you're considering a smile makeover and trying to decide between Invisalign and Veneers, watch this video next.
• 11:03
  SPEAKER_00: It's appearing on your screen now.