Now Dental Implants are quite generalized, But still, it’s not easy to find the infor
mation.We still have a difficulty finding a proper clinic or type of surgical proced
ures. From finding a reliable place to regular checkup which is more important
than follow-up treatment, Dr. Hyeon-gi No, the Director of S-Plant Dental Hospital
can give us some advices.
 

No Hyeon-gi (Medical doctor)

• - Graduated from College of Dentistry Seoul National University
• - Former Professor of department of Orthodontics in Seoul national University Colle
• ge of Medicine
• - Former dental section chief of Hanil General Hospital, a medical corporation KEPCO medical foundation.
• - Member of The Korean Academy of Prosthodontics
• - VIP member of The Korean Academy of Oral & Maxillofacial Implantology (KAOMI)
• - Regular member of American Academy of Implant Dentistry (AO)
• - Regular member of European Association for Osseointegration (EAO)
• - Clinical decision consultant of American Anatomage Inc.
• - Key Doctor of Astra Tech
• - Key Opinion Leader of Dentium Implant
•  

1. Please introduce S-plant Dental Hospital for our readers.

The hospital has established by 6 people who went to College of Dentistry Seoul National University with closing their own businesses in 2008. We set the goal on making it competitive hospital beyond Korea. I was worried about the large-scale at begin with but now, after about 9 years, we have settled very well and received a favorable evaluation among the dental clinics. Our strong point is that all treatments are based on Data. We are using a software system exclusively which was made through many clinical trials and debates with a company in Silicon Valley. We also have developed the treatment method using simulation to get predictable result as a new attempt for the orthodontic device. Of course we are contributing to dental implant that we are talking about today since the hospital was founded.
 


 
2. Nowadays, there are so many dental clinics offering Dental Implant. What could be important points to choose a proper one?

Well, there could be several things but At first, I don’t recommend you to made a decision based on the low price or advertisement. You should consider very carefully with the choice regarding your teeth you will use within your lifetime. If you find some places you are interested, visit the clinics personally and choose one where grasp your situation and make a better treatment plan. It’s hard to pick one in the competitive  advertising war though, I recommend you to find the information via various routes even if you need to do legwork. Especially, when you search on the internet, there are so many posts by hospitals or advertising agencies for public relations that you should distinguish them from the posts written by the patients sharing their real experiences. Second, It’s important to see how experienced the clinics are. About thirty thousand of patients have visited us since the opening. Therefore I believe you could get safer treatment from us.
 


3. Many patients feel burden in the cost aspects. Do you think it’s good for them to buy a dental insurance?

The patients who need Dental implant are usually middle-aged and they are available on the National Health service. There are a few cases that the young undergo Dental implant by an accident. In fact, people are discontent with the breadth of dental insurance coverage being too small. Besides, In many cases, it’s related to whether bone grafting is available for dental implants. If it’s proper in your case has to be decided through the clinical judgement and autoradiograph. The dental benefit market is still growing though, I think it will do much to lessen burden of cost for the patients someday.
 


4. In what kind of cased do we need “Bone grafting” for Dental Implants? Is it associated with some disease like diabetes?  

In a case that has not enough quantitative and qualitative recovery in the healing process, you need bone grafting. Whether it’s an artificial bone or not, it goes through stages turning into your own bone by osteoblast action and the all patterns of bones get similar in one year.
If you have diabetes, it’s so important whether you can control blood sugar levels. And there are some people who have mental problems or Dental phobia. In these cases, they can undergo the surgery while you are sleeping with our anesthesiologist. It has to go with general anesthesia to prevent you from obstruction of the airways. The surgery must be operated after blocking the airway. The Dental Implant surgery is composed with extraction of a tooth or teeth, pole placement and temporary crown or bridge placement. When the site is stabilized after about 3months, you revisit the clinic to create and install ceramic crown. For the patients who are afraid of the surgery, we are promoting a medication placing the patients in a state of deep sleep, which can be applied for the mentally deficient people too and it’s really helpful for both the patient and our medical team. There are not many places equipped for this treatment in Korea yet.
 


 
5. Even if more and more foreign patents are visiting Korea with medical purposes, I guess there must be some problems with the long treatment period for them.

It totally depends on the states of each patient that the material and data they send us beforehand is very important. It’s impossible for the patients from Mongol or East Asia to follow the same procedure with the Korean. It’s because of restricted time. But if we could get their information like CT images and photos before they come to Korea, We can set way more efficient treatment schedule based on them. Basically, they need to visit the hospital twice and each visit doesn’t excess one week. The more precise information is, the more accurate predicted result and the schedule can be. For example, now we are promoting our hospital in English for the Russian and when one makes an inquiry, We require advance information through a local dental clinic and offer him or her the expected output.
 


6. The best would be not to make it worse till the surgery, what dental cares could be required?

When we make treatment plans, the first step is trying to preserve your own teeth, and then Dental implant could be considered. If circumstance allow, you had better choose the way to keep your own teeth as long as you don’t feel uncomfortable after the treatment. It’s all up to you. We can see some visiting the clinic after they aggravated their dental health. For instance, Pilots sometimes need the overall treatment due to stress and irregular flight schedule. I motivate those patients emphasizing the importance of self-directed dental care and regular checkup. Actually, the ones who experienced long-term treatment, tend to keep their dental health with thorough care by themselves even after several years. Because they realized how important it is! You can cut costs for dental treatment having the regular checkups every 6months with the amount of money buying a dental insurance. Particularly, it’s easy for the 10s and the late 30s to neglect their dental health.