Implant Dentist Checklist

Check the GDC Register First

Go to gdc-uk.org, the register the General Dental Council keeps for the public, and type in the dentist's name. It tells you whether they can practise in the UK, which qualifications they have registered, and whether they appear on any of the GDC's recognised lists for particular branches of dentistry. If the name isn't there, ask the practice why.

Two things help when reading it. First, implant dentistry is not one of the branches the GDC lists, so the dentists who place them are often general dentists with further training, alongside registered periodontists, prosthodontists and oral surgeons. Second, the GDC protects the title that goes with those lists, so nobody else may claim it. Everyone else, ourselves included, should say they have a special interest in implants, which is the honest description.

Who Plans It, Places It and Finishes It?

The basic dental degree doesn't go deeply into placing implants. So ask the dentist plainly what extra training they have, how long they've been doing implant work, and approximately how many similar cases they've treated. Someone confident in their work will answer easily.

Find out as well whether one person plans the case, places the implant and fits the crown, or whether a visiting surgeon does one part and another dentist the rest. Both arrangements can work; what matters is knowing who answers for the result. At Lanark Smile Studios, Dr Davinder Kalsi draws up every implant plan on a CT scan and carries out the surgery himself. His qualifications include an MSc in dental implants, and in more than ten years he has placed over 2,000 of them.

Is the Plan Made in 3D?

A standard flat X-ray gives the bone's height. It can't show width or density, nor pin down where the nerve or the sinus lies. A cone beam CT scan shows all of these in three dimensions, which is why it's the accepted way to plan implants properly.

Worth asking next: is the scanner in the building, or will you be referred somewhere else? Is the scan part of the fee? Will you see the images and get a copy? Our CT scanner is on site at 72 High Street, so your scan and your planning both happen in Lanark, and the fee is £160 for single or multiple implants.

Will a Surgical Guide Be Used?

This is a template made for your mouth, 3D-printed from the plan drawn on the scan. It fits over your teeth or gum and sets the angle and depth of the drill, so the implant lands where it was planned, not where it seemed right on the day. Experienced dentists can work freehand, but a guide removes most of the variation and often means a smaller opening in the gum. Ours are printed from your CT plan and used with the MegaGen R2 guided surgery system, and Dr Kalsi's engineering background shows in the care that goes into each one.

Which Implant, and Can They Name It?

There are hundreds of implant brands on the market. The established ones are backed by years of published research, and any UK dentist can order their parts. Cheaper copies save a practice money, but if you move away or the practice closes, your next dentist may not be able to source a matching screw or abutment.

Ask for the make and model, note it down and keep it with your records. Ours is the MegaGen AnyRidge. That implant has been awarded the CleanImplant Trusted Quality seal after independent testing for contamination on its surface. The seal is a mark of the product, not of the practice.

What Does the Price Cover?

Comparing implant fees around Lanark is harder than it ought to be. Few practices in Lanarkshire put an implant price online at all. When we searched in October 2026, no Lanark or Clydesdale practice website came up, and the Lanarkshire figures that did appear were full-arch prices from city clinics further away. A low figure isn't a warning sign on its own, but check what's in it. Go through this list with each practice:

• The consultation and the CT scan
• Implant, abutment and crown
• A temporary tooth if the gap is at the front
• Bone grafting, if needed
• Sedation, should you want it
• Reviews while the implant heals

Our own fees are all in the Lanark implant price guide, where a single implant and crown starts at £2,775, with any graft extra.

Will You Get the Fee on Paper?

By the end of a consultation you should have a written plan that sets out the recommended treatment, the alternatives, the cost of each stage, a rough timetable and the ways to pay. It's yours to take home and think over. Be wary of a price that's only spoken, an offer that expires on Friday, or a plan that changes after you've paid a deposit.

What Does the Guarantee Require?

Almost every implant guarantee has conditions, and it pays to read them. How many years does it run? Does it cover only the implant, or the crown too? What must you do to keep it? Not smoking and keeping up hygiene appointments are the usual requirements, because inflamed gum is the commonest reason an implant loosens over the years.

Ours is a 5-year guarantee for non-smokers who attend hygiene visits every 3 months, and every condition is written into the consent form you sign before treatment.

Aftercare Close to Home

This part is easy to overlook. An implant needs care for the rest of your life: a hygiene appointment every few months, regular dental examinations, and a quick visit if a screw works loose or the gum becomes tender. When the practice is far from home, those visits turn into a chore, and missed ones can cancel a guarantee.

For people in Lanark, Kirkfieldbank, New Lanark, Carstairs or Carluke, a practice on the High Street keeps the long-term side simple, and Lanark is still within reach from Forth, Lesmahagow, Douglas and Biggar. If the price you're weighing comes from a clinic a long way off, count those return journeys before you choose. Wherever you go, ask who does the hygiene visits, how often they advise them, and how quickly you can be seen if something goes wrong. Out of hours, NHS 24 on 111 covers the whole of Scotland.

And If Something Goes Wrong?

Most implants do well, but no honest dentist will promise that every single one will. Ask what would happen if an implant didn't bond, if the gum around it became inflamed, or if the crown chipped. You want a practical reply: who you would see, what they would do and what it would cost. Being told "that never happens" is not a practical reply. Our guide to failed dental implants describes what's usually involved.

Ask to See Their Own Cases

It's reasonable to ask for before-and-after photographs of patients the dentist treated personally, shown with those patients' written consent. Mouths differ and so do results, so read them as a picture of how the dentist works rather than a promise about yours. Polished stock images that could come from any website tell you nothing.

Reasons to Pause

• A fixed price quoted before you've been examined
• No CT scan, or one only offered when you insist
• No named implant system, or just "our own brand"
• Nobody able to say who will place the implant
• A push for a big deposit at the first appointment
• Permanent full-arch teeth promised in a matter of days, with no time to heal
• Nothing in writing, neither the plan nor the guarantee

Spotting one of these is a cue for more questions, not automatically a reason to leave.

What a Good Consultation Looks Like

First you're examined, then scanned if an implant looks realistic, and shown what the scan tells us. Implants, bridges, dentures and leaving the gap are all explained, with their honest advantages and drawbacks. You know exactly who will carry out the treatment. And you leave with the plan and its fees written down, free to take it to another practice for a second view. Our implant consultation page describes how ours works. It's free, and the £20 booking deposit is returned once you've attended.

Questions

This guide is general information, not a diagnosis. A dentist needs to examine you to say what is right for your teeth.