Dental Implant - any insight?

Nitewaif

Nitewaif

Nocturnal Street Urchin
The dentist I had when I was a kid was a total hack. He was old back then, and as soon as a new tooth would come in, he'd drill the hell out of it and fill it. He used nitrous but believed that if you had nitrous, no novacaine or other pain control was necessary. If you told him it hurt, he'd yell, "That doesn't hurt. Shut up!" His breath always smelled of alcohol.

Every dentist I've ever seen since has been like, "I don't know wtf this is (a cap), and it's a mess, but whatever it is, I'm just going to leave it alone. It will need to be fixed at some point."

Well, that point has come. Initially my dentist was thinking I should get a root canal today then she could fix the mess. Upon closer inspection, Dr. Grouchy did such a messed up job, she isn't sure it it fixable and gave me the option of just yanking the tooth and doing an implant. After looking at pictures of the mess, it seems like this may be the least traumatic option.

Has anybody else had this done? Any complications? At this point it seems preferable to the root canal, etc.
 
Blankpage

Blankpage

alien
I have one. Make sure the implant surgeon has the right credentials and not just a regular dentist with a weekend seminar in installing implants.
I had a good implant doctor (his card said doctor) but a crappy dentist to put the cap on.
The dentist tried to put some extra cash in his pock by having a cheap lab build my crown and then held it in place by an aftermarket bolt instead of the Straumann bolt he was supposed to use. The next dentist that found this out said the bolt that had been installed probably cost $5 instead of $100 for the Straumann bolt.
 
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Nitewaif

Nitewaif

Nocturnal Street Urchin
Do you mind PM'ing me the name of your doctor? The dentist I saw had great reviews on Yelp (when I looked her up by name), and a lot of them, but when I did a search by clinic name, the reviews were not so flattering.
 
MtnRacer

MtnRacer

Veterinarian
My dental implant is my favorite tooth, no joke. Buy there are some things you should be aware of:

1) Your gum line isn't going to be quite the same. If this is an incisor or a bicuspid, you might want to think about it. If its a molar I wouldn't worry.
2) They're expensive! Mine was a little over 4k, around 2k out of pocket.
3) You're going to be missing a tooth for a while. If it's part of your smile (omg your smile, *swoon*) and you have any events coming up like a wedding or a photoshoot or what not you'll want to plan around. Once they've pulled the old tooth and screwed in anchor, it takes a month or three for the bone to grow around the anchor and cement it in. If you have a thin jaw bone they may have to thicken it first so that may introduce additional time.
4) The procedure itself was painless, the worst part was pulling the tooth and that was almost painless, just feels weird.

I'd do it again in a heartbeat, come out to the next SF meet and I'll show it to ya!

Steve
 
Nitewaif

Nitewaif

Nocturnal Street Urchin
MtnRacer said:
My dental implant is my favorite tooth, no joke. Buy there are some things you should be aware of:

1) Your gum line isn't going to be quite the same. If this is an incisor or a bicuspid, you might want to think about it. If its a molar I wouldn't worry.
2) They're expensive! Mine was a little over 4k, around 2k out of pocket.
3) You're going to be missing a tooth for a while. If it's part of your smile (omg your smile, *swoon*) and you have any events coming up like a wedding or a photoshoot or what not you'll want to plan around. Once they've pulled the old tooth and screwed in anchor, it takes a month or three for the bone to grow around the anchor and cement it in. If you have a thin jaw bone they may have to thicken it first so that may introduce additional time.
3) The procedure itself was painless, the worst part was pulling the tooth and that was almost painless, just feels weird.

I'd do it again in a heartbeat, come out to the next SF meet and I'll show it to ya!

Steve
Click to expand...

It's a molar. Weird thing is, she told me that she would probably have to do a bone graft then place the implant in 3 months. Then she backstepped and said it may be possible to place the implant at the same time that she pulled the tooth and that she would try. Hmm...

I'm not looking forward to this. The plan was to get it taken care of today if I decided on a root canal, and Wednesday if I do the implant.
 
Ant

Ant

Pink Freud
Nitewaif said:
It's a molar. Weird thing is, she told me that she would probably have to do a bone graft then place the implant in 3 months. Then she backstepped and said it may be possible to place the implant at the same time that she pulled the tooth and that she would try. Hmm...

I'm not looking forward to this. The plan was to get it taken care of today if I decided on a root canal, and Wednesday if I do the implant.
Click to expand...

Run like the wind from this hack. It takes at least 3 months for the bone graft to be strong enough. The stuff looks like little crystals that they pack inside and it takes at least 3 months for it to form and harden into a mass strong enough for the metal screw. Let her experiment on herself, not you. Find yourself an oral sugeon that is board certified and specializes.
 
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MtnRacer

MtnRacer

Veterinarian
If its a molar and you can afford it, get the implant. No brainer in my book.

Steve

P.S. +1 on finding somebody you're comfortable with. My dentist and the oral surgeon who did the implant work together as a team out of the same office. I ended up with excellent results that I'm very happy with.
 
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Blankpage

Blankpage

alien
Nitewaif said:
Do you mind PM'ing me the name of your doctor? The dentist I saw had great reviews on Yelp (when I looked her up by name), and a lot of them, but when I did a search by clinic name, the reviews were not so flattering.
Click to expand...

Sent.

Immediately after the implant they stuffed some cotton in my mouth to absorb the blood and told me to leave it there during the drive home. I was told for the rest of that day not to spit but to just lean forward and let the blood run out, also don't drink with a straw. They didn't explain why so I ignored the no spitting part, not hard with a mouth half full of blood.
Later when searching online I found out the reason why. If you spit or such through a straw you cause low pressure in your mouth that sucks blood out of the hole around the implant and can cause a dry hole. I guess that may have further negative affect on the bonding of the implant to the bone.
 
Nitewaif

Nitewaif

Nocturnal Street Urchin
Ant said:
Run like the wind from this hack.
Click to expand...

Thanks, Ant. A couple of things she said set off warning bells.

Steve, I had pretty much decided to do the implant but I wanted input. I got the estimate at around $4k after insurance does their bit.



Anybody got a local Doc/dentist they can refer?
 
UDRider

UDRider

FLCL?
Nitewaif said:
It's a molar. Weird thing is, she told me that she would probably have to do a bone graft then place the implant in 3 months. Then she backstepped and said it may be possible to place the implant at the same time that she pulled the tooth and that she would try. Hmm...

I'm not looking forward to this. The plan was to get it taken care of today if I decided on a root canal, and Wednesday if I do the implant.
Click to expand...

Eh no. They yank the tooth, noise is the suck. Put some sterilized bone, or something like that, in it's place and put stitches. After everything is healed, and they confirm good bone density they put a part to which rod attaches. After that heals they put in a rod and temp cap, until crown is ready. Finally a crown.

At least that has been my experience. Everything but a crown was done by the oral surgeon. Dentist just put in the rod and a crown.
 
MtnRacer

MtnRacer

Veterinarian
Charles R

Charles R

Well-known member
how local?
My sis is an assistant for a guy in San Jose (Kenneth Hom) who seems to have the right mentality that I'd trust his recommendation. He referred me to a very experienced dental surgeon, for a tricky impacted molar removal, but honestly I have not gone to the guy yet. (stopped hurting, so I've ignored it)
 
Bowling4Bikes

Bowling4Bikes

Steee-riiike!
I've a hole where an adult tooth was supposed to come in. never did.

I get the sell job every time I go into the dentist's office. "looks like a great place for an implant!" they says.

I've had the hole/missing tooth for about 10 years now (it's where a molar should be. the baby tooth got infected so needed to be removed). doesn't bother me one bit.

that's what I think of implants, IMHO
 
Nitewaif

Nitewaif

Nocturnal Street Urchin
Thanks for all the referrals and information. Now that I'm not loopy on the pain meds and have had time to do some research (thanks for the links), I'm going to hold off a bit until the antibiotics have had time to clear up the abscess and go to one of the dentist/surgeons you've recommended. :)
 
MtnRacer

MtnRacer

Veterinarian
Nitewaif said:
Thanks for all the referrals and information. Now that I'm not loopy on the pain meds and have had time to do some research (thanks for the links), I'm going to hold off a bit until the antibiotics have had time to clear up the abscess and go to one of the dentist/surgeons you've recommended. :)
Click to expand...
BanjoBoy needs pitchers! :toothless

Steve
 
B

Bronto

Well-known member
Everyone else has got the Implant info down well. Just a mention Discount network thingy. Can use with insurance, no waiting period. The bad side is limited Dentists participate. Use reviews to decide on a Dentist. Dental offices are listed on YELP. There are some diamonds in the rough.
 
two wheel tramp

two wheel tramp

exploring!
Nitewaif, you might contact University of the Pacific and see if they will do the work. I've had a crown placed there and wisdom teeth removed. In my experience the student dentists are more gentle than older dentists. Plus, for the implant you'd likely wind up having a professor do the work. You'd save some money, too.

Sorry to hear about the abscess. I've had an abscessed tooth and I seriously considered dental surgery with a .357 because it hurt so bad.
 
afm199

afm199

Well-known member
Root canal is not necessarily a big deal, and the tooth can last a long time after. Or not. It is significantly cheaper.
 
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