Continuity between the treating practice and a practitioner in the patient’s country of residence is the principal determinant of how straightforward long-term care proves to be.
Establishing the arrangement before treatment
Identification of a local practitioner willing to provide maintenance and minor adjustments should occur before travel rather than after. Practitioners are more readily engaged before treatment than presented with completed work.
The enquiry is straightforward: whether they are willing to provide hygiene and review for work performed elsewhere, and to liaise with the treating practice where necessary.
Information the local practitioner requires
The complete treatment record, radiographs and scan files, the implant system with reference numbers for each component, the prosthetic design and materials, and the treating clinician’s direct contact details.
Component identification is the item most frequently omitted and the one whose absence causes most difficulty.
Division of responsibility
Routine hygiene, radiographic review, minor occlusal adjustment and management of unrelated dental treatment are appropriately performed locally. Modifications to the prosthesis and management of implant complications are referred to the treating practice.
Defining this division in advance avoids the circumstance in which neither practitioner regards a problem as theirs.
Where a local practitioner declines
Some practitioners decline to provide care for work performed abroad. This is a legitimate position and is more readily addressed by asking early, when alternatives can be sought without urgency.
The arrangement should be in place before treatment commences. Its establishment is among the most reliable predictors of satisfactory long-term outcome in patients treated internationally.
To determine whether this procedure is indicated in your particular case, we invite you to request a clinical assessment.
