An Implant Is the Closest Thing to Your Natural Tooth. Here's What That Means in Practice.

John Barclay
Jul 6
4 min read

Updated: 6 days ago

By Dr John Barclay | DRJB Smile Clinic, Ruabon, North Wales

The dental implant is genuinely impressive technology. A titanium root placed into the jaw, integrating with the bone, topped with a crown that looks and functions like the tooth that was lost. For patients who have already lost a tooth and need it replaced, it is often the best available option.

We offer implants at DRJB Smile Clinic. This post explains what's involved — and why the honest conversation about whether to save or replace a tooth doesn't always end the way patients expect.

Who Places Them Here

Implants at DRJB are placed by Dr Giedre Valentine, a specialist who attends the practice regularly and focuses exclusively on implant work during her sessions here. She doesn't do a bit of everything — implants are what she does. That focus matters clinically: it means the volume of cases, the consistency of technique, and the familiarity with complications that come with genuine specialisation.

When implant placement is right for you, it's done here, by someone who does nothing else.

What an Implant Actually Involves

An implant is a surgical procedure, not a standard dental appointment. A titanium post is placed directly into the jawbone under local anaesthetic. The bone then needs time to integrate with the implant — a process called osseointegration — before a crown can be placed on top.

Start to finish, the process typically takes six months to a year. It requires adequate bone volume at the site — if bone has been lost following extraction, a bone graft may be needed first, adding time and complexity. Implants are not included in our membership plan and are priced and discussed separately based on each case.

For the right patient in the right situation, it is absolutely worth it. We would rather be honest about what's involved than let anyone go in underprepared.

Why We Always Have the Save-Versus-Replace Conversation First

The best implant outcome is the one you never needed because we saved the tooth.

A tooth that has been written off elsewhere — told it needs to come out, can't be treated, not worth the effort — is often treatable with the right equipment and the right approach. Under a dental operating microscope, with cone beam CT imaging and modern endodontic technique, teeth that appear hopeless on a standard X-ray frequently have a negotiable pathway. Calcified canals that look absent on a periapical often aren't. Failed root canal treatment can often be retreated rather than replaced.

Saving a tooth costs less than replacing it. It preserves the natural root, the surrounding bone, and the periodontal ligament — things no implant can fully replicate. A tooth you've kept for another decade is a better outcome than a tooth you lost and replaced, however good the replacement is.

This is why the endodontic conversation happens before the implant conversation. Not because implants are wrong — they aren't — but because extraction is irreversible, and a decision made too quickly forecloses options that were still available.

When the Implant Is Actually the Better Investment

Honesty cuts both ways.

Root canal treatment on a tooth with a poor prognosis — heavily compromised, previously retreated, uncertain restorability — can cost upwards of £1,500. If the realistic chance of long-term success is fifty percent or less, that's a significant sum for an uncertain outcome. An implant, placed by a specialist on a prepared site with good bone volume, has a significantly higher long-term success rate and a predictable result.

When a patient is weighing £1,500 on a tooth that may still fail against putting that same money towards an implant with a much stronger prognosis — I will tell them that plainly. Not every tooth is worth saving. Not every root canal is the right answer just because the tooth is still present.

This is the conversation that happens at assessment, before any treatment is agreed. We look at the tooth, the radiograph, the history — and we give you an honest answer about whether the endodontic route makes clinical and financial sense for your specific situation. If it does, we'll do it well. If it doesn't, Dr Valentine is here to talk through the alternative.

The goal is the right outcome for your mouth, not the maximum number of procedures on the way there.

If You've Been Told Your Tooth Needs to Come Out

Come and see us first. We're not in the business of finding reasons to treat teeth that genuinely need to go — but we are in the business of making sure that conversation has happened properly before it does.

If extraction really is the right answer, we'll tell you clearly. And if it is, Dr Valentine is here to talk through replacement — at the same practice, within the same team.

📞 01978 823490

📧 infodesk@drjbsmileclinic.co.uk

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References & Further Reading

1. Torabinejad M et al. Outcomes of root canal treatment and restoration, implant-supported single crowns, fixed partial dentures, and extraction without replacement: a systematic review. Journal of Prosthetic Dentistry, 2007. → Key comparative evidence base for save-versus-implant outcomes.

2. Iqbal MK, Kim S. A review of factors influencing treatment planning decisions of single-tooth implants versus preserving natural teeth with non-surgical endodontic therapy. Journal of Endodontics, 2008. → Directly informs the tooth-saving vs replacement decision framework.

3. Ng YL, Mann V, Gulabivala K. A prospective study of the factors affecting outcomes of non-surgical root canal treatment. International Endodontic Journal, 2011. → Outcome data supporting endodontic treatment as a viable long-term alternative.

4. Patel S et al. European Society of Endodontology position statement: use of cone beam computed tomography in endodontics. International Endodontic Journal, 2019. → Supports CBCT use in complex case assessment before extraction decisions.

5. Hämmerle CHF et al. Consensus statements regarding the use of short dental implants. International Journal of Oral & Maxillofacial Implants, 2012. → Context for implant suitability criteria including bone volume requirements.