What to Expect If You Get Dental Implants - Part I

After two years of procedures, I'm basically done with my dental implants. Before I started the process, I tried to do some research online to learn what I should expect--how much it would cost, how long the process would take, if insurance would pay, etc. I couldn't find much. So throughout my procedures, I told myself that when I was done I'd write a blog on the experience so that maybe people out there who have to go through the same thing can at least know what they're getting into!  So here goes. If any of you are considering getting dental implants, feel free to private message me. By now, I'm somewhat of a lay expert on dental implants.

Part I: How It Started

When I was 15 years old, I was riding my bike to a marching band fundraiser. (It doesn't get much dorkier than that). I was turning left into a parking lot, and a car hit me. It was a combination of me not adequately checking behind me, limited visibility because the road both widened and curved to the right at that point, and the driver going too fast.  The car hit me, my face hit the road. My teeth were sort of... "rearranged" in my mouth. They didn't fall out, but they were all over the place, in the wrong places. And I got a broken collar bone and some scrapes. And a really freaked out Mom and Dad.

After the accident, I had lots of dental procedures -- oral surgery to put the teeth back into place, stabilizer bars attached to my teeth to keep them from falling out, 7 root canals, braces (again - I had just gotten them off!), then 2 teeth removed, a bridge added with two fake teeth and two crowns, then two additional crowns.  The list goes on, but I basically had a lot done, which meant that over the course of the next 10 years I had more work to do in maintaining all that dental work. Bridges don't last forever, so I eventually had to get that bridge replaced with another.

I never should have gotten a bridge. If I had known better, I would have gotten dental implants back then. But I didn't have a very good dentist then -- and I tell you, there is a huge gulf of expertise and skill between a good dentist and a bad one. I always advise my friends to research and get the best dentist out there, even if he costs a lot. It is worth it.

A bridge weakens the bone around your teeth. A bridge includes one or more fake teeth, which are attached to your "anchor" teeth. The anchor teeth are your real teeth ground down to little nubs, with crowns placed on top. When you eat, all your biting pressure is placed on those two little nubby anchor teeth. Impact helps maintain bone density. For example, doing jumping jacks or other high-impact activities actually helps you keep your bones healthy -- the micro-stresses make the bones react by creating more bone, I guess. So, when there is no impact on where your fake teeth are (because you're really just biting with your anchor teeth), in some cases... the bone just kind of disappears.

About three or four years ago -- fast forward to age 27/28 -- my wonderful current dentist was examining my regular x-ray and noticed that bone was missing above my four front teeth. He kept an eye on it with more x-rays over time and saw that it was getting worse. The bone was resorbing. 

My dentist referred me to several periodontists. He had hoped we could save the bridge, but that's not really done anymore. They really just take out the bridge and replace the fake teeth with dental implants. In some cases they can save the anchor teeth and leave those as crowns. Anyway, again, I noticed that each periodontist had a different take on my case, which doesn't exactly make you feel confident in how you should move forward.

One periodontist said he could do my case, no problem, and that it would require taking bone from my hip and grafting it onto my jawbone. It would take 1 surgery.  Then my dentist referred me to the best, most expensive oral surgeon in the world, basically, so I called him and asked his assistant about how much these things usually cost. She totally scared me off by saying something in the twenty thousand dollar range. So, then I went to another oral surgeon who is also very well-respected, far more so than the first periodontist. Well, she said she really didn't feel confident handling my case because it was so severe, and that I should go back to Mr. Expensive Oral Surgeon. And when a really good dental professional tells you they're not good enough to handle you.... well, it makes you nervous enough to go back to the really expensive guy.

Meanwhile I had lots of suggestions from friends to try dental work in Mexico. My future mother-in-law had some nice dental work done in Brazil for a fraction of the U.S. cost. I do think there are some great doctors and dentists in other countries. If you were to ask me my recommendation, I'd say it depends on what you're getting done. I am 100% sure I made the right decision not going to another country because of the complexity of my case. As it turned out, even The Best Oral Surgeon in the World thought my case was really hard once he got into the surgery. 

Here's a picture - the 4 arrows are where my bridge was. The outer two were the anchor teeth which I had to get removed. The line above the teeth shows you where my bone was missing. It turned out that I had almost no jawbone - my oral surgeon was surprised that my teeth didn't just fall out.

Missing_Teeth

To be continued...

Comments

[adi shaked]

this is a good movie on the subject
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YjvckMTFKUo

[Richmond Implants]

thanks for the explanation. got some very interesting informations. thank you

[Business Finance]

Good, very nice article. got some nice informations from it. thank you very much!

[Jeff]

I think you made the right choice. If you would have went overseas and something went wrong, it would have been a huge financial burden.

Getting work done on teeth is especially important because it really can affect your overall self-esteem.

How did it all turn out?

[memphis dentists]

Dental implants is the right solutions for that. Glad you've made the right choice.

[Nathan Bedingfield]

This is the first article that I read with a deep explanation of dental implants from the patient himself. You made the correct choice for having implants. Although they are a little pricey, in the long term they will be way more cheaper than dentures and other dental care procedures.

[Quincy Dentist]

wow, this a very helpful blog for some people who is curious about our dental health. Thank you very much for the share.