This is how dental implants are inserted

[Bayard]

Yikes! Looks more like an oil change. Anyone have this done?

[Throck]

1. Still less painful than a Trump speech.

And the drugs are covered by my co-pay.

[tblue37]

65. I found a much better video of dental inserts:

[Bettie]

2. I was thinking about it

as my upper back teeth are all missing....this made me rethink that. Ugh.

[OnDoutside]

6. No, don't be put off by that, it's actually a lot easier than it looks

there. My sister in law got all her teeth replaced (smoker) by this, and she loves them.

[Big Blue Marble]

15. Do not hesitate or be deterred.

Find a really competent oral surgeon or periodontist. Do no let a general dentist do the implant placement.
The surgery is simple and fast. Implants are the best way to replace missing teeth. The technology is
well-tested and effective.

[Bettie]

27. The thing is

AFTER our dental insurance copay, the cost is outrageous just for four to anchor bridgework on both sides, we're talking 8-10k according to the estimate (that they charged me 400 bucks for).

He's thinking of taking me to Mexico and having it done there, where it could be cheaper. That scares me too, though I've heard that it is safe. Safe-ish?

[napi21]

60. How do you find a competent oral surgeon or peridontist? The only dentists i know around here are

plain dentists. I've seen lots of practices who list implants as one of their services, but I doubt they're experts with them.

[Big Blue Marble]

67. As someone who has been in dental management for many years,

I am very concerned that so many general dentists have added implants as a profit center.
I would only want an oral surgeon or a periodontist to place an implant.

These general dentists take a short course in implant therapy and start placing implants.

It's best to find a general dentist who refers to an oral surgeon or a periodontist.
They will coordinate their services for the best outcome for the patient.

[Skittles]

54. no, no, no

I've had two, it's nothing, you feel nothing, and they LAST - it is a wise decision....trust me

[Lochloosa]

3. Get Nitrous. Makes everything better.

[Horse with no Name]

4. I had it done

It wasn’t bad at all. No nitrous. Nothing except loca anesthesia (they offered IV anesthesia) Best thing I ever did for myself.

[USALiberal]

9. Can I ask the cost? Nt

[Disaffected]

26. Best not to...

[Horse with no Name]

31. I have very good dental insurance

I had two root canals,3 crowns and the implant. My out of pocket was $400 for all.
I think before insurance, the implant and the crown over it were about $900, but since it was all bundled, not 100% sure

[Merlot]

52. $900 for implant and crown!!!!????

How it it possible? I've been shopping for a couple years and have never found anything less than $4500, and no insurance will cover any part of it.

[oasis]

29. Do you have the feeling like something is stuck between your teeth?

How long did it take you to get used to the implants?

[Horse with no Name]

32. Not at all

I broke two bridges because I tend to grind my teeth so this really feels like a real tooth

[oasis]

35. Thank's for the quick reply. nt

[Horse with no Name]

57. We have available to us a dental plan that far exceeds

Any I have ever seen.
The cost is about $25 per month but for instance, I went to the endodontist for the two root canals. I expected to pay $500-600 out of pocket. Nope. Insurance covered both at 100%. I fully expected to walk out and then say...oh wait, you owe us money.
So my insurance was billed and I only saw what I had to pay. I could well be wrong.

[Lars39]

58. My experience...

nothing between my teeth, but it did take me a while to get used to feeling like it stuck out in towards the center of my mouth a bit.

[oasis]

66. Thank you. nt

[Lars39]

5. They are much better than having a bridge...

with a bridge you usually wind up loosing all three teeth because of not being able to floss properly.

[TruckFump]

21. Totally agree.

In essence, what happens is that two or more good teeth are ground down to put in a phony tooth or teeth between them. With an implant, IMO, it is like having a brand new beatiful tooth with no harm to the other around it.

[Horse with no Name]

36. That's why I had to have two root canals

Prior to the implant. They ground the two teeth down too far so I had to have root canals in both before we proceeded to the implant.

[treestar]

38. How did that relate?

I had a root canal, but it was due to infection. Didn't know they had other reasons.

[TruckFump]

41. Yeah, there are other reasons.

Deep decay.
Repeated dental procedures on the tooth.
Faulty crown.
Crack or chip in the tooth.

I asked my bestie (retired RDA for a maxillofacial surgeon for many, many years) and that's what she said. I know I had one root canal (not fun) and there was no infection involved. The tooth was broken.

[treestar]

44. I see. I recall they fill in the roots

so all the above would make that a better option than leaving them open. To have that and then the implant procedure - shudder! The RC was enough! Not painful but long and boring and at times uncomfortable.

[Horse with no Name]

42. I broke two bridges

So I decided to get an implant on the missing tooth. The teeth on either side of the missing tooth were ground down to place the bridges. So to make everything even, they had to put crowns on those teeth as well. The nerves were very close to the top of the teeth that were ground down so they didn’t want to risk having to drill through crowns to repair them so he wanted prophylactic root canals prior to placing the crowns.

[treestar]

45. I see. That must have been fun

to go through!

[Horse with no Name]

47. I tell you what

The endodontist that did it was amazing.
He numbed me with a short acting and a long acting med. he used very small needles for the first part. I felt one small needle stick and that was it.
I felt nothing else.
I had no pain when he was done. I was quite amazed.

[BSdetect]

7. I was told its about $6000 for one implant. Seems very expensive.

Perhaps one could fly to Mexico and get it done for maybe half that?

[Liberal In Texas]

13. Just had one done for $1800.

Didn't have anything more than a local to numb the mouth.
That price doesn't include the crown, which I'll get next after the implant heals.

[leftyladyfrommo]

14. I went to the dental school. I think it was about

$1500 per tooth. Would gave been $3200 per tooth if done in private clinic.

This was several years ago.

[redstateblues]

28. Mine was under $2000. Well worth it

[Green Line]

8. I had 5 done

The anxiety is much worse than the procedure, it's pain free with local anesthetic. Mine cost $3000 each.

[Greybnk48]

10. I have my entire upper on implants.

I had to have it done due to congenital issues. I had such bone degeneration that I did not have a ridge to hold in a denture.

Mine is called a one on four, the whole upper is on four implants. It's the absolute best thing that happened to me in regard to dentistry. It was a life changer for me in that I look and feel normal/natural again. LOVE THEM!

BTW, because of my bone issues this took several months for me and the placement was carefully mapped by computer using a 3D image. A template was made and then the implants were put in using a template. I'm not sure about this one day business unless your bones are perfect and you just neglected your teeth.

[TruckFump]

22. Same thing happened to my Mom, but only with the lower denture

She had nothing to hold in the lower denture. So, two lower implants and the lower denture was held perfectly in place.

[Delphinus]

56. I have lost quite a few

due to not strong bones. I thought that might preclude me getting implants.

[Greybnk48]

59. Age can be a factor, so don't wait too long. n/t

[Jirel]

11. First (hopefully last!) next month.

They only work if your bone is really decent. I had cracked a tooth too deeply to fix, so out it came. Then I had a bone graft put in the socket and it had to all heal up 4 months. Next month, the implant goes in. 4 months after that, the tooth can finally be put on it.

[Rollo]

12. I had an implant for an upper molar about ten years ago...

After a year it got loose, and had to be re-done. Needed bone graft and new implant. The new one has been stable. However, the first one had a better shape and was easier to keep clean. I remember the oral surgeon did his rework for free. But I had to pay for a new implant.

I also remember feeling a bit of a crack when the first implant was torqued into place. The dentist that put it in didn't want to hear about it. I figure he over-torqued it. I complained about it being loose right away but he didn't want to hear about that, either. Choose your implant team carefully!

[BSdetect]

37. Yes, once had my jaw cracked when a large double tooth was finally removed.

It was a monster.

[PCIntern]

16. I do this for a living and am a patient

So yeah....

[mopinko]

23. so what's the deal w the same day?

i looked at getting an implant when i lost a molar, but it was in a bad spot, and my sinuses are low, so it was crazy money for one tooth. big bone graft, and a wisdom tooth to pull.

but my teeth suck, and my bones are borderline, so i figure the smart thing is just to go all in as soon as i can.
walkin around w no teeth for 6 months doesnt sound like fun.

is the tech down pat? it also makes more sense to me to do it all at once and get it healing right away, rather than letting a bunch of sockets sit empty and lose the bone. is that a thing?

[PCIntern]

24. Same day placement?

Yes given certain conditions especially the health of the bone

[LAS14]

17. Yes. Didn't hurt. Too much anaesthetic. But it's a drawn out process.

Many months for me.

[a kennedy]

19. That is right.....almost a year for the whole procedure. The extraction of the tooth

the base of the implant to be inserted and the healing which can take anywhere from a good 6 -8 months. Then get the “tooth” put on the base. It is a long process.

[a kennedy]

18. I had an upper first molar done......not painful at all, and I paid 1,700.00 for it.

It was this or a three tooth bridge. With a bridge the two anchor teeth have to be shaved down to peg type posts to anchor the bridge. Very hard to floss around, so, I did choose the implant. I figured only one tooth would be removed instead of three being changed.

[TruckFump]

20. Yes.

Good deal -- at the right price -- to replace a failed tooth. I have one molar replacemenent.

[musette_sf]

25. Yes. Got three this year.

It is a lengthy process, if you get individual teeth done.* If you have a good amount of bone available to anchor the implant to, it's possible to perhaps have a three-month period between implant and new tooth. If you have areas where the bone is not quite as good, it can take six months before the implant is ready to have the new tooth installed. I had two implants where the bone is good, and one implant where the bone was not so great, so I am on the six month plan. My final checkup, to verify that the implants look good before getting the teeth, is next week. The entire process has taken a year since initial extractions.

The implant procedure took several hours. I received a boatload of novocaine, and a 5mg diazepam which did absolutely zero to calm me down. I elected to pay out of pocket for nitrous oxide throughout the procedure. With appropriate novocaine and nitrous oxide, I would say that I didn't have pain and I was quite calm, but it's a significant amount of pressure and there are some unpleasant sounds. I was given a prescription for Norco, but was advised to try and make it through the recovery period with ibuprofen and acetaminophen. Surprisingly, the ibuprofen and acetaminophen combo were effective enough in keeping post-op pain under control.

I can't use my beloved Sonicare until after all of this is done, since the vibration can interfere with the growth of the bone around the implants. I was told it was okay to use my Foreo sonic face cleaner after several months, but since I had that area of not-so-great bone, I have also eschewed that until everything is complete.

There is a portion that was covered under my dental insurance, but for the three, it has been almost five figures out of pocket. I am fortunate that I can afford it, but one of the factors that my dentist and periodontist brought up was that over the years, you will pay more for dentures and replacements of dentures, than you will for an implant procedure. The challenge is having enough disposable $$$ to pay for the implant up front.

* Re "lengthy" - I understand there is a process, if you get ALL of your teeth removed (on either top or bottom), that they can do a three-point implant that teeth can be attached to almost immediately. I'm of the belief that if you can afford it, keep your good teeth and get implants only where they are needed. But it's more expensive to do the individual teeth, so there may be financial drivers to go for the full extraction and replacement.

On edits: forgot to mention that I needed bone grafts as well, particularly where I had less bone available to anchor to.

[peggysue2]

33. I have three implants

And yes, it's a process. Only had significant pain on the first one. But even that was only for the first couple hours and I was provided pain killers. I went the implant route because the idea of a removal appliance in my mouth was a no-go. I can't stand anything pressed against my palate without an instant gag reflex. All these were upper teeth.

My standard joke is that if my body were ever to be dug up, archeologists of the future would at least find my implants. As it turns out that wouldn't happen anyway because I plan to be cremated.

But overall, I'm glad I had the procedures done. I waited for months between the base and the actual tooth installation. That seems to have been a good thing because I've had no problems while several friends who rushed the process did, in fact, have mobility and bleeding problems. Not, however, a cheap remedy. When I had it done my dental insurance covered 50%; I paid $1500 per implant our of pocket. But the surgery worked and I have front teeth that aren't going anywhere.

[Duppers]

34. Yes, indeed. Me.

More later.

[GeorgeGist]

39. Yes I've had it done ...

... no problem.

[Ms. Toad]

40. Yup. I had internal resorption - apparently relatively uncommon

(Odd then that my mother and I both had a tooth that basically dissolved itself from the inside within a year of each other.)

I love my implant. The process was relatively painless - the bone was in good enough shape that I did not need a graft, so the post was implanted the same day as the tooth was removed. Local anesthetic only.

The only thing I regret was that I was too exhausted (from other issues) to fight with them about clindamycin. It gave me c-diff. It took 11 months (and I was on the verge of a fecal transplant to cure it, before we got it mostly resolved). I gave it to my father (who I shared a bathroom with for two nights while he was also incidentally on cindamycin). That was about 5 years ago - and I still have intermittent c-diff. The last bout was about 2 months ago.

(My father and I are both allergic to penicillin. There is some cross-reaction with the cephalopsporin family of antibiotics. I don't react to it - but doctors won't prescribe it without directly consulting with you. So the assistant issued the standard clindamycin replacement. I told her I would prefer cephalosporins. She countered that I'd need to consult the doctor about that - and she didn't know how long it would be until he was free to talk to me. So I gave up. Been regretting that decision ever since. So - if they suggest clindamycin - fight it!!!)

But otherwise - absolutely no hesitation about the implant itself.

IIRC, it was around $3,000 ($2000-ish for the implant & $1,000-ish for the tooth on top of it)

i had a temporary bridge, by the way, and based on that experience I would not even consider a permanent one.

[Rollo]

49. I thought for many years that I was allergic to penecillin, but ...

Finally one of my doctors got me an allergy test and it turned out I am not allergic to it.

I think, however, that I also had clindamyciin when they did the second implant.

Oh, and how do your know that your father didn't give YOU the C. diff?

[Ms. Toad]

55. I had it first, and was already on vancomcin to treat it.

My implant was in August, diagnosed in October, and I was on my 2nd or 3rd round of vancomycin at the time we were together. for 3 days. He was just new on clindamycin - he was just diagnosed with a tooth ailment and was on it to treat the tooth to try to preempt a root canal. His symptoms were identical to mine (symptome which are atypical for c diff, which is why it took so long for me to be diagnosed. Without going into too much detail, I still have to lie to the lab (with the approval of my infectious disease doc) about the sample in order to get them to test it whenever I have a flare up)

As for the penicillin allergy - I was barely able to breathe due hives in my throat (as well as covering my entire body). It has toned down in the 50 years since that incident. I have a new metal rod down my leg, so I have to be pretreated for dental work. My optionsa couple of months ago were one massive dose of penicillin or one massive dose of clindamycin (cephalosporins are not effective for dental work pre-treatment). I opted the penicillin - since c diff is deadly (it killed my grandmother) and cannot always be controlled; I have benedryl and access to an epi-pen that would have kept me alive in the event of a reaction.

But back to the clindamycin - it is the worst for creating c diff - so IMHO it should ALWAYS be the very last resort. I would't wish c diff even on Donald Trump.

[csziggy]

43. Yes - I've had two and it was not bad at all

The first was to replace a tooth that had two root canals, ten years apart. There wasn't much left of the tooth and I didn't want another bridge. I had three teeth with no adult tooth so when they finally gave up during my forties I had to get bridges. I hate the bridges and the chance to get an implant was great.

While healing from the firsts implant, the bridge broke, so my dentist sectioned the bridge, using the solid front part as a crown, replacing the broken part with a new crown and then getting an implant to replace the tooth that had been pulled 20+ years ago.

Both implants are great and feel like normal teeth. They are much easier to clean than the bridges are.

The procedure is more expensive and some people get squeamish about the part where they insert the implant. If a tooth needs to be pulled it will take a while.

First, the place where the tooth was pulled has to heal. The dentist (or oral surgeon) may using bone put into the socket to strengthen the place where the implant may go. The healing takes 3-4 months. Then the implant is put into place with a healing post (a sort of cap is screwed into place. That's another 3-4 months.

Once the implant is solidly in place, the dentist (oral surgeon) opens the gum above the implant so the crown impression can be done - but first the gum must heal for a couple of weeks. Then the dentist takes and impression of your mouth so that a crown can be made. My dentist allowed three weeks for the crown to be delivered.

After all of that, the healing post is removed (unscrewed), the permanent post is put into place, and the new crown glued in. Once the dental adhesive has cured - with the help of UV light - you have a new tooth that just needs regular brushing and flossing.

Since I still have two old bridges and very soft teeth with lots of fillings, I expect to get many more implants. I almost look forward to getting rid of the damned bridges, they are such a nuisance - but I really don't want more dental work any time soon!

[Pachamama]

46. I have an implant and love it

I have what I have come to call my $5000 tooth...

That is probably what I spent in my lifetime on this particular tooth. It started with some bad dental work from a Dentist when I was a teenager and I had nothing but problems with this molar over 30 years. I had multiple crowns on it, a root canal and then when it was badly infected that wouldn't get better, I went for the implant.

We pulled the tooth that had given me nothing but problems - approx. 7 years ago. The oral surgeon and Dentist who did the work put "ground up bone" into the bone area to help it build up the bone structure where the tooth was now gone. After waiting approx. 6 months and the bone having healed and grown back, he then drilled in the beautiful titanium Swiss and German technology and then about two weeks later I got the nice "tooth" placed on top.

7 years have passed....I have no problems with this tooth and I am so happy with it and it feels like a real tooth in my mouth - but better.

I have joked around that they are so great I wish all my teeth could be like this....

Hopefully I won't need another surgery like this, but if I had another tooth with major problems, I would not hesitate to get another implant.

[I_UndergroundPanther]

48. I wish I could get the remaining crappy

Teeth pulled out and get the four on one to replace my teeth top and bottom. I hate my teeth they are broken worn down, I have a pair of failed root canals that killed the teeth and I got bone loss where they are.
My teeth give me a full ache that never leaves.
I wish so bad I could get implants to stop the discomfort in my mouth.

But nope can't afford it on SSI.
And medical assistance does not cover shit when it comes to dentists. Most of my molars are gone and eating is kinda scary because I have a huge bone spur on my spine , I swallow bigger chunks of food because it's really hard to chew.

Wish I could get implants and that fucking bone spur removed.

I'm diabetic but I managed my bsl really tight. Usually between 85 and 110.but I heard diabeties makes you not be able to get implants. Is this true?

[Poiuyt]

50. I just found out today that I'm probably going to need to have a molar extracted

This is a well timed thread!

[Skittles]

51. I currently have worse than that

I had to get a BONE implant first before I can get the permanent tooth.

[napi21]

53. How did you find a good dentist to do the implants? I've been thinking seriously about

getting them. I've had all teeth out for some time. I had upper dentures for many years Got lower ones and never used them.
They never fit to stay right. I've been looking at different dental practices locally, and they all list implants as part of their services, but how do you find someone who is good at doing this procedure? Right now, I'm thinking of getting a new upper denture and getting the lower one with 3 implants to attach it to the jaw.

[Ms. Toad]

61. Luck.

My daughter had to have a jaw reduction. We started with one surgeon in a process that took more than a year (since it started with extraction of all of her wisdom teeth, followed by a long period of healing before the jaw reduction). After the surgery was approved by health insurance (it isn't always because it is sometime considered cosmetic), and after the wisdom tooth extraction, her provider dropped our health insurance and didn't bother to tell us (figuring we'd just pay out of pocket for the surgery).

So at the last minute we had to find a replacement surgeon covered by our insurance. There was really only one option (shortof paying upwards of $20,000 out of pocket). Fortunately, friends of ours had used him - and loved him. We checked every review we could find & they were universally positive. So she had surgery that the first doc insisted would take 4 hours (and she'd have her jaw wired shut for up to 6 weeks). It was on a Wednesday (or maybe even Thursday). It took 1 hours, and she went to school on Monday and - if we hadn't forewarned them because we expected a prolonged recovery period, no one would even have known she had had surgery less than a week earlier.

So he's been our go-to oral surgeon since then. His work on my implant (aside from his staff's annoying handling of clindamycin) was just as spectacular.

I don't recommend that path for finding an oral surgeon - but do talk to friends who have had similar work done. Read as many on-line reviews as you can find.

[napi21]

62. Thank you so much. I don't know anyone who has had anything more difficult than rood canal.

I thought about asking our GP & a pain specialist I'm seeing. It seems to me that mosy Docs know each other & have an opinion of how good or bad they are.

[Ms. Toad]

64. Dentists/oral surgeons tend to be in a separate group.

My daughter's surgeon (who also did my implant) had to operate at a different hospital than he was used to. All of the assistants insisted it would take 4 hours, since they've never worked with him before - but he is such a gifted surgeon that he just visualizes how everything would fit together when he was done. Everyone I spoke to about him has the same impression. But the point here is that the other doctors/medical staff didn't know my oral surgeon.

Look for oral & maxillofacial surgery. It may be overkill - but for something that is going to be part of my mouth for the rest of my life, I'd rather be sure.

Your dentist may be able to refer you to someone - it tends to be a dentist who puts the tooth on the top of the implant, so they often have someone they refer people to. If you've had an endodontist do a root canal - they may be able to refer you. (My dentist referred me to an endodontist for a second opinion. She had her own list of referrals - but once I realized what I needed, I went with my daughter's surgeon.

Another route - if your kids/grandkids/neighbors have orthodontics, anyone doing significant oral surgery wil need to have a relationship with an orthodontist to arrange the teeth afterwards. So that's another possibility. (Again - a bit of overkill, but folks who do the bigger oral surgery also often do smaller things like implants.)

[ecstatic]

63. I need to get one to replace a molar, but I'm afraid

First, I grind my teeth. So I could potentially end up damaging it. And I'm not too keen on pain. Aren't all the good pain killers banned now?

[Big Blue Marble]

68. There is very little post-surgical pain involved.

I have had three implants done without any post treatment pain or need for pain killers.
And you can protect your implants from grinding with a good mouth guard. You can also
reduce the occlusion on your implant molar so it is less in contact when you grind.

Get a referral to an oral surgeon who will evaluate your situation and determine if you are a good
candidate for implants.