Long from Auckland — 2 Osstem dental implants on a long-weekend dental trip

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.

Long is 39, a logistics manager in Auckland. His job runs on tight schedules and short windows, and that turned out to shape his whole decision. He had two lower premolars on the same side that had failed within a couple of years of each other — one cracked under an old filling, one extracted after a root canal that never settled. He had been chewing on one side for long enough that it had become a habit he no longer noticed.

An Auckland private clinic had quoted him around NZD 13,000 for two implants with crowns. The number itself did not surprise him; the timeline did. Staged over months of New Zealand appointments, it would mean repeatedly clearing afternoons from a calendar he does not control. He came to us after reading the dental implants pillar and our published brand and warranty terms.

The first quote conversation

He sent a panoramic X-ray from his Auckland dentist and a few phone photos of the gap. We returned a written, itemised NZD quote within 24 hours: 2 Osstem implants at NZD 1,667 per unit (fixture, abutment, and zirconia crown each) = NZD 3,334.

The two sites were adjacent, which is straightforward to plan for. We flagged that final positioning and whether any minor grafting was needed would only be confirmed by CBCT on arrival — the OPG looked clean, but we never lock the surgical plan from a 2D image alone.

What he wanted to settle before booking

His questions were practical, not anxious. First, brand: he asked why Osstem rather than the premium tier. We explained Osstem is a high-volume, well-documented Korean system we place daily, and that the 5-year clinical warranty and implant passport travel home with him. Second, time off: he wanted to know the minimum number of days each visit demanded, because two short absences were easier for him to justify at work than one long one. That, more than price, is why he chose the staged two-trip route.

The two trips

Trip 1 — placement (5 days)

Four-month osseointegration window

He flew home and carried on as normal. We sent a remote check-in at week three and again at week eight. His Auckland dentist looked at the healing during a routine clean and confirmed the gums had settled well over the caps.

Trip 2 — final crowns (4 days)

What it cost end-to-end

Against the Auckland quote of around NZD 13,000 for the same two implants, his all-in total including two return flights, hotels, food, and insurance came to roughly NZD 8,044. That is a net saving of about NZD 4,956 after travel — and the clinical work alone, NZD 3,334 versus NZD 13,000, was where the gap really sat.

The thing he didn’t expect

From his survey: “I assumed I’d lose two full work weeks. I didn’t. Each visit was under a week, and I actually answered emails from the hotel on the recovery days. What threw me was how normal eating felt within a few days of the crowns — I’d been favouring one side so long that chewing evenly again took a bit of getting used to. Pleasant surprise, just an odd one.”

What aftercare looked like back in Auckland

He booked a check with his Auckland dentist about six weeks after the crowns went in. We sent a written aftercare summary and the implant passport with the Osstem lot numbers and fixture types, which the Kiwi dentist added to his file. He was told to treat the implant crowns like natural teeth, floss the sides, and keep his normal six-month clean schedule.

12-month review by his Auckland dentist — both implants stable, crowns clean.

Long’s three pieces of advice

1. “Map it against your annual leave, not just your budget. Two short trips fit my work life far better than months of local appointments would have. The scheduling was the real win for me.”
2. “Send a recent X-ray before you book. Getting an itemised quote back in a day, with each implant priced separately, made it easy to compare apples to apples against my Auckland number.”
3. “Keep the implant passport somewhere you won’t lose it. My dentist here wanted the brand and lot numbers on file, and I was glad I had the document rather than trying to remember.”

See also

• Dental implants pillar — the protocol, brands, and NZD pricing.
• Implant aftercare — what Long was told for home maintenance.
• Auckland to Vietnam dental travel page — local benchmark and route logistics.

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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.