The six stages of an implant, and the months that sit between them
Two surgeries, a wait, and two fittings. The wait is the part that decides how many trips to Korea this takes, and it is the part quotes tend not to mention.
How it is done here ONE Dental Clinic
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An implant is not an appointment. It is a sequence, and the gaps between the steps are longer than the steps.
The sequence
One, the tooth is gone. Either it was already missing or it is extracted. If it is extracted, the socket usually needs to settle, and often needs grafting, before anything is placed.
Two, first surgery. The fixture is placed in the bone, in the position the root occupied. This is the operation. It is done under local anaesthetic, with sedation available.
Three, the wait. The bone grows against the fixture. This is the months, not the minutes. How long depends on the jaw, the bone quality and whether anything was grafted.
Four, second surgery. A small procedure to expose the top of the fixture through the gum so it can be connected to.
Five, the abutment. The post is fitted and the gum is allowed to form around it.
Six, the crown. Impressions, fabrication, fitting, adjustment of the bite.
What this means if you are flying in
The honest arithmetic is that a conventional implant is at least two trips, and the gap between them is measured in months rather than weeks. Guided surgery and immediate loading can compress parts of it, and there is a separate page here on what that does and does not change. But if a plan sent to you before you have been examined promises the whole sequence inside one visit, the thing to ask is which of the six steps has been removed and on what grounds.
- First surgery to second surgery
- Months. Set by bone healing, not by scheduling.
- With a bone graft
- Longer again, and the grade of graft decides how much.
- Second surgery to crown
- Weeks.
- Number of trips, conventional
- Two, usually.
- Set by
- Your bone. Not by the clinic’s diary.
Clinical photographs
This article is information, not medical advice, and reading it does not create a doctor-patient relationship. The Seoul Glow is a registered facilitator: we coordinate care, we do not practise medicine and we do not decide what treatment is right for you. No outcome can be guaranteed by anyone. Discuss any procedure with a licensed physician who has examined you.
