Almost everyone who asks us about implants asks the same question within the first minute, and it is never about the titanium or the crown. It is: will it hurt? So let us start there and work outwards.
The part everyone is afraid of
Bone has very few pain nerves. The gum on top of it has plenty, and so does the pulp inside a tooth — which is why toothache is so miserable — but the jawbone itself feels remarkably little. Once the area is properly numb, placing an implant registers as firm pressure and some pushing, not pain.
The honest comparison most patients make afterwards is with the extraction that made the implant necessary in the first place. That, they say, was the harder appointment. Afterwards the area is tender for a day or two in the way any minor procedure leaves you tender, and ordinary painkillers cover it. Most people work the next day.
Three parts, arriving at different times
An implant is not one object. It is three, fitted in stages:
- The post. A small titanium screw placed where the natural root used to sit. Over the following weeks bone grows tightly against it and locks it in place — the stage that takes patience rather than time in the chair.
- The abutment. A short connector fitted on top once the post has integrated.
- The crown. The visible tooth, shaped and shaded to match the ones on either side.
Because the post fuses with your own bone, the finished tooth is not resting on anything else. You floss around it, you bite an apple with it, and you mostly forget which one it was.
Why not a bridge or a denture?
A bridge is quicker and cheaper, and there are cases where it is the sensible answer. The trade is that the two healthy teeth flanking the gap have to be cut down to carry it. A removable denture avoids surgery, but it moves, it comes out to be cleaned, and it does nothing for the bone underneath.
That last point matters more than it sounds. Bone that no longer has a root pressing into it slowly shrinks — which is why a gap left for years changes the shape of the face around it. Only an implant replaces the root, so only an implant keeps the bone busy.
Are you a candidate?
Most adults missing a tooth are. We are checking two things: whether there is enough healthy bone to hold the post, and whether the gums around it are in good condition. If the bone has already thinned, a small graft can rebuild it first and the implant follows a few months later.
Heavy smoking and uncontrolled diabetes both slow healing, and we will say so plainly rather than quietly proceed. Neither is automatically a no; both change the plan.
The best time to look at a failing tooth is before it is lost — while the bone that will hold its replacement is still there.
What changes the price
Two things, mainly: which implant system is used, and whether the site needs grafting first. That is why an honest quote comes after the 3D scan rather than over the phone. At this clinic the range runs from ₹16,000 to ₹30,000, and larger plans can be spread over 0% EMI.
If you are still weighing it up
Come in for the scan before you decide anything. It costs nothing, it takes a few minutes, and you leave knowing whether you are a candidate, how many visits it would take and what the figure is. Deciding is much easier once the guessing stops.
2nd Floor, Orchid Plaza, Central Avenue, Silvertown 560001 · Open daily. Dr. Aarav Mehta & Dr. Sneha Kapoor see patients from across Silvertown, Rosewood, Lakeview & Pinehurst.