An implant is not a one-day treatment, and that surprises many people. Most of the time is not spent in the chair; it is spent waiting for bone to heal. Knowing the stages lets you plan around work, travel, weddings and festivals rather than being caught out.
The typical stages
- Consultation and planning (one to two weeks). Examination, a digital X-ray and, where needed, a CBCT scan (a 3D X-ray of the jaw). Your dentist explains whether an implant suits you and what it involves. Once you decide, the surgery is scheduled. Specialist surgical appointments with us need to be booked at least three days in advance.
- Extraction and socket healing, if needed (six to twelve weeks). If the tooth is still there, it is removed first. In suitable cases the implant can go in the same day; otherwise the socket is allowed to heal.
- Bone graft healing, if needed (three to six months or more). When bone is too thin or short, a graft is placed and left to mature, sometimes together with the implant, sometimes before it.
- Implant surgery (one visit). Usually under an hour of surgery for one implant. A follow-up and suture removal follows about eight days later.
- Integration (about two to three months in the lower jaw, three to four months or more in the upper). The bone fuses with the implant. You go about normal life; there is usually nothing to do except keep the area clean.
- Uncovering and impressions (one or two short visits). If the implant was buried under the gum, a small opening is made and a healing cap fitted. Once the gum settles, impressions or scans are taken.
- Crown fitting (one to two weeks after impressions). The dental lab makes the crown, and it is fitted and adjusted to your bite.
What makes it faster
- A tooth already missing for a while with good bone, so no extraction or graft is needed.
- Immediate placement in a clean extraction socket, which saves the socket-healing wait.
- Good primary stability (the implant gripping firmly on the day), which in selected cases allows an earlier crown.
What makes it slower
- Bone grafts and sinus lifts, which add months of healing.
- Infection at the site, which must settle first.
- Smoking or poorly controlled diabetes, which slow healing and may lead your specialist to wait longer before loading the implant.
- Rescheduling surgery repeatedly. Plan the date when you can rest for a day or two afterwards.
Will I have a gap all that time?
For back teeth, most people manage with the gap for a few months. For a front tooth, nobody wants to walk into a Kharadi office meeting with a missing tooth, so a temporary is usually arranged: a small removable tooth, a bonded temporary, or in selected cases a temporary crown on the implant itself. Temporaries are for appearance; you avoid biting on them.
Planning around your life
The long visits are few: the surgery, any graft, and the crown fitting. The rest are short checks. If you are visiting Pune from abroad, the surgery and the crown are usually two separate trips several months apart; our dental tourism page explains how visiting patients plan this. For everyone else, start with a booked consultation and ask your dentist to write the expected timeline into your plan. More on the treatment itself is on our dental implant page.
