Smile!
May 10, 2006 5:57 PM Subscribe
Rebuilding my teefus...
I am looking into dental reconstructive surgery. I have lost four crowns (not readily visible) and have bridgework on my upper left teeth. Does anybody have advice for reconstruction, especially implants, to get a real-looking toothy smile back? I am in the DC area if it matters, thanks.
I am looking into dental reconstructive surgery. I have lost four crowns (not readily visible) and have bridgework on my upper left teeth. Does anybody have advice for reconstruction, especially implants, to get a real-looking toothy smile back? I am in the DC area if it matters, thanks.
I'm in the middle of getting two implants, my outer top incisors, with a bridge between them to replace my two inner incisors. So far it's gone really, really well. I had a motorbike accident in which I damaged my two front teeth almost ten years ago and had a variety of stopgap measures in the meantime. According to my oral surgeon, these implants are the closest I'll ever get to a permanent solution, meaning many decades instead of a couple of years.
I had the surgery in late March: went in, sat in a waiting room in a recliner for an hour after being given a sedative called Hynoval. I took a book along but the sedative kicked in pretty fast and I couldn't focus my attention on it. I was able to walk into the theater although I was wobbly, and the theater nurses wrapped my face in gauze, ostensibly to prevent mess but I also assume to block my view. The surgery itself, to remove the existing teeth and place the implants, felt very brief and completely painless after a couple of injected locals.
In the last six or so weeks the implants have healed beautifully. I haven't got the actual screw-on caps yet, because the bone needs time to grow around the posts to be stable, but I expect to get them in early August. I had no pain at all after surgery and the biggest pain in the butt has been the temporary dentures I have to wear to fill the four-tooth-wide gap. They didn't fit well at first because of swelling, then I had to get them adjusted because they were rubbing against my palate, then if you get a little gum inflammation they make it worse. But it's been nothing major.
Overall I'd recommend implants because so far it's been really successful and because they will last longer than any other option. Get a referral to a good oral surgeon, shop around, ask them about sedation and follow-up appointments and maybe get some references from past patients, because it's not something you want a hack to do (obviously).
Costwise it's scary: because I had an accident and because I live in New Zealand, the implants themselves are covered by a group called the Accident Compensation Corporation, but the cost would have been about NZ$9k or US$4,500 (ish), and that's for two, in the front of my mouth. I still have to pay for the cosmetic part: the dentures, the bridge and the implant crowns which will be about NZ$1500 -- these are all done by my regular dentist. Depending on your insurance, implants may be considered cosmetic surgery and won't be covered.
posted by tracicle at 8:58 PM on May 10, 2006
I had the surgery in late March: went in, sat in a waiting room in a recliner for an hour after being given a sedative called Hynoval. I took a book along but the sedative kicked in pretty fast and I couldn't focus my attention on it. I was able to walk into the theater although I was wobbly, and the theater nurses wrapped my face in gauze, ostensibly to prevent mess but I also assume to block my view. The surgery itself, to remove the existing teeth and place the implants, felt very brief and completely painless after a couple of injected locals.
In the last six or so weeks the implants have healed beautifully. I haven't got the actual screw-on caps yet, because the bone needs time to grow around the posts to be stable, but I expect to get them in early August. I had no pain at all after surgery and the biggest pain in the butt has been the temporary dentures I have to wear to fill the four-tooth-wide gap. They didn't fit well at first because of swelling, then I had to get them adjusted because they were rubbing against my palate, then if you get a little gum inflammation they make it worse. But it's been nothing major.
Overall I'd recommend implants because so far it's been really successful and because they will last longer than any other option. Get a referral to a good oral surgeon, shop around, ask them about sedation and follow-up appointments and maybe get some references from past patients, because it's not something you want a hack to do (obviously).
Costwise it's scary: because I had an accident and because I live in New Zealand, the implants themselves are covered by a group called the Accident Compensation Corporation, but the cost would have been about NZ$9k or US$4,500 (ish), and that's for two, in the front of my mouth. I still have to pay for the cosmetic part: the dentures, the bridge and the implant crowns which will be about NZ$1500 -- these are all done by my regular dentist. Depending on your insurance, implants may be considered cosmetic surgery and won't be covered.
posted by tracicle at 8:58 PM on May 10, 2006
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by nevers at 7:54 PM on May 10, 2006