TDC (Total Dentalcare) Implant Centre Folkestone

Smile in a Day dental implants (sometimes called All-on-4 or same-day dental implants) are an advanced dental solution that replaces loose, rotten and missing teeth, or dentures, with dental implants and a full set of fixed teeth – in one day. It is a less invasive and much quicker treatment as multiple surgical procedures and months of healing time between each stage required with traditional implants methods are condensed into a single surgical appointment.

As with most dental implants, we use titanium screws that are securely fitted into your jaw that act as a tooth root to support your new teeth. However, that’s where the similarity ends. With TDC Smile in a Day, the screws are fitted at a precise angle to get the longest titanium ‘root’ possible without the need for the bone grafts that traditional dental implants often require. With Smile in a Day, we generally use four implants to support all the teeth in the same way that a chair or a table has four legs – it gives perfect balance. This is why it is sometimes known as the All-on-4 dental implant procedure. The new fixed teeth remain in place, night and day, while your bone integrates with the dental implants. This is known as the “healing phase” and it takes about three months. They are then exchanged for your final, long-lasting set of teeth at a non-surgical appointment. Whilst the majority of our patients require at least one full upper or jaw restoration, the Smile in a Day procedure is also suitable for replacing single or multiple teeth.

• Your dental implants and a set of fixed teeth are placed in a single day • Your oral health, smile and your confidence will be restored • It is a long-lasting , fixed solution – the next best thing to natural teeth • No more pain or embarrassment from dentures, loose or missing teeth • You will be able to eat normally and enjoy even chewy, crunchy foods • The majority of cases can be treated, even people with extreme gum disease and bone loss • Bone grafts are rarely needed • The procedure is virtually pain-free, with minimal recovery time.

Smile in a Day is suitable for most patients with loose and missing teeth, including those with advanced gum disease and bone loss. Of course, everyone has their own medical needs and personal requirements, so all patients must be fully assessed to confirm their suitability for treatment. All TDC patients attend a consultation with one of our experienced implant dentists who talk to you about the problems you are having and the outcome you are hoping for. They examine your teeth and gums, give you an oral cancer screening and take photos that will be helpful for the surgeon when planning your surgery. Your implant dentist will explain the options available to you and answer any questions you may have. If you are likely to be a suitable candidate for treatment, and you wish to progress to the next stage, the next step is to have a CT scan to measure the amount and location of bone that you have in your jaw. These images allow your surgeon to analyse and confirm your suitability, then accurately plan your dental implant treatment should you decide to go ahead.

Pain is relative and your tolerance to it will be different to another patient’s, but we have rarely had a patient tell us that their dental implant treatment was painful. A certain level of bruising and discomfort, such as you would get when you’ve had a tooth extracted, is, however, inevitable. We find that taking over-the-counter painkillers, such as ibuprofen or paracetamol, for a few days after treatment provides adequate relief. None of our patients have ever found it necessary to use prescription-only painkillers.

We are very experienced in helping anxious patients – in fact, we have won multiple awards for our Patient Care, including the Private Dentistry 2021 Award for Best Treatment of Nervous Patients. Most of our patients opt for our conscious sedation service, where sedation is administered by a specialist sedationist who stays with you throughout your surgery. You won’t be asleep but you will feel totally relaxed and lose track of time so the procedure will feel as if it is over in minutes. This technique is extremely safe and does not have the risks and side-effects associated with a general anaesthetic. As your safety is our primary concern, you must have someone with you to accompany you home if you opt for sedation.

Even if you’ve been told you don’t have enough bone to have dental implants, you may still be a candidate for TDC Smile in a Day. We routinely treat patients who have been told that they do not have enough bone to support dental implants and that dentures are their only option. Our success is down to our specialist periodontal skills and levels of experience with the Smile in a Day procedure. We regularly receive refers from other dentists for our specialist skills.

As everyone is individual, it is important that you find a dentist that you trust to deliver the standard of clinical and patient care, and the results you are looking for. With so many providers, it can be very confusing so here are a few questions you can ask to help you make the right decision for you.

Any dentist can legally place an implant. A specialist on the General Dental Council’s (GDC) specialist list has to meet higher standards of training and performance and will have undertaken years of additional, recognised training to hone their surgical skills. Total Dental Care Implant Centre’s (TDC) Lead Surgeon, Dr Michael Zybutz, is a registered Specialist Periodontist with the GDC and is a Diplomate of The American Board of Periodontology. He is the only specialist dentist in the UK accredited by the American Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry and has performed hundreds of dental implant procedures in the UK for 30 years.

Any dentist with a dental degree can legally place an implant, even though surgical placement is not taught routinely in most pre-doctoral dental school programmes. Specialists with surgical training have undergone years of additional training to hone their surgical skills. Having placed dental implants since 1994, Dr Michael Zybutz has 30 years’ experience in this field. He often encounters challenging situations that require the kind of expertise and skill that only come with years of professional practice. There is big a difference between someone who places 15 to 20 implants a year and someone, who places hundreds a year, especially with highly skilled procedures such as Smile in a Day.

Positive feedback from previous patients is proof of how good a dentist is, which is why TDC subscribes to TrustPilot and Feefo, independent online platforms that will allow you to see genuine and unedited reviews of our Smile in a Day treatment. We can also put you in touch with patients who’ll be happy to talk to you about their experience of having the procedure with us.