05/08/2023
Dr Louie Al-Faraje: Providing Free Implant Treatment through Live-Patient Training
In 2001, Dr Louie Al-Faraje established the California Implant Institute (CII) in San Diego, California, to provide quality continuing education courses in dental implants and related topics to practicing dentists from all over the world. In 2012, CII introduced their live-patient training program, which provides advanced, state-of-the-art training in oral implantology procedures in their facilities in Rosarito, Mexico, located just 28 miles south of the US border. Beginning in 2014, programs providing the All-on-4 treatment concept have been offered and beginning in 2021, programs providing the zygomatic treatment concept have also been offered. Expert clinicians guide practicing dentists through the procedures of extractions, bone grafting, and implant placement to provide them with the knowledge and confidence to perform this treatment safely and effectively for their own patients.
Because this training is funded by the tuition fees paid by the dentists enrolled in the program, CII is able to provide this high-quality and normally very expensive treatment to patients for little to no cost. This program has allowed hundreds of patients from all over the United States to receive the dental care they need but could not otherwise afford. Patient testimonials describe the experience as naturally a bit nerve-wracking in the beginning but in the end life-changing, allowing them to eat foods they had given up enjoying and to rediscover the smiles they thought they had lost forever. Some even described the experience as fun and like a “vacation” due to the beautiful location.
Potential patients are screened before being accepted into the program to make sure they are good candidates for dental implant treatment, and individualized plans are made according to the patient’s particular situation. Patients are carefully informed of all the steps and any risks that might be involved. Many patients have to go through several phases of treatment to allow healing and must get their own CT scans to be admitted to the program. Patients arrive in San Diego and are shuttled to the facilities in Mexico, which are located on the beach in a gated community, offering gorgeous views and a relaxing setting. The reason that the program takes place in Mexico is because the State of California does not allow dentists with licenses from other states to practice there; changing the location has allowed practitioners from all over the nation and the world to advance their training and provide needed, quality treatment to patients in the program and their own patients back home.
Dr Louie Al-Faraje and the other members of the CII faculty are overjoyed to be able to offer this win-win scenario in which they have been able to provide not only essential training to practicing dentists but also millions of dollars’ worth of free dental implants. Perhaps more importantly, they have been able to give renewed confidence, self-esteem, and quality of life to people in a range of situations, from the elderly to veterans to people young and old who simply cannot afford the cost of replacing their failing teeth with implants. More information on these programs can be obtained at: www.implanteducation.net
