Single tooth implant: one gap, two visits, one finished tooth

One missing tooth replaced with an implant and a zirconia crown is 450–650 euro at Medicus Molaris, and that figure is the finished tooth rather than a component of it. It takes two short visits to Tirana with three to six months of healing at home in between, and it is the one situation in dentistry where the choice between an implant and the alternatives is close to clear-cut.

The finished tooth

fixture, abutment and zirconia crown, 450–650 euro

Surgery time

30 to 45 minutes, local anaesthetic

Neighbouring teeth

untouched, which is the whole argument

Visits

2, three to six months apart

Days in Tirana

2–3 days each visit

Guarantee

5 years on the fixture, 5 on the crown

Why one gap is the clearest case for an implant

A three-unit bridge replaces one missing tooth by cutting down the two healthy teeth either side of it to carry a span. That is two sound teeth irreversibly reduced to solve a problem neither of them has. Those teeth also become harder to clean and, if one of them later develops decay under its crown, the whole bridge comes off with it.

An implant touches nothing else. It also keeps the bone that used to hold the lost tooth, because bone that is loaded stays; bone that is not shrinks. Five years after a bridge, the ridge under the false tooth has usually lost height and a shadow appears under the bridge. Five years after an implant, the bone is where it was.

Cost over time follows the same logic. A bridge at 400–600 euro is cheaper on the day than an implant with a crown at 450–650 euro, but a bridge is likely to be remade within ten to fifteen years, and a remake may involve one of the supporting teeth failing. The full arithmetic, including the cases where a bridge is still the right answer, is on dental implant versus bridge.

Immediate or delayed: placing at the extraction, or after it

If the tooth is still in your mouth, there are two routes. An immediate implant goes into the socket in the same appointment as the extraction, which saves a healing phase and preserves the socket walls. It is only possible where the tooth is coming out cleanly, the surrounding bone is intact and there is no active infection, and those three conditions are judged on the CBCT and then confirmed once the tooth is out.

Delayed placement waits three to four months while the socket fills with bone, then places the fixture into a healed site. It is slower, more predictable in a compromised socket, and the right call after an abscess or a fractured root that has damaged the bone around it.

The crown on top

The crown is made in a dental laboratory in Tirana from a digital impression, which is why the second visit is two to three days rather than two weeks. Zirconia is used as standard at 150–250 euro; for a front tooth where translucency matters more than raw strength, E-max is an option and the plan will say so.

A crown on an implant can be screwed directly into the fixture or cemented onto an abutment. Screw-retained is preferable where it is possible, because it can be removed and refitted without being destroyed, which matters twelve years later when something needs checking.

Your two visits

FAQ

How much is a one tooth implant, honestly, with nothing added later?

450–650 euro for the fixture, the abutment and the zirconia crown on the system we use as standard, with the surgery, the anaesthetic, the planning CBCT and the post-operative review inside that figure. The only thing that can be added is bone, at 200–400 euro, and whether your site needs it is visible on a scan before you fly rather than discovered on the day. Choosing a premium fixture changes the total to 700 or 800 euro plus the crown.

Can the implant go in the same day the tooth comes out?

Sometimes, and it is decided on the scan and then in the socket. It needs the tooth to come out without breaking the bone around it, enough bone below and behind the socket to hold the fixture steady, and no active infection. Where those hold, one healing phase is saved. Where they do not, forcing it risks the implant, so the plan takes the slower route and says so in advance.

What happens if I leave the gap alone?

For a single back tooth, less than people fear in the first year and more than they expect by the fifth. The teeth either side drift and tilt into the space, the opposing tooth drops down towards it, and the bite gradually changes in ways that are harder to correct than the original gap. The bone under the gap also thins, which is why an implant placed after ten years more often needs a graft than one placed after one year.

Is a front tooth harder than a molar?

Clinically, often yes. A molar has thick bone and nobody sees it; a front tooth has a thin plate of bone in front of it, a visible gum line and a shade that has to match the tooth beside it in daylight. The surgery is not longer, but the planning and the crown work are, and the margin for error in position is smaller, which is where a surgical guide earns its place. The hub page, dental implants, explains how guided placement is planned.

How does the price get fixed if the plan is only based on my X-ray?

The plan is written from your X-ray and confirmed by the CBCT taken here on the first day, and the quote names in advance the one or two clinical items that could change it and what each costs. That is the whole mechanism, and it is set out line by line on how your quote works, along with the fuller cost breakdown on dental implant cost in Tirana.

*