How to Save Money on Dental Implants

Dental implants often come with a higher price tag than other restorations, as implants are made from high-quality, long-lasting materials and require oral surgery and the placement of dental prosthetics. While all of these components can be costly, we make it possible to get quality implant care, without the inflated price tag – here’s how:

In-House Oral Surgery – For most dentists, planning implant treatment involves sending patients to outside specialists, like oral surgeons or periodontists, for implant surgery. This means incurring costs at an entirely different oral health clinic, where fees may be greater for outside specialty care – including all of the hidden costs that surgeons may charge for complex treatment. At Better Life Dental Center, we’re able to keep fees for oral surgery lower by keeping your treatment in-house. Dr. Dunlop has a wealth of experience in surgically placing implant posts, so you receive skilled care without having to visit an outside office.

Licensed Sedation Services – We offer IV sedation, which requires special certification and training and is rare to find in most dental offices. Visiting an outside specialist who offers this level of sedation could be costly, especially for oral surgeons whose essential treatments and main sources of revenue require the use of sedatives. Dr. Dunlop is able to safely and efficiently relax patients with this deep level of sedative, and without incurring additional specialty fees.

Using On-Site Dental Labs – Placing implants is half of your implant treatment plan. The final step involves adding life-like prosthetics on top of your implants posts, so your smile looks seamlessly restored. When dentists send work to outside dental labs where crowns, bridges, and dentures are fabricated, this not only creates a two week waiting period, but incurs elevated fees for using third party technicians and equipment. We further minimize costs by creating prosthetics on-site. We don’t have to pay outside dental laboratories for their time or the use of their facilities – we can perform expert fabrication of dental prosthetics right in our office.

Dr. Dunlop and his team make it easy to cut down on the surprise hidden costs associated with traditional implant dentistry by keeping all parts of your treatment under our roof. Not only does this mean that you receive an affordable and reliable price for your implant treatment, but treatment can be completed in half the time, even on the same day, and your final results are under are direct supervision and control.

For more information on implant dentistry in Fresno, contact Better Life Dental Center for your consultation.

The Benefits of IV Sedation

For longer dental appointments, or more complex procedures, sedation has given patients a way to be truly comfortable by effectively minimizing anxiety. On average, dental offices that provide sedation offer only nitrous oxide or oral conscious sedation. While these can be effective, IV sedation offers the extra benefit of an additional choice for care, depending on your dental health needs and levels of anxiety or fear.

Intravenous sedation offers the following benefits:

Improved Control –  By introducing sedative medication intravenously, Dr. Dunlop can more precisely adjust your level of sedation to either bring full awareness after a procedure, or increase sedative effect. If you are still feeling anxious after initial application, slightly more sedative can be administered to help promote feelings of relaxation.  In comparison, oral conscious sedative medication (in pill form) is only available in certain dosages, making adjusting sedation a less precise process. IV sedation also improves control over how quickly patients experience sedative effect – within 5 minutes, compared to 30 or more with the oral conscious method.

Reversible In-Office – After your procedure is complete, Dr. Dunlop can taper off medication and bring you gently back to awareness. With the IV method, there are no lingering feelings of deep sedation after your appointment.

Deeper Levels of Relaxation – Nitrous oxide and oral conscious sedation provide light to moderate relaxation effects, but may not be enough to comfort the severely anxious. IV sedation creates a deeper feeling of relaxation. Though you will still be conscious, so you can easily complete appointments that involve implant surgery or last a few hours (in the event of full mouth reconstruction). Many of our patients have such a profound benefit from the sedation that they don't even remember coming in for their surgery.

Reduction in Side Effects – While the effects of nitrous oxide wear off quickly with the application of pure oxygen, oral conscious sedation stays in your system for several hours. For shorter appointments, this means that you may still be feeling groggy at home and will need some time to rest. When choosing IV sedation, however, Dr. Dunlop can introduce vitamins and other supplemental medication into your sedation treatment, so you can wake up feeling completely refreshed and rejuvenated. Pain and swelling after surgery are also greatly decreased with IV sedation. The medicines included in sedation (anti-inflammatories and pain control) help control these side effects from surgery

IV sedation takes skill and care to safely administer, which is why not every dental office offers this option for sleep dentistry. However, Dr. Dunlop has undergone extensive training to ensure the highest level of patient care when using IV sedation. Only a small handful of dentists in California have gone through the rigorous and extensive training to be able to deliver this form of sedation. 
With our sedative options, you can make the best choice for your dental needs and your overall wellness. For more information on IV sedation from our Fresno dental office, contact Dr. Dunlop and his team today.