My All on 4 Dental Implant Experience in the UK at Prodental London

I’d been thinking about having dental implants for some time. I am 63 and had upper dentures and about six teeth left in the lower jaw (two of which were loose) and it got to the point where I deliberately didn’t smile too widely for fear of people seeing the lack of molars in my lower jaw. I always think the superlative in medical treatment must be done in Harley Street but that it must surely be the most expensive so I went somewhere local to me (a “specialist dental implant centre”). I was on the brink of going ahead with the treatment locally (which was only to do the upper arch) but one evening I did some Googling and came across Prodental. They have a practice in Harley Street and in Spanish Place and they had a package on their website for All on 4s which seemed really detailed and comprehensive as to what is included in the cost. I sent an online enquiry via their website and a couple of days later got a call from Lisa, the Treatment Coordinator. We had a lengthy conversation where I asked her to be totally transparent about all the costs involved and it transpired that I could have both upper and lowers done for not much more than I was being quoted for having just the uppers done locally.

Here is a diary of my appointments with Prodental:

24 August 2021: My first consultation at Spanish Place (lovely newly refurbished premises) was with Margarita, the Specialist Implantologist. Lisa was really welcoming and put me at ease. I also had CT scans of my jaw to make sure I had enough bone mass for the implants (luckily I did so no bone grafts necessary) – these were taken on the same day at a separate centre in Harley Street.

7 September 2021: Appointment at Spanish Place to have impressions taken.

13 September 2021: Appointment at Spanish Place to have bite impression and a further bite impression taken on 15 September at the Harley Street centre (they like to be thorough). Dr Vikas Agarwal who is the Specialist in Prosthodontics was excellent and really put me at ease and spent time on getting the impression right.

As requested by Prodental I paid for the entire cost of my treatment upfront (although they do have interest free loan plans I didn’t want that). I also paid an additional £1200 to Sedation Solutions to have IV sedation as I’m filled with anxiety and essentially petrified of anything to do with dentists. The Anaesthetist (Dr. Nisha Bhudia) was lovely and really went beyond the call of duty in looking after me during my surgery.

DAY OF SURGERY

21 September 2021: Surgery day for upper and lower all on 4s and extraction of my remaining six teeth - and I didn’t sleep most of the night before. Lee (Patient Coordinator) organised a car for me to be picked up from my home at 7.30 am. Margarita was my surgeon and the surgery commenced about 10am after I was sedated and it completed around 3pm although all this is a little fuzzy due to the IV sedation. I could not have gone through this without the IV sedation and I definitely recommend this to anyone considering both upper and lower All on 4s. You don’t really have any sense of time with this sedation and you are not really conscious of what is going on. Once I completely came to I was taken to the recovery room and Nadia (the excellent Dental Nurse) was very attentive (my husband also arrived to look after me and take me home which was great). After I had been able to recover slightly I went back to the surgery room to have impressions taken. That was difficult as I felt so woozy from the anaesthesia. The impressions were then taken to the lab for my temporary teeth to be created. Unfortunately there seemed to be some delay in this and so that meant waiting in the recovery room for about three hours but I managed to get my ‘teeth in a day’ and went home to drink milk through a straw!

POST SURGERY

I took the first week off work to recover but I think you need about ten days off if you’re having both upper and lower done as it’s so invasive. Luckily I work from home so I was able to do the most minimal work the second week of recovery. I took Nurofen Plus or Paracetamol every four hours for the first five days. It’s not really extreme pain, it’s just total discomfort initially. I had soup and very soft scrambled eggs for the first few days. Part of the Prodental package is to provide five days of meals from Oakhouse Foods (very soft bite sized ready meals) and Lee sent me the menu from Oakhouse foods where I selected my choice and they were delivered the next day. The food was really delicious and a really nice touch by Prodental in organising this. I got no infections or external bruising but I did get considerable swelling in my lower face which lasted about four days. I also got some extreme numbness in my chin which I thought I might have to live with forever but that disappeared after about ten days. Now I don’t need any pain relief at all.

TEMPORARY TEETH

My temporary teeth are not quite right – the upper teeth are not visible enough and I don’t have a proper bite right now. I also have a chipped tooth at the site of one of the screws which I think may have been damaged when the screw was inserted as I don’t grind my teeth. I went to see Dr Amandeep Goma (expert on implants) on 8 October when I also had an x-ray taken. He agreed there needs to be some revision to my temporary teeth and I have an appointment on 21 October with Dr Goma and I will post an update after that. I’ve attached two photos of my temporary teeth. I chose not to have a really white colour for my teeth but I’m now thinking maybe a fraction whiter would be good – what do you think? All comments welcome.

CLEANING TEETH

I used salt water rinses regularly throughout the day for the first two weeks after surgery. Now I use a Waterpik once a day (actually whilst in the bath as it sprays everywhere). It takes a while to get used to the Waterpik but you get the hang of it. I use Listerine mouthwash after every time I eat (I have a small travel bottle I keep in my handbag and use in the Ladies if I go out to a restaurant). I still use a salt water rinse a couple of times a day. I brush my teeth with a soft toothbrush morning and evening.

MY FEELINGS SO FAR

All in all I’m happy with choosing Prodental for my All on 4s and it’s bliss to wake up with a full set of teeth. I have to say Lisa and Lee are absolute gems and invaluable to the Prodental practice. They are just so friendly and helpful. I’m looking forward to getting my temporaries changed so the appearance is better and I have a decent ‘bite’ but ultimately I can’t wait for the permanent ones.