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Dear Dr. Hall
I have full upper dental implants, the kind that are removable, the kind that snap in with four posts. I need the locator male retention caps, but my dentist charges me $25 for one! Not one set—one single little piece of silicone or nylon (I’m not actually sure what they are made of). I can’t afford to pay that much anymore. I have seen them online for $20 for a set of four, but I cannot order them because I’m not a dentist. Is there anywhere I can buy them without being a licensed professional?
– Sue from Las Vegas
Sue,
While I understand why your dentist may feel that he or she needs this markup because of high office overhead, this is such a small item in the dental office operation scheme of things, you would think they could make some allowances. Anyway, I have a couple of ideas for you.
The first is to call around, explain your situation to various dental offices, and I’ll bet you could find someone who would order them for you at cost. Dental offices tend to be populated by friendly, kind people, and I would think you could find a sympathetic dental assistant who would order these for you. The dentist doesn’t actually have to be personally involved at all. The staff usually does all the ordering.
But I actually believe you can order these without being a dentist. If you go to ebay rather than an established dental supply house, I am finding dental implant locator caps available there from overseas sellers and they are not requiring any documentation of your being a dentist or dental professional. The caveat here is that you need to know exactly what you want and how to pop them into your denture. There are various strengths of these caps—soft ones and firm ones that give different amounts of resistance. And they’re about $20 a set or more, depending on whether or not you get some other things with the caps.
Good luck.
Dr. Hall
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About David A. Hall
Dr. David A. Hall was one of the first 40 accredited cosmetic dentists in the world. He practiced cosmetic dentistry in Iowa, and in 1990 earned his accreditation with the American Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry. He is now president of Infinity Dental Web, a company in Mesa, Arizona that does advanced internet marketing for dentists.