Buyer Beware: My Experience with Dra. Carolina López / Implant Manazales Manizales Colombia.
It’s also worth noting that Dra. López is part of the teaching staff for the postgraduate program in Oral Rehabilitation at Universidad Autónoma de Manizales (UAM), in addition to running her private practice, Dentina by Dra. Carolina López — according to her own professional bio.
What went wrong
I was in Manizales for six months and decided to get my dental implants done there. I went to the office after seeing good reviews from another expat — a guy from California — and decided to proceed.
I’d already had two implants placed by a different doctor previously. At Implant Manazales, I had five more implants placed by their implant specialist, with the plan for Dra. Carolina López to do the crowns and bridge work once everything healed.
It took five months after the implants healed for the crowns to even be halfway finished. From there, the problems kept coming:
- One crown didn’t fit at all and had to be sent back and remade.
- A bridge she made broke and fell out completely (photos included). The replacement had to be glued in rather than properly seated.
- Four crowns total — a bridge of three, plus one more — were installed without being color-matched to my natural teeth. They look noticeably wrong next to the rest of my mouth (photos included).
- Every crown she installed had to be tightened after placement — except for the ones done by the other dentist, which never needed adjustment. Even after tightening, they rock back and forth under light chewing. They’re not loose on the implant itself, but the rocking made it obvious from early on that they wouldn’t hold up. That’s exactly how the bridge failure started.
I don’t have any technical background in implants. But going through this, it’s become clear to me that she doesn’t have the experience needed to handle a case this large. The work was poor, and it felt, frankly, like once the money changed hands, getting me out the door mattered more than getting it right.
It got worse
After the first bridge failed, she had a new one made. I assumed it was a one-off problem. Then I learned the implants themselves had been damaged in the process — so instead of fixing that properly, she lowered the height of the new bridge and glued it in place rather than bolting it to the implants as it should have been.
That misalignment has since cracked one of my back teeth. What should have been a straightforward, well-executed procedure has left me with damaged teeth and implants that will need further correction by someone else.
When It Went Wrong: A Timeline of Broken Implants, Deleted Chats, and Silence
After all of this, she blocked me from messaging her on WhatsApp, and deleted our chat history — the only way we had ever communicated. About a month later, she unblocked me and acted as if nothing had happened.
Fortunately, I’d taken screenshots throughout and had WhatsApp export the full conversation as a zip file, because by that point I suspected I was being set up.
Below is the complete message timeline, along with photos of the failed bridge and the mismatched crowns, so you can see exactly what happened and judge for yourself.
The screenshots below run from our very first message through the day she blocked me — including the repair attempts, the arguments over materials, the bridge breaking while I was eating, and the messages I received right up until she cut off contact.
A Second Opinion — and a Question That Went Unanswered
The gallery below documents a visit to Dr. Jacob Rueda, a dentist at the University of Antioquia in Medellín, where I went for a second opinion on the implant work.
The first four images are our WhatsApp conversation. In them, you’ll see him review my x-rays and ask for the name of the clinic that did the original work. Once I gave him Dra. López’s name, he never answered my questions about the x-rays or whether the work could be salvaged — the conversation shifted to fixing the one cracked tooth, with pricing, and nothing further was said about the implants themselves.
The remaining images are the full set of x-rays he took on May 28, 2026 — a panoramic view first, followed by close-ups of each implant and crown. You can see what appears to be misalignment in these x-rays: the bridge sits crooked relative to the implants it’s attached to, which is what I believe caused the crack in my back tooth.
The Treatment Plan and Payment Record
Below is the original signed treatment plan from Dentina by Dra. Carolina López, dated January 2025, along with the payment record. It itemizes nine zirconia crowns over implants, totaling $12,550,000 COP, and shows that I paid the full amount across three payments. I’m including it so there’s no ambiguity about what was agreed to, what it cost, and that payment was made in full.
After She Unblocked Me
About a month after being blocked, Dra. López unblocked me — under a new WhatsApp number — and the conversation picked back up. This section documents what happened next: my formal request for my complete medical records, her initial claim that she’d never received any such request, and her attempt to get me to take down my review by describing what happened as a simple warranty issue. I did not take it down. It also includes my outreach to Dr. Oscar Serna, the periodontist she referred me to for part of my records, since he was never part of the original dispute and deserves to be represented accurately.
Her Response
Good Day, Mr. Gary Kinard.
Please receive a cordial greeting.
Through this letter, I would like to express that throughout your treatment, my professional conduct was focused on providing you with appropriate functional and occlusal rehabilitation, in accordance with the clinical and scientific standards of my specialty.
As you were informed, an issue initially arose related to the material used. This situation was addressed promptly by offering you the corresponding warranty and making the necessary corrections with the aim of providing you with a satisfactory solution.
Likewise, I would like to clarify that I am a Dentist specialized in Prosthodontics, a qualification that authorizes me to perform fixed and removable prosthetic treatments on both natural teeth and implants, supported by more than 20 years of professional experience.
I regret that you remain dissatisfied with the outcome of the treatment; however, I reiterate that I always acted under ethical and professional standards. Should you consider it appropriate to file a formal complaint, you are fully entitled to contact the competent authorities and organizations so they may evaluate the corresponding case.
Likewise, I respectfully request that you immediately remove the comments and publications you have already made on social media, and refrain from making further statements that may affect my good name and professional reputation through unsupported allegations, since Colombian legislation provides legal mechanisms for protection against this type of situation.
I remain attentive to any communication made through the corresponding formal channels.
Sincerely,
Dr. Carolina López
Specialist in Prosthodontics
I’ll let readers weigh her account against everything documented above.
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