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For Patients.

The association exists for you. What to ask before consent, how to read the registry, how to file a complaint — and how to read a published ruling. Plain language, no legal disclaimers buried at the end.

Complaints acknowledged the day received Rulings within 90 days Free to use
Step I

Look up the surgeon.

Find them in the registry by name or city. If they are not in the registry, that is not a verdict — but it is a fact, and worth asking why.

Search the registry
Step II

Ask the nine questions.

A printable list of nine questions every patient is owed an answer to before consenting to implant surgery. Bring it to your consultation.

Read the questions
Step III

Read your consent.

What proper informed consent looks like, what it is not, and what to do if the form you are asked to sign is not what you were told.

What consent should contain

The nine questions to ask, before consent.

A good implantologist will welcome these questions. A surgeon who reacts poorly to being asked any of them — who becomes irritated, evasive, or hurried — has told you something useful. The questions are short on purpose; you can write them on a card and bring them in.

  1. "What is the evidence that this procedure is right for me — not for an average patient, for me?"
  2. "What are the alternatives, including doing nothing, and what are their outcomes at five years?"
  3. "Who, by name, will perform the surgery? If they are unavailable on the day, what happens?"
  4. "What imaging will you use, when, and may I have a copy?"
  5. "What is your personal complication rate for this specific procedure, in the last twelve months?"
  6. "Do you have any financial interest in the brand of implant you are recommending?"
  7. "How will follow-up be handled at six weeks, six months, and one year?"
  8. "What happens if something goes wrong, and who pays for the corrective work?"
  9. "May I read your most recent audit summary or disciplinary record?"
Print it

Download the printable card

A single-page PDF, designed to fit a pocket. Bring it to consultation. Download (PDF, 84 KB).

Informed consent is not a signature on a clipboard at the door. Under Article I of the standard, your implantologist must give you, before you consent, a written rationale for the planned procedure, dated imaging on which it is based, the alternatives discussed, the named operator, and the foreseeable complications.

You should receive a copy of the consent document at least twenty-four hours before surgery — never on the day. If you do not, the consent is procedurally weak. You may sign, or you may ask for the documents and reschedule. A surgeon who refuses to reschedule for proper consent is a surgeon to walk away from.

How to file a complaint.

If you believe an association member has breached the standard in your care, you may file a complaint. Complaints are accepted from any source — directly, through counsel, anonymously, through another clinician. They are acknowledged the day they are received.

Standards investigates within sixty days and rules within ninety. You may attend the hearing in person, send written testimony, or do both. The patient is not named in the published ruling unless the patient chooses to be.

To file a complaint, write to [email protected] — or post the form below by registered mail to the Standards Council, Madrid. We acknowledge by both channels.

What to include.

You do not need legal representation. You may bring representation if you wish. The association does not charge to file a complaint; it does not charge to attend a hearing; it does not charge to read a ruling.

Reading a ruling.

Disciplinary rulings are published in the next quarterly issue of Acta Implantologica and posted on the association's website the same day. A ruling carries the named member, the date of the complaint, the date of the hearing, the substantiated breaches by Article number, the sanction, and a one-paragraph factual summary.

The summary is written for a non-clinician reader. If a clinical term is necessary, it is explained in plain language. The patient is not named unless they have asked to be.

Browse recent rulings (2024–2026).

Walk away if you see this

The nine red flags.

  1. I.
    The consent form arrives the day of surgery. Proper consent requires at least twenty-four hours to read, ask, and reconsider. Same-day consent is administratively expedient, not informed.
  2. II.
    "We will know who is operating on the day." The named operator is on the consent form before consent is signed. Anything else is a substitution waiting to happen.
  3. III.
    No written rationale offered. If the practice cannot put in writing why this procedure is right for you, ask why. If the answer is unsatisfying, leave.
  4. IV.
    "Today only" pricing or pressure. Real implant work is months of planning. A discount that expires in twenty-four hours is a marketing tactic, not a clinical opinion.
  5. V.
    The surgeon will not name their complication rate. Every honest implantologist has a complication rate. If yours pretends to none, they either have not measured, or they will not say.
  6. VI.
    No imaging on which the plan is based. A treatment plan without a dated scan that you can hold is a brochure, not a plan.
  7. VII.
    "We never have failures." No competent practitioner says this. The discipline of implant dentistry is built on the assumption that some procedures will not heal — and on the protocols that handle them when they do not.
  8. VIII.
    Industry conflict undisclosed. Ask which platform they recommend, and why. If the answer is one brand for every patient, you have a brand-loyalty signal, not a clinical match.
  9. IX.
    Pressure when you ask to read the file. A practice that resents your questions about its audit, its disclosures, or its complication history is showing you the answer.
Words used in your file

A short glossary, in plain English.

CBCT cone-beam CT
A three-dimensional X-ray of your jawbone. The standard imaging behind any implant plan. You should always be able to ask for a copy of yours.
Osseointegration
The process by which an implant bonds with the bone. Typically three to six months. Implants that do not osseointegrate fail; the protocol for handling that failure is part of competent practice.
Immediate loading
Placing a temporary tooth on an implant on the day of surgery. Only suitable for specific cases. Your surgeon should explain whether your case is one of them — and why.
All-on-X
A full-arch fixed bridge supported by four, six, or more implants. "All-on-4," "All-on-6," "All-on-X" are protocol names; the right number for you depends on your anatomy, not on the marketing.
Zygomatic implant
A longer implant anchored in the cheekbone, used when conventional implants are not viable. A specialist procedure with a steeper learning curve. Ask your surgeon how many they have placed.
Operator of record
The named surgeon on your consent form and chart — the person responsible for the procedure. The Six Articles forbid substitution without your written re-consent.
In good standing
A member with current dues, current audit, current disclosure, and no open disciplinary file. The phrase says what is documented to be true, not who is the best surgeon.
Substantiated breach
A finding by the Standards Council, on the balance of probabilities, that a member breached one or more of the Six Articles. A substantiated breach is published, by name, in the next issue of Acta Implantologica.
F.I.A. · M.I.A.
The post-nominals carried by Fellows and Members of the Implantologists Association. They indicate examined, audited, and renewed. They do not indicate "the best in town."
If you need to act

A complaint, made well, is a public record.

If something has gone wrong in your care and the surgeon you trusted has not made it right, the association is built to handle that. Acknowledged the day received. Ruled on within ninety days.

File a complaint Look up a surgeon