After many years of working in the area of dental implantology, I discovered that my patients had recurring questions regarding implants:
‘Am I suitable for dental implants?’ and ‘What kind of problems/impairments can I expect to experience with an implant?’ were some of the most frequently asked questions. Moreover, often patients are unsettled by experiences related to them by people they know. These experiences range from ‘I never even needed a pain killer’ to ‘It was terrible and I would never do it again’.
What is the reason for this? Well, every patient is different, however, there are pointers which enable one to assess the type of problems an implant will cause.
For this reason, I have developed the implant traffic light system
After an extensive consultation with the patients and a clinical examination, an x-ray is taken to depict the jaw bone. Based on these findings, I categorize my patients into:
Green
You are a straightforward case. You are well-suited for tooth implants.
Yellow
I will have to implement some measures so that you will become a green implant patient.
Red
If I was in your shoes, I would advise against implants.
In this way, every patient receives an honest appraisal from me.
And what implant type are you? I would be happy to tell you.