Implants and whitening with Groupon

OK, you know I am a Groupon fan. Whitening, exams and cleanings drive new patients for the one time purchase which is great and even better if they become a lifetime client. Whitening on the other hand has fallen in the hands of non-dental professionals and it has become scary but the Implant groupon is what caught my attention today.
Implants are titanium anchors to place a crown or secure a denture in the absence of existing teeth. They are a fabulous service for patients who are without teeth in certain sections. I have gone through an extensive year long training program in order to learn properly how to place them and it is not just drilling a hole in the bone and placing the screw. It requires finess, impeccable surgical technique and extensive planning. There is a lot that can go wrong with the implant – if not immediately but later on in the life of the implant if done incorrectly.
They are expensive – why? The implant companies pieces and parts are outrageously expensive because of the process they need to go through in order to become biocompatible.
When I saw the implant offer for 1750 for the implant plus the crown included it really scared me. Groupon takes half of the money from the deal which will lead to the dentist receiving (minus fees) 850. The pieces and parts of a good quality implant plus the crown cost more than that! I don’t know what else is included in the deal – maybe they charge additional for a cone beam scan or the knob secured to the implant securing the crown but one thing was for sure – how do you know you can trust the level of skill of the implant surgeon? What kind of implant and crown are they placing for that fee? If a cleaning goes wrong – no big deal. If an implant goes awry- it is a nightmarish disaster that sometimes cannot be easily solved.
My words to encourage you are – get recommendations from the dentists who work with the surgeons who routinely place excellent implants. The surgeon does not need to be a specialist – my mentor is a general practictioner who has placed thousands of implants over his career. Find someone you can trust.