Dental implant cost in Pearisburg

What decides the cost of a dental implant?

Three things decide most of it, and all three are about your mouth:

• How many teeth are being replaced. One implant carrying one crown is a different job from several implants carrying a bridge or a denture.
• What goes on top. A crown, a bridge and a clip-in denture are each made for your mouth, and each involves different work.
• Anything needed first, such as a tooth that has to come out or gums that need treating.

One tooth, several teeth or a whole arch

The fee rises with the number of implants, so how the teeth are replaced matters as much as how many are missing:

• One missing tooth. A single tooth implant usually costs more at the start than a bridge or a partial denture, and it stands on its own and keeps the bone beneath it.
• Several teeth in a row. Two implants can often carry an implant bridge across the gap, which costs less than an implant for every tooth and more than a partial denture.
• Most or all of your teeth. A small number of implants can hold an implant-retained denture, which costs more than a conventional denture and less than giving every tooth its own implant.

Extractions and other work that comes first

If the tooth in the space cannot be saved, it has to come out first. The extraction is part of your plan and your estimate, so you see the whole cost rather than one piece of it.

Gums come first too, because the same process that loosens teeth will loosen an implant. If the gums need treatment first, that goes in the written estimate as well.

Bone matters too. Once a tooth is gone, the bone that held it begins to shrink, so a gap that has been there for years may have less to work with. If there is not enough bone, that is discussed at the planning stage, along with what it means for the plan and the fee.

Does dental insurance cover implants?

Some plans pay part of the cost. Plans differ a great deal on implants, so call with your card and we will check what yours pays.

We file the claim for you, and for larger treatment we can send your insurer a pre-treatment estimate first, so you know their answer before you commit. See insurance for the plans we work with. Four things to look for in your plan:

• Whether it pays toward implants at all, or only what a less expensive option, such as a bridge, would have cost.
• A missing tooth clause. Some plans will not pay to replace a tooth that was already gone when you joined.
• A waiting period. Some plans will not pay toward major work for several months after you join.
• The annual maximum, the most the plan pays in a year. Because the tooth goes on months after the implant, the two stages can fall in different plan years, so ask us about timing.

No dental insurance?

Not having dental insurance does not rule out an implant. You get the same written estimate before anything is scheduled, and you are free to take it away and think it over.

The Virginia Dental Club is a membership plan for people without dental insurance. It is not insurance: there is no deductible, no annual maximum and no waiting period. It is worth a look before you decide, and we can go through how membership would apply to your treatment.

An implant is rarely urgent, so there is usually time to plan it, though the bone where the tooth was keeps shrinking in the meantime.

Getting a written estimate

It starts with a consultation here on Tazewell Street. We look at the gap, the bone and where the nerve and sinus sit, check your gums, and talk through every option, including the ones that cost less. Then you get the fee in writing, before anything is scheduled.

Read it before you sign. The points worth checking are:

• Whether an extraction or gum treatment is part of it.
• That every stage is there: the implant, the abutment, and the crown, bridge or denture on top.
• What your insurer is expected to pay, and what that leaves you.
• If the gap will show while the implant heals, whether a temporary tooth is possible for you.

Questions patients ask