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successful practice concept
“How can implantology be successfully implemented in the practice concept?”
| Dr. Bernhard Saneke, Wiesbaden (Germany)
IMPORTANT PATIENT GROUP Implantology is the growth
market in dentistry. The dentist who rejects implantology
rejects an economically important patient group. Particularly in
the higher income range, patients increasingly use tooth replacement
as a means of feeling better and improving their quality
of life rather than as a functional chewing system. Patients
with statutory insurance coverage must pay virtually all the
costs of high-quality implants and it does not appear that future
reforms to the health system will include higher rebates. Even
privately insured patients are subject to increasing restrictions
on services. A dentist who adds implantology to the practice
will have more business freedom. This factor alone makes
implantology an important part of the services offered by the
practice, even without considering the increasing interest in
implant-borne dentures by patients.
IMPLANTOLOGY IN THE PRACTICE CONCEPT The wide
variety of information on implantology in the print media and
on television gives patients the feeling that everything is
possible from the single tooth restoration in the front tooth
region to immediate restoration of the complete jaw in only one
day. And that is true: the indications are becoming broader all
the time and the surgical protocols have developed greatly in
recent years to meet the demand. Now we are at a very high
technical level. However, complex grafting procedures with a
marginal bone volume require extensive experience in addition
to special training. This is frequently the sticking point for many
dentists in solo practices, because acquiring such experience
with their own cases is virtually impossible. However, such
practices can implement a high degree of basic implantology –
for example, the restoration of free-end edentulism and edentulous
mandibles with sufficient bone volume. But the critical
question is whether this is economical. The costs for structured
training and continuing education are high, as is the investment
in instruments. Where the case load is low experience
and economic considerations recommend that dentists in this
situation restrict themselves to implant prosthetics and leave
the surgery to a specialist.
COOPERATION BETWEEN SOLO DENTIST AND
SPECIALIST The infrastructure for cooperation between
surgical practices and dentists offering implant prosthetics is
available throughout Germany. However, statistics show that
patients specifically interested in implants are frequently
rejected by their dentist, whether because of insecurity or lack
of knowledge is unknown. But today we know that more
patients are deciding in favor of implants with a comprehensive
explanation of the options available in modern implantology.
All involved profit from this: the surgeon, the dentist and the
dental technician.
Dr. Bernhard Saneke
Gemeinschaftspraxis Dr. Droege,
Dr. Saneke and Partner
Egerstraße 7 · 65205 Wiesbaden/Germany
Phone 0049 (0)611 721358
saneke@dentalplus.de
www.dentalplus.de