Our Implant Dentist and Technology: Experience, Training and Equipment

Dr Ijaz completed formal postgraduate implant training, worked under experienced implant surgeons through his early cases, and has been placing implants since 2022.

The route matters because the UK training standard treats mentored placement as part of competence, not an optional extra. The College of General Dentistry published dedicated mentoring guidelines in 2022 for exactly this reason: a dentist learning implant surgery is expected to have an experienced clinician alongside them while their case numbers build. Dr Ijaz trained under several established implant surgeons before moving to independent practice, and he continues to take surgical training with experienced clinicians internationally.

He has placed and restored more than 500 implants since 2022. That figure is a record of cases completed, not a success statistic, and it carries no promise about an individual result. The range covers single teeth in the visible aesthetic zone, multiple missing teeth, full arch cases, bone grafting and immediate placement after extraction. Placement and the final restoration are both handled in-house by the same clinician, so the clinician who plans your case is normally the clinician who completes it. Examples published with patient consent are shown among the real patient results from implant treatment at Deepcar.

Implant planning at the practice uses in-house 3D CBCT imaging, a scan showing bone volume and the position of nerves and sinuses.

CBCT (cone beam computed tomography) is a scan that captures the jaw in 3D. A standard dental X-ray flattens it into two dimensions. CBCT allows bone height and width to be measured at the exact site where an implant would sit, and it shows how close that site is to the inferior alveolar nerve, the nerve running through the lower jaw, or to the floor of the maxillary sinus above the upper back teeth. Having the scanner on site means assessment, planning and surgery happen in one place.

A CBCT scan is not a routine step for every patient. The justification step exists so that the radiation dose stays proportionate to what a scan will actually change about the plan. UK radiation regulations require every scan to be justified individually, with the clinical benefit outweighing the radiation dose, and the settings optimised to the smallest field and lowest exposure that will answer the clinical question. European guidance developed through the SEDENTEXCT project sets out the same principle. In practice a scan is taken when the 3D information would change the plan for your case, and the reason for taking it is recorded in your notes.

Qualifications and equipment show how a clinician has prepared. They cannot predict the outcome of an individual case, and no honest practice claims otherwise.

Your result depends on bone volume and quality, gum health, smoking, medical conditions such as poorly controlled diabetes, and how well the implant is maintained afterwards. None of that can be assessed from a website. In clinical practice, most questions at this stage are about suitability rather than technique: whether a patient's own bone, gums and medical history put them in or out. That is what a consultation exists to answer. Complex cases here are sometimes managed jointly with Mohammed Anabtawi, whose background is maxillofacial, because working as a pair on a difficult case is a safety measure rather than a shortfall. Patients travelling to us from across the city can see what dental implant treatment at our Sheffield practice involves.