Sam3G,
If you can, I suggest you show Dr. Pelcman your mouth.
Having to wait 3 or 6 months for an implant surgery to heal before the crown can be made and placed on your implant is normal everywhere. Yes, this needs a second trip to BA or to whomever did the implant surgery when it's time to make and place a crown on that implant. You shouldn't leave the implant without a crown for more than one year because your bone will start to grow around the implant, eventually burying it! I wish you good fortune in solving your problem. Dental device distributors sell only what’s used by dentists in that country.
Over 6 years, Dr. Pelcman gave me 11 implants with crowns. He did several commercial bone 'grafts', other crowns, one sinus lift, root canals and he performed a bone-splitting procedure on me - a procedure which he began doing in the 1990’s in BA and which the American Dental Association didn't approve as acceptable in the US until the noughties. Hardly any North American dentist has even heard of this procedure to this day. I had it done for a row of 4 teeth. It was painless. I didn't even know Dr. Pelcman was doing it. He didn't charge me for this because he knew that he hadn't told me in advance that I would need this or what it would cost. He only learned that I needed this once he began the work.)
Dr. Pelcman was on call to fly to LA to solve difficult cases that a dental team there encounter and can’t solve. He qualified to practise in BA and in the US (NY and California). He has done over 30,000 implants.
Different countries use different implant systems, their own. An implant done in one can’t be paired with a crown used in another system. Methods used in North America, France, Brasil, Argentina and other places all differ from one another. The little research I found when I wanted to know which method was superior showed that they’re equally good. Part of the difference seems to me, a layman, to involve whether the implant screws into the crown or vice versa. But there’s more to it than that.
Dr. Pelcman always billed me for implant, abutment and crown in one fee.
Once, I knew when I went to Arg for implant surgery that I might not be able to return to BA at the time it would need a crown to be placed on it. I told Dr. Pelcman so by ‘phone from Canada. He said he’d make the crown for me a few days after the surgery. He did that and put it in my mouth for 5 minutes to lightly rest it while I touched my teeth together. He told me to remember how that felt. I showed the crown to my Canadian dentist who thought the crown was ugly trash. He agreed to put it in my mouth 3 months later but it disgusted him. When he put it in my mouth with no cement, he then left the room assuring me that my attempt would fail. He chuckled at how stupid some patients are. When he returned 15 minutes later, he couldn’t believe what he saw. The crown was seated perfectly and strongly. It needed no cement, no correction, absolutely nothing. He kept asking, “What did you do?! A crown can’t do that. You must have done something! Tell me.” Canadian dentists have never seen a hand-built crown in their lives. I explained that Dr. Pelcman has very highly skilled technicians who make each crown from scratch on his premises. He trained them. He really appreciates them. Until the mid-80’s, crowns were still hand-made in Europe too by its top dentists.
