What test are used to see if I can have implants?

Thanks for your question.

Dental x-rays are an essential part of the treatment planning and surgical process for dental implants.  This allows the dentist to asses the amount of bone that is available for the implant, and during the surgical appointments ensure that the implant is placed in the correct position.

Some patients may require a CT Scan which allows the dentist to see a 3d representation of the bone and for the lower jaw one of the nerves that passes through it.

The good news however is that many practices now use digital radiography which is a significantly lower x-ray doseage.  And for CT Scans some practices will use a ConeBeam CT scanner which has been specifically developed for dentistry and again is a much lower radiation dose than a traditional hospital CT scan.

Dental professionals will only take x-rays or scans where clinically necessary to avoid any unecessary exposure.  If you are going to another practice then it’s often a good idea to get copies of any x-rays you may have recently had taken.

I hope that this helps.

Kind Regards

George Glover