Implant Crowns, Made in Our Poole Lab
Your dentist places the implant. We design and build the ceramic crown that goes on it, single units or several, in about ten working days at our bench in Poole.
- A laboratory 70+ years established
- Made in-house in Poole
- DAMAS accredited
What an implant crown is, and how it differs from a normal crown
An ordinary crown sits on a natural tooth your dentist has prepared to take it. An implant crown has no natural tooth underneath. It attaches to a titanium implant in your jaw by way of an abutment, the connector bridging the implant below the gum and the crown above it. It looks and works like a tooth, but what holds it is engineering rather than a root.
That is why this is laboratory work. There are two components to design, not one, and they have to meet exactly.
One more thing to be clear about. Wessex does not place implants. A dentist or an implant surgeon does that, and the system used is whichever one they work with. We are the laboratory that designs and makes the crown that goes on top.
What does an implant crown cost?
We cannot give you a figure, and we would rather say so than guess. On this route we are the laboratory: your dentist commissions the crown from us and sets your fee at their practice, taking in the implant, the fitting and their own time. Most of what you pay for an implant is the surgery, priced by whoever places it.
Your own dentist is the only person who can give you a real number for your case.
No figure is published here because none would be honest. Guide prices elsewhere are usually for the implant and crown together, priced by the practice that places it, and they will not tell you what your case costs.
How your implant crown is made, step by step
Your dentist sends us the case
Once the implant is placed and healed, your dentist takes an impression or scan recording exactly where it sits. That is the clinical part, and it is theirs, not ours.
We scan and design the abutment
We scan the case and design the abutment first: the connector that screws into the implant and gives the crown something to sit on, shaped to your gum and bite.
The crown is designed separately
The crown is designed as its own piece, to your shade and how your teeth actually meet. Designing the two separately is what lets each be right, rather than compromising both into one shape.
Combined at the final step, in about ten days
Abutment and crown are brought together at the final step and finished. About ten working days in total. Then back to your dentist, who fits it.
Ceramic, and how it attaches: screw-retained or cemented
The crown is ceramic, chosen so it holds up to a real bite and reads as a natural tooth next to the ones either side. On the bench that is a shade and translucency job as much as a strength one.
How it attaches is the other decision, and your dentist makes it with us. A screw-retained crown fixes down through the crown into the implant, so there is no cement and it can be unscrewed later if anything needs attention. A cemented crown is glued onto the abutment instead, which can look cleaner where the screw channel would otherwise land somewhere visible. Neither is automatically better. It depends on the angle of the implant, where the tooth is, and what your dentist wants to be able to do in ten years. We work to whatever implant system they use, so you are never locked into one surgery's kit.
The hands doing it are John's. He is a GDC-registered Clinical Dental Technician who came up as a chrome technician casting cobalt-chrome frameworks, and that background is why he is strong at this: combining implant housings with a framework is the same craft, done smaller. Most clinics tell you the crown came from "our lab". We can tell you who was at the bench.
Single or several: real work from our bench
Our cases, made here in Poole. Not stock images, and not somebody else's clinic. One tooth or several, it is the same job.
BeforeAfterA single ceramic implant crown. Drag the handle to compare.
BeforeAfterReal cases made at our laboratory in Poole. The implants were placed by the patient's own dentist or surgeon. Every case is made for that patient, so results vary.
- 70+ yrsEstablished laboratory
- In-houseMade on our own benches
- DAMASRegistered lab
- GoogleRated by our patients
Questions about this service
No jargon, no pressure. If your question is not here, call the lab and a technician will talk it through.
Is an implant crown different from a regular crown?
Do you place the implant?
Is a dental implant crown painful?
How long does an implant crown last?
How much does an implant crown cost?
Your dentist places the implant. We make the crown.
An implant crown is a two-part job, and the parts belong to different people. Here is exactly which part is ours, so you always know who to see.
The implant is placed
A dentist or implant surgeon places the implant in your jaw, chooses the system and lets it heal. Wessex does not place implants. That clinical work is theirs, including anything that might be uncomfortable.
We make the crown
From your dentist's impression or scan, we design the abutment and the ceramic crown separately and combine them at the final step. We work to whatever implant system your dentist has used.
No surgeon? We will refer you
There is nothing here for us to sell you, which is rather the point. If you have not got an implant dentist yet, we are glad to point you to a reputable local implant surgeon, and we pick up the crown once the implant is in.
We make the crown, and your dentist or surgeon places the implant and cements it in. That boundary is not a technicality, it is who does what.
Implant crown, ordinary crown, or an implant-retained denture?
Three different jobs that get confused constantly. Which is which, and where to read more.
| Implant crownThis page | Ordinary crownCrown & bridge | Implant-retained dentureA different job | |
|---|---|---|---|
| What holds it | An implant, via an abutment | Your own prepared tooth | Implants, via locators the denture clips onto |
| Fixed or removable | Fixed, you do not take it out | Fixed | Removable, you take it out to clean |
| Best for | One or several missing teeth | A damaged or heavily filled tooth | A whole arch that will not stay put |
| Who places the implant | Your dentist or surgeon | No implant involved | Your dentist or surgeon |
| Who makes it | We do, here in Poole | We do, here in Poole | We do, here in Poole |
| Read more | You are on it | /services/crown-and-bridge | /services/implant-retained-dentures |
If a whole arch is the problem rather than one or two teeth, an implant-retained denture is usually the better conversation.
Related services
Book a free consultation with John
A calm chat with the technician who would make your crown, and no sales pitch, because the fitting is your dentist's job and not ours. If you have not got an implant surgeon yet, we can point you to a reputable local one.