London, England -- (SBWIRE) -- 08/26/2010 -- Live dental implant surgery at NEC
DIO Implant (http://www.dioimplant.co.uk) demonstrated its new implant technology at The Dentistry Show at the NEC last month by performing the UK’s first public live surgery in front of a packed auditorium. The whole procedure was completed in 33 minutes with excellent results.
Dr. Arrif Lalani, the dental advisor for the Kingston vocation- al training scheme at Kingston Hospital and principal im- plant surgeon of http://www.SmileDentalImplants.com, Surrey, performed the high-pressure surgical procedure to prove how easy the DIO SM dental implant system is to use. This was the first time live im- plant surgery has been performed in public in the UK. Although Dr. Lalani is comparatively new to implant surgery he says that working with the DIO implants makes the process relatively easy. “Working with DIO’s implants is so simple and straight forward. They have no quirks,” he said. “They are the perfect way to start for those dentists considering offering implants as an extra service to their patients.”
Many UK dentists choose not to provide dental implant surgery either because they are not familiar with the technique or because they perceive the costs to be too high for their patients. However DIO is quickly demonstrating that the cost is rapidly becoming less of a problem and by using the company’s SM submerged range of dental implants, even dentists who are relatively inexperienced in implant surgery can quickly learn to perform the procedure suc- cessfully. What’s more, DIO will help them to learn their new skill and help their practice to publicize the procedure to their patients using DIO’s focused marketing assistance.
Dr Lalani learned the techniques necessary form Dr David Fairclough (http://www.davidfairclough.co.uk), an experienced trainer and a founder member of the As- sociation of Dental Implantology. “I’ve been using dental implants for over 20 years now and I’ve tried most systems. When I came across DIO’s system it seemed to be the easiest to use at an afford- able price. The implants are very easy to place and they have very good primary stability which is important,” he said. He added that the back-up service he received from DIO was very valuable to him. “One of my big criticisms of implant companies is that they sell you the implants and then you get very little back-up from them afterwards. This hasn’t been the case with DIO.”
Iain Forster, Managing Director of DIO UK said that DIO’s mission is to make dental implants more accessible to patients in the UK, regardless of financial position. He added, “The significance of good dental health is all to often overlooked by patients. In many cases, early dental implant surgery can avoid many years of dis- comfort and continued expense. We aim to ensure dental implants are available to those who need them. Implant surgery is often a necessity and should not be restricted to those who can afford the high prices traditionally associated with the treatment.”
The best implant in the World?
The simplicity of the process is largely attributed to the innovative design of the implants themselves that DIO has been misquoted as calling, “The best implants in the World”. Their unique tapered design features a double thread to increase primary stability, achieve high stability even with low bone density, prevent cortical bone loss, significantly reduce stress and increase the opportunity for immediate loading. The self tapping cutting edge allows easy insertion and automatically removes cut bone. The design also promotes fast healing and gingival recovery.
Tackling the cost
DIO has made significant strides to reduce the cost of the implants themselves thereby reducing the overall cost of treatment making implant surgery a real option for many patients who would have considered it too expensive in the past.
According to Dr. Avik Dandapat, the principal dentist at The Dental Implant Centre, Twyford, British dental patients have been paying over the odds for dental implants for years with patients of- ten traveling abroad to find treatment they can afford. In a recent interview Dr. Dandapat said that it’s now time for a change. “Either the implant companies are going to support us through this reces- sion or we’ll learn from our experiences and move on,” he said, adding that the UK price to a patient for a dental implant, abutment and crown varies from around £1,800 to £3,000 per tooth. In Europe the same treatment is available for approximately £1,100. “We can’t compete with that unless the implant manufacturers help us.”
DIO has taken up the challenge and is marketing its popular DIO SM implant in the UK at prices that are less than half of most of the competition. “So what would have otherwise cost the patient £1,800, is now more like £1,500,” said Dr. Dandapat (http://www.harleydental.com). Significant savings such as these are probably sufficient to stop patients buying a ticket to Delhi, New York or Paris to have the work done – thereby keeping the business at home for British dentists.
Marketing help
DIO Implant is very much aware that it’s all very well for dentists to learn new skills and develop new products, but the effort is useless if their patients are not made aware of the services that are on offer. A few notices in the surgery hardly constitutes a marketing plan.
So, to help dentists promote their new techniques the company is providing advice and guidance on marketing techniques that dentists can employ to spread the word. These can include help with local PR, website design, brochure and leaflet design and pro- duction, Search Engine Optimisation, the use of social networking, etc.
Professional Implant Education
DIO is also aware of its responsibility to patients by making implant technology more accessible to a wider market. To this aim it has introduced a dedicated educational programme with a training course (http://www.dentala.co.uk/implantology-placement-seminars-uk.html) to provide non-implant dentists with an introduction to implant procedures leading on to a one-year, hands-on and distance learning certificated course, equivalent to approximately 120 hours of verifiable CPD.
For more information on dental implants visit http://www.dioimplant.co.uk or call 0845 1233996
For more information on DIO implants and their training programmes visit http://www.DIOUK.com or call 0845 1233996