The Lifetime Implant Warranty and 10-Year Prosthetic WarrantyWhat They Actually Cover

Warranty at a glance

Every Italian patient treated at Stunning Dentistry receives two separate warranties:

The warranty is documented in writing in the discharge pack you receive at the end of your second Hyderabad visit. It is issued in your name and is non-transferable. If you sell or gift your dentures or bridges to someone else, the warranty ends (this is a real question we have been asked).

What the warranty does cover

The clinical failure itself: if an implant fails to osteointegrate, fractures, or is lost at any point in your lifetime, Stunning Dentistry replaces the implant at no cost to you, including the surgical placement fee, any bone grafting required, and any modifications to the prosthetic to accommodate the replacement.

The prosthetic failure: if your monolithic zirconia bridge fractures, chips significantly, debonds, or wears beyond a clinically acceptable threshold within 10 years of fitting, we remake the affected arch at no cost.

Travel to Italia by our clinical team, where warranty work can be completed in Italia rather than requiring return travel to Hyderabad: for certain prosthetic repairs, a Stunning Dentistry protesista will travel to a partner practice in Italia to complete the work. We currently have partner practice relationships in Milano (Zona Brera, Centro), Roma (Parioli), Torino (Crocetta), and Firenze (centro storico). If the required work can be done at one of these partner practices, we cover the protesista's travel and fees, not yours.

Return travel to Hyderabad where that is clinically necessary: for any major rehabilitative warranty claim, e.g., implant failure requiring replacement surgery, we fund return travel to Hyderabad. Economy flights from your nearest Italian airport, four-star hotel for the duration of required treatment, and airport transfers, all covered. For cases requiring surgery we do not ask you to use your own funds.

All consumables and laboratory work associated with a warranty claim.

What the warranty does not cover

Cosmetic wear within warranty life. A 10-year-old zirconia bridge that is functionally perfect but has some surface gloss loss and minor polish-off is not a warranty event.

Failure caused by proven patient-side factors. This is narrowly defined:

• Verified non-attendance at scheduled six-monthly hygiene for more than 18 consecutive months.
• Fracture caused by known, documented trauma (un incidente stradale, un infortunio sportivo) for which assicurazione infortuni or RC personale is the correct recovery route.
• Damage caused by using your teeth as tools (aprire bottiglie, strappare confezioni) where that use is demonstrable.
• Documented failure to follow post-operative instructions (e.g., fumare entro 3 mesi post-chirurgia quando consigliato di non farlo, with photographic or medical record evidence).
• Damage caused by dental treatment performed by a third party without our written consent (e.g., un odontoiatra differente che frese la zirconia per una procedura non correlata).

Routine six-monthly maintenance with your Italian odontoiatra. This is paid directly to your odontoiatra. Typical Italian private cost: €60–€120 per detartrasi semestrale depending on city and studio. Detraibile al 19% nella vostra dichiarazione dei redditi sotto art. 15 TUIR (con franchigia €129.11).

Insurance-style incidental coverage. We are not an assicurazione. We do not cover lost-earnings claims (perdita di reddito), travel costs for cosmetic issues that fall outside warranty scope, or any consequential damages.

How to make a warranty claim

Step 1: Contact your Stunning Dentistry coordinator

Email, WhatsApp, or phone the coordinator named in your discharge pack. Describe the issue. Include photographs if visible, and the date the issue started. Coordinators respond to warranty enquiries within 4 Italian business hours during their working window.

Step 2: Initial clinical assessment

For most issues, a video consultation with your treating clinician or the head of clinical warranty is arranged within 5 Italian business days. During the video call, the clinician assesses visually and makes an initial triage decision:

• Routine issue, can be handled by your Italian odontoiatra with written guidance from us (about 41% of claims).
• Assessment visit required, either in Hyderabad or at one of our Italian partner practices (about 47% of claims).
• Major warranty event, full return to Hyderabad needed for surgical or prosthetic remaking (about 12% of claims).

Step 3: Execution

For routine issues, we email your Italian odontoiatra written clinical guidance and, if needed, courier a replacement part (a new screw, a new retention cap). The home dentist bills their normal fee for the chair time; warranty does not cover this relatively small fee (€40–€100 typical) because it is faster and cheaper than the alternative.

For assessment-visit issues, we schedule either an Italian partner-practice visit or a short Hyderabad return. We manage the logistics; you approve the plan.

For major warranty events, we book flights, hotel, and transfers; you travel; we remake the work.

Step 4: Resolution and documentation

Every warranty event is documented in writing in Italian and English. You receive a written record of what happened, what was done, whether warranty applied, what we paid for, and what you paid for (usually nothing). This record updates your Clinical Summary.

Claims statistics, what actually happens

From 23 Italian cases 2021–2025 we have processed 2 warranty claims. The distribution:

Across our global 924-case reference dataset, the pattern is consistent (Cat A 8.7%, B 2.4%, C 1.5%, D 0.3%). The most common single issue is an abutment screw loosening (addressed by the Italian odontoiatra with a chiave dinamometrica we provide). The rarest issue is an implant failure requiring replacement surgery.

Zero Italian patients have been asked to pay for work that fell within warranty scope. Zero Italian patients have been denied a valid warranty claim.

If you disagree with a warranty decision

If you believe a claim should be covered and we say it falls outside scope, or vice versa, there is a four-step escalation path:

1. Discussion with the Director of Clinical Warranty (Dr. Ravi Sharma). Within 5 Italian business days of your query.

2. Written review by the Clinical Warranty Committee (three senior clinicians including the Clinical Director). Within 15 Italian business days of your query. You receive a written decision.

3. Independent clinical review by a mutually agreed third-party European prosthodontist (Italian, Swiss, or German), funded by Stunning Dentistry. Within 45 Italian business days of your query. You receive a written decision.

4. Binding arbitration under the Camera Arbitrale di Milano rules or the ICC International Court of Arbitration, funded by Stunning Dentistry. This is the final step and, in 23 Italian cases (and 924 global cases), has never been required.

Documents for warranty claims, including this escalation path, are in the discharge pack you receive at final fit.

Why the warranty is structured this way

The lifetime implant warranty reflects manufacturer standards. Straumann and Nobel Biocare offer lifetime warranties on their implant bodies as a matter of course. We mirror those warranties and add the full surgical and prosthetic cost of replacement at no charge to you.

The 10-year monolithic zirconia warranty is our own. Manufacturers offer 5–7 years typically. We extend to 10 because our seven-year field data on over 2,400 monolithic zirconia full-arch cases across all regions shows a failure rate of 0.31% per year, extrapolating comfortably within a 10-year warranty.

We do not advertise a "garanzia a vita protesica". That language is common in some international dental marketing but unsupported by actual material-science data. Zirconia is a glass-ceramic; the longest clinical observation periods in peer-reviewed literature are around 14 years. A lifetime prosthetic warranty would be a claim we could not support. We would rather say 10 years and honour it than say lifetime and hedge in the small print.

Sources: Stunning Dentistry Warranty Terms v6.1 effective 1 April 2026; Straumann lifetime warranty terms (global, 2024); Nobel Biocare lifetime warranty terms (global, 2024); Stunning Dentistry warranty claim records 2019–2025; Camera Arbitrale di Milano commercial arbitration rules; ICC International Court of Arbitration 2021 rules.