Hai from Auckland — 3 Neodent dental implants

Real patient story, shared with permission. This patient has consented to Picasso Dental Clinic publishing their experience to help other New Zealand patients. Treatment, material, NZD price, and timeline are accurate to the case archive. Reviewed by Dr. Tran Thanh Phong, Head of Implantology.

Hai is in his late forties and runs a busy restaurant in Auckland. Years of putting the business first meant his own teeth came last. He had lost three lower molars on the same side — one to a cracked filling, two to long-neglected decay — and had been chewing on one side of his mouth for so long it had become a habit he no longer noticed.

An Auckland private clinic had quoted him around NZD 19,500 for three implants with crowns. He told us in his survey that the number was not the only thing that stopped him; it was the thought of three separate surgical appointments squeezed between dinner services across most of a year. He already flew home to Vietnam each year to see family. The idea of folding the dental work into a trip he was taking anyway is what made him send us his details.

The first quote conversation

He sent a panoramic X-ray (OPG) from his Auckland dentist and a set of photos showing the gap on the lower left. We returned a written, itemised NZD quote within 24 hours: 3 Neodent at NZD 2,000 per implant = NZD 6,000.

We were clear about one thing up front: the three sites needed CBCT confirmation on arrival before we could promise all three fixtures in one sitting. The OPG suggested good bone width, but a flat film cannot rule out a thin ridge on the most posterior site. That detail could only be finalised in person.

The bone question, and why Neodent

His first question was whether his bone was good enough after years of empty sockets. We explained that the answer comes from the CBCT, not the email — and that if one site needed a small graft, we would tell him before any drilling, not after. As it turned out, all three sites had healed solidly and no augmentation was needed.

His second question was about the brand. Neodent sits in our mid-tier; it is a Straumann Group company with a long clinical record. For three load-bearing molars in a man still decades from retirement, we explained the trade-offs honestly: the premium tier (Nobel Biocare, Straumann) carries a 10-year clinical warranty, while Neodent carries 5. He weighed it and chose Neodent for the value, and we noted the warranty terms in writing.

The two trips

Trip 1 — surgery (7 days)

Three-to-six-month osseointegration window

He flew back to Auckland and returned to the restaurant. We sent a 6-week and a 3-month remote check-in. His Auckland dentist looked over the healing caps at week 10 and confirmed the gums were settling cleanly.

Trip 2 — final crowns (5 days)

What it cost end-to-end

Against the Auckland quote of NZD 19,500, his all-in cost including two sets of flights came to NZD 9,840 — a net saving of roughly NZD 9,660. Because he stayed with family, his accommodation line was a fraction of a typical traveller’s; even adding a standard mid-range hotel stay, the saving would have comfortably cleared NZD 8,000.

The thing he didn’t expect

From his survey: “I assumed eating would be the first thing back to normal. It wasn’t — for the first week after surgery I genuinely forgot how to chew on that side. Twenty years of favouring the right meant my jaw had no habit on the left. It took a fortnight of conscious practice before the new side felt like mine. Nobody warns you that the muscle memory is the slow part, not the gum.”

What aftercare looked like back in Auckland

He booked a routine check with his Auckland dentist six weeks after the final crowns went in. We sent a written aftercare summary and the implant passport — Neodent lot numbers, batch, and fixture type for all three — and his Kiwi dentist added the implants to his file and checked the bite.

His 12-month review in Auckland came back clean. We have his 24-month check pencilled in.

Hai’s three pieces of advice

1. “Send the X-ray before you book anything. Getting a real itemised quote in a day told me these were serious people, not a brochure. It cost me nothing to find out.”
2. “Ask exactly what the warranty is before you pick a brand. I went with the 5-year option and I’m happy, but I wanted to know what I was choosing and what the longer warranty would have cost.”
3. “If you’re going home anyway, time it around the holiday. The work disappeared into a trip I was already taking. I came back having seen family, not just having been to the dentist.”

See also

• Dental implants pillar — the protocol, brands, and NZD pricing.
• Implant aftercare — what Hai was told for home maintenance.
• Implant brand transparency — which fixtures we use and why.
• Auckland to Vietnam dental travel page — local benchmark and route logistics.

Request your own free NZD Multiple Implants quote

About this page

Medically reviewed by

Dr. Tran Thanh Phong

Head of Implantology, Picasso Dental Clinic

DDS · 25+ years in practice · 15,000+ implants placed · 1,000+ All-on-4 cases

Clinical focus: Implantology · All-on-4 · Zygomatic implants

Dr. Tran Thanh Phong has practised since 2001 and leads implantology across the Picasso group. He was the first Vietnamese dentist to perform All-on-4 immediate loading (2010), placed over 15,000 implants across his career at roughly 600 per year, and has completed 400+ zygomatic implant cases since 2017. Loma Linda University-trained (2010). Clinical representative for Nobel Biocare in Vietnam since 2007.

Last clinically reviewed

28 May 2026

Published by

Picasso Dental Clinic

Review policy

Every medical procedure page on this site is reviewed by a named Picasso clinician before publication and re-checked when pricing, materials, or protocols change. Source documents are linked at the bottom of each page.