A word about the fees in this treatment.. . .

The fee for this treatment was $20,000.00. That included 8 implants, 14 crowns, the provisional restorations, the extractions, but not the travel to and from Texas. When I presented this fee to the patient, she seemed very pleased. After treatment, I asked her what her previous dentists in Texas had proposed for her treatment and what the costs would be. Here's how it broke down:

Her previous dentists (who will no longer see her since she jumped ship and came to me for treatment) had told her that implants could not be placed behind the bicuspids. They therefor proposed a treatment plan for 5 implants and either a screw retained or cemented prosthesis. The fee for this was $26,565.00.

In retrospect, I feel that 5 implants would have been totally inadequate for this patient's needs. Obviously, while it was extremely difficult to place the four implants behind the bicuspids, it could be done. It would be much easier to place implants in just the anterior mandible, but to do that and then charge the patient such a high fee for what today is a routine procedure does not seem very nice to me.