title: Dental implants and third party carrier coverage.
abstract: In the exciting arena of successful dental implantology, we can only anticipate improvement and overall progress. For the dentists who have the opportunity to participate and share their skills with the public, it is hoped that such services will be uniformly accepted by third-party insurers. Training in implant construction is currently being incorporated into both predoctoral and postdoctoral curricula. According to Worthington, it is estimated that by 1992, 300,000 implants will be used per year in the United States, and that there will be a fall in the average cost of each implant. The problems of financial underwriting are at present complicated and somewhat ambiguous. It is hoped that these problems will be resolved by conferences of national representation of dentistry, medicine, and insurance carriers. At present, however, it is a vital problem, and every practitioner in the field of dental implantology should consider his or her role in urging recognition and reimbursement of a covered service.
authors.affiliation: Department of Prosthodontics and Occlusion, New York University, New York.
authors.forename: H M
authors.initials: HM
authors.lastname: Parker
authors.forename: R D
authors.initials: RD
authors.lastname: Miller
mesh_terms: D003758:Dental Implantation, Endosseous / Q000191:economics; D015921:Dental Implants / Q000191:economics*; D006801:Humans; D007349:Insurance, Health, Reimbursement; D006278:Medicare / Q000191:economics; D014481:United States
chemical_list: D015921:Dental Implants