Dental implants, step by step: from consultation to the final crown

Most patients who come in for an implant have the same question, asked in different ways: how long does the whole process take. The short answer is three to six months for a straightforward case, and the reason has nothing to do with scheduling, it has to do with bone. Below are the four stages, in the order you will experience them.

1. The consultation and the treatment plan

The first visit means a panoramic X-ray or a CBCT scan, a discussion about your medical history and measuring the bone in the area where the tooth is missing. Bone is the deciding factor: if there is enough, the implant can be placed directly; if not, a bone graft stage is added first.

At the end you receive a written plan, with the stages and the cost of each. The consultation and the plan are free, and the plan remains valid even if you decide a few months later.

2. Placing the implant

The procedure itself takes 30 to 60 minutes for one implant and is done under local anaesthesia. It doesn't hurt. You feel pressure and hear the instruments, that's all. The titanium screw goes into the bone, the gum is sutured over it and you go home the same day.

For the first two days there may be moderate swelling, controlled with ice and the prescribed anti-inflammatory. The stitches come out after seven to ten days.

3. Osseointegration, the part where nothing visible happens

Next come three to six months in which the bone grows around the implant surface and locks it in permanently. It cannot be rushed and it cannot be skipped. An implant loaded too early can come loose, and then everything is lost.

Throughout this time you wear a temporary solution, so you are not left with a visible gap. You come in for a check-up after one month and another before the next stage.

4. The abutment and the crown

After integration, the implant is uncovered and the abutment is fitted, the piece that comes through the gum. Two weeks later the impression is taken, and the zirconia crown is made in the lab and fixed at the next visit. From that moment you chew normally.

The short version

• Four stages: assessment, placement, integration, crown.
• Three to six months for a straightforward case, longer if a bone graft is needed.
• Local anaesthesia, no hospital stay, you go home the same day.
• Daily hygiene and a yearly check-up decide how long the implant lasts, not its brand.

A well-placed, well-cared-for implant lasts for decades. The ones that fail almost always fail for the same reason: peri-implantitis, inflammation of the surrounding gum, caused by insufficient hygiene.