Can you get dental implants with diabetes? The HbA1c rule

The number that decides, not the diagnosis

Diabetes does not rule out dental implants; uncontrolled diabetes does. The threshold we work to is an HbA1c below roughly 7 percent for routine placement, and between 7 and 8 we will still treat with a modified plan and closer follow-up. Above that, healing delay and infection risk rise enough that we ask you to work with your physician first and come back, a decision that irritates people in the moment and saves the implant later.

Why glucose control changes what happens in the bone

High blood glucose slows healing in two ways that matter here. Collagen forms more slowly, so the soft tissue seal around the implant neck takes longer to mature, and white cell function is blunted, so a contamination a healthy patient clears quietly becomes an infection. Bone integration itself still occurs in well-controlled diabetic patients at rates close to non-diabetics, which is the encouraging half of the story, the timeline is simply longer and less forgiving of shortcuts.

What we do differently for a diabetic patient

We schedule surgery in the morning after a normal meal and normal medication, keep the appointment short, and never leave a patient fasting for hours in a waiting room. Antibiotic cover is used more readily, the healing period before the crown is extended by two to four weeks, and follow-up in the first year is more frequent. Bring your HbA1c result from the last three months; we ask for it before we finalise a plan.

What it costs and what we will not promise

Prices do not change for diabetic patients. What changes is the schedule and the honesty of the warranty conversation. We will not promise a patient with an HbA1c of nine the same outcome as a controlled one, and a clinic that does is selling rather than treating. Our surgery runs inside a hospital with intensive care on site, which matters for medically complex patients.

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