Experience is not just how many years of practice one has, but it is the accumulation of positive outcomes from a treatment.
While choosing a dental implant surgeon, patients often ask:
“How many years of experience do you have?”
Years of practice is surely important, but they are just a part of the bigger story.
In implant dentistry, one major way to evaluate a dentist’s skill is the quantity and type of procedures they can handle. Surgeons who regularly handle challenging situations build the type of judgment that is much more than what is described in textbooks.
Each operation gives the practitioner a wider view of the human body, bone structure, treatment strategies, handling of unexpected issues and finally, how well a patient is doing in the long-term.
My first encounter with a dental implant happened back in 2007. Since then, implant surgery has become the central focus of my clinical practice.
More Than 8,000 Dental Implants Placed
For more than 19 years, I have been involved in placing over 8,000 dental implants at an average of 400-500 implants annually.
In my experience, there were both cases where I just had to fix one tooth and cases where things were really complicated and challenging, for example:
- Immediate implant placement
- Severe bone deficiency
- Full-arch rehabilitation
- Implant revision surgery
- Bone reconstruction
- Sinus augmentation
Performing these complex procedures constantly required me to refine the surgical protocols and update the treatment planning.
Advanced Bone Reconstruction Is Part of Daily Practice
A successful implant treatment sometimes requires rebuilding the lost bone before placing an implant.
Each year my practice involves:
- 50–60 autogenous bone graft procedures
- Around 150 guided bone regeneration (GBR) procedures
- 60–70 lateral window (external) sinus lift procedures
These kinds of surgeries are done to fix underdeveloped alveolar ridges and build implant sites predictable for a lifetime. Instead of sticking to a single method, every situation is examined carefully. Based on the patient’s physiology and desired outcome, the ideal regenerative method is selected.
Immediate Implant Placement Requires Careful Case Selection
The placement of implants immediately after tooth extraction is a highly sensitive clinical technique, Mainly when it’s concerned with a patient’s esthetic zone.
My practice includes:
- Approximately 70–80 anterior immediate implants are performed each year.
- Around 70–80% of implant patients are treated with immediate implant placement whenever clinical conditions allow.
Yet, immediate implants aren’t suitable for every patient.
Good results are dependent on thorough diagnosis, gentle extraction of the tooth, accurate three-dimension implant placement, getting good initial fixation, taking care of bone and gum tissues and using the right interim prosthetic if it’s needed.
The choice of treatment is made considering the biological factors and not the pace of the surgery.
Managing Failed Dental Implants
Every dental implant cannot be medically replaced.
Every year, I handle approximately 20-40 failed dental implant cases. Some of them involves complex factors such as:
- Implant failure
- Bone loss
- Peri-implantitis
- Poor implant positioning
- Esthetic complications
- Prosthetic problems
Revision surgeries usually take much more time and skill to do compared with the first one.
They show how crucial it is to make the correct diagnosis and carry out the operation properly from the first time round.
Experience Means Better Decision-Making
Many patients think that surgery itself is the most crucial part of the dental implant treatment. However, in reality the majority of important decisions are usually taken before the surgery begins.
The clinical experience improves the decision-making process as it influences:
Whether an implant should be placed immediately or delayed
- Whether bone augmentation is required
- Which grafting technique is most appropriate
- Whether a sinus lift is necessary
- Implant selection and positioning
- Soft tissue management
- Long-term esthetic planning
These decisions can have a greater impact on long-term success than the surgical procedure alone.
A Philosophy Built on Predictability
Every case of dental implants are different from each other.
Some cases need only a conventional implant placement. Other cases are more complex and might require several procedures: regeneration, bone grafting, maxillary sinus lifting, tissue handling or the change of earlier therapies.
Even after performing more than 8 000 implants since 2007, my goal still includes: To deliver biological, surgical, and mechanically well thought out treatment, one that is long-lasting as well as durable rather than fast solution.
I say so because in implant dentistry, successful outcomes are rarely determined by a single procedure. They are determined by experience, diagnosis, planning and meticulous execution.
