How many trips to Portugal are needed to have implants placed?
Two. In the course the Instituto AreLuna describes, the single implant takes two to three appointments plus about three months of osseointegration, and that interval is spent at home, without an appointment — which gives one trip for the surgery and another for the tooth. For the rehabilitation of a full arch, the count is the same, for a different reason. The number of trips in each case depends on a prior individual assessment and diagnosis.
Trips and appointments are not counted the same way
This is the first confusion to undo, and it is the one that has people counting too many tickets. The course of an implant is counted in appointments, not in journeys: two to three appointments, in the description by the Instituto AreLuna. Several of these appointments fit into the same trip, a few days apart. What really obliges you to return to Portugal is something else.
It is the osseointegration interval — the time the bone takes to bond with the titanium. This time is not shortened by availability or by booking an appointment: it is biology, and it takes place away from the clinic. It is this interval that cuts the treatment into two trips. The timescales given here are those the Instituto AreLuna describes, and they too depend on a prior individual assessment and diagnosis.
One tooth: the surgery, and the tooth months later
The description of the treatment, in the words of the Instituto AreLuna, is the replacement of a lost tooth with a titanium implant and a zirconia crown, planned from a 3D X-ray. The course has two parts separated by a wait: first the implant goes into the bone; once the osseointegration time has passed, which the Instituto AreLuna puts at about three months, the visible tooth goes in. These are indicative timescales, which depend on a prior individual assessment and diagnosis.
Between the one and the other, nothing is planned in Portugal: the description by the Instituto AreLuna is explicit on this point, osseointegration takes place at home, without an appointment. That is what makes the organisation possible from France — two absences to plan for, separated by months, and not a series of closely spaced appointments in another country.
What remains is the length of each trip. For the first, the Instituto AreLuna states a minimum of three days: the assessment, the surgery, which generally takes place the next day, and at least one day of recovery before flying. This minimum depends on a prior individual assessment and diagnosis. The length of the second trip is not published; anyone who has to book tickets for fixed dates asks before buying them.
A full arch: the same two trips, for a different reason
When what is being replaced is a whole arch, with a fixed prosthesis placed on four or six implants, the timetable changes shape but not the count. The Instituto AreLuna describes the course as one surgery plus two to three follow-up appointments, and the protocol provides for a provisional fixed prosthesis within 24 to 72 hours, when the CBCT assessment confirms the conditions for immediate loading. None of this is fixed before a prior individual assessment and diagnosis.
The word that makes the difference is provisional. The prosthesis that closes the gap in the first days is not the one that stays: the final one arrives three to four months later, according to the description by the Instituto AreLuna, and it is because of it that a second trip exists. Here too, the timescale is indicative and depends on what the prior individual assessment and diagnosis will show.
The two cases do not add up: they are two different timetables, with the same number of trips for different reasons.
Two trips to organise, not a pleasure trip
For someone leaving from France, these two trips are two decisions in their own right: days off work, journeys, accommodation. They are prepared as such. The dental care of the Instituto AreLuna is provided at the establishment at Rua de Júlio Dinis, 194, 4050-327 Porto, and the connections run from CDG, ORY, LYS, BOD or NTE to Porto (OPO).
This is not a pleasure trip and this page does not present it as one: it is a surgical procedure, with post-operative care, a written plan and a second appointment months later. The honest calculation adds up the two journeys, the days of absence and the accommodation, and sets the total beside the quote.
The appointment is booked on +351 220 430 090, and the Instituto AreLuna states that its team speaks several languages, French among them. The real timetable is fixed only after a prior individual assessment and diagnosis.
Frequently asked questions
Is it always two trips?
Two is what results from the course described by the Instituto AreLuna, for the single implant as for the full arch. It is not a rule valid for everyone: the number of trips in each case depends on a prior individual assessment and diagnosis, and some plans include additional stages, such as a bone graft, which only the examination reveals.
Does the interval between the two require appointments in Portugal?
According to the description by the Instituto AreLuna, no: osseointegration takes place at home, without an appointment. What to do in the event of discomfort during that period cannot be answered on a page written for everyone — it is a matter for the particular case and for the instructions of whoever operated.
How many days does each trip take?
For the first, the Instituto AreLuna states a minimum of three days on site, after a prior individual examination and diagnosis that may lengthen it. For the second, no length is published: the question is put by telephone, before buying a ticket.