Surgical and prosthodontic training of general practitioners for single tooth implants: a study of treatments performed at four general practitioners' offices and at a specialist clinic after 2 years

Both the surgical and the prosthodontic procedures will be performed by one and the same general practitioner (GP) for many implant patients, as access to specialists is limited or non-existent in a large number of places. However, treatment by GPs has not been documented to the same extent as treatment performed by specialists. This lack of knowledge was the reason for the present study, in which four GPs performed both the surgery and the prosthodontics on patients requiring single tooth implant replacements. The treatments were performed after an initial training of the GP and his/her dental assistant for 8 days. The treatments by the GPs exhibited clinical results corresponding to those achieved at a specialist clinic. The outcome indicates that complete single tooth implant treatments might be performed by GPs who have passed an initial training and demonstrated an interest in a close co-operation with specialists in oral surgery/periodontics and prosthodontics. Such a co-operation should be based on the distribution of complicated cases to the specialists and of non-complicated cases to the GPs.