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Dental implants

  • Thread starter Thread starter reesey
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reesey

Junior member
Joined
May 20, 2025
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2
Location
Delaware
My teeth are fractured from grinding and probably from a couple of vitamin deficiencies. I went to a wonderful dental surgeon in my area and he suggested implants. I have no back teeth in the bottom teeth and the from the ones that remain two have fractured. Missing a few top teeth on the sides. I'm petrified at the thought and I get scared to tears just thinking about talking to the dentist again. I avoided him for a year after my first visit. Now I'm thinking implants are necessary. I'm so stuck right now and how much is this gonna cost. What about pain?
 
Do you have dental insurance? They will tell the dentist what if anything they will pay for. Not all insurance plans cover implants but some cover at least part of the cost. How much your dentist charges is anyone's guess. They will give you an estimated cost. It can be anywhere from 3,000 and up per tooth.
 
OMG I hope my insurance can cover some of that. Thank you so much for the info. I did call the dentist yesterday and left a message for us to talk again. I want to know more about the procedure. I feel like I need a second opinion with this.
 
You'd laugh to tears at the prices in my country so I'm not going to talk about that, but I can tell you a little about the pain.

I recently had two extractions, with the implants put in just one week later. At least one of the teeth was badly infected, and broken right at the gum line. I went expecting a surgical extraction (you don't want to know), but there was no need for it. The extractions hurt a little (maybe a couple of seconds in total), and the dentist had to clean up some junk from the tooth that was in worse shape. Some (most?) people don't have any pain at all, but I was probably a difficult case.

The recovery wasn't too bad. It hurt a bit, but Ibuprofen per day took care of it (I took two on the fourth day, but I didn't really need to).

The implants were a bit worse. The dentist had to clean more junk, which hurt despite the anesthesia. He ended up giving me what I assume was an injection witth more anesthetic right near the bone. That also hurt pretty badly, but only for the 3-5 seconds the injection took. Afterwards I didn't feel a thing, right until during the sutures, when it started to hurt, but in a duller way (like a toothache, not sharp pain). I took more Ibuprofen but it didn't help.

The second implant was fine right until he screwed it in, when I felt a stabbing pain at each turn of the screw. He paused a little, but that didn't help much, so I had to endure until he finished, but it didn't take long. And of course, I felt my gums and face to numb right when I was paying. Maybe the anaesthesia took more time to work.

I had to get some X-rays done afterwards. That was pretty uncomfortable (the film holder had sharp edges), but nothing too worry about. I felt pretty miserable for the rest of the day because of the first implant which kept hurting (probably not the implant itself but then junk he cleaned). On the next day I was completely fine, I didn't even need Ibuprofen.

I also had a bit of bone grafted, but that was just scooping it and putting it on top of the implant. I got bovine bone (didn't even get the option to pick), but one alternative is to get jaw bone from elsewhere, which I imagine is less pleasant.

So overall it was about 30 seconds of acute pain, perhaps a little more. I'm very sensitive and apparently many people don't feel a thing. My dentist said the same before the procedure, but afterwards he said he was surprised it was so easy for me. Thank you very much 🙄.

I still need to get another extraction, a sinus lift and an implant, which I imagine will be a lot worse (I'm terrified of it).

But the first two were, how do I put it, bad, but relatively quick. Of course, each person and tooth is different. So I don't want to scare. I just think I was a difficult case (decades-old problems and sensitivity).
 
My two cents with regards to implants...

I have a full top denture and a partial lower (I have 8 teeth left at the front bottom) Now, in my experience, I've had so many problems over the years with my teeth.

I'm finally in a place where I have no pain from my teeth and mouth. No more infections and no more extraction. No more complications or complaints.

My gums have healed and are feeling tough. With dentures I can eat food again that I was unable to for over a decade.

Why is this relevant to implants?

It's my belief that, while they seem like a great solution, they reintroduce potential complications. Having just cleared my mouth of complaint, I don't agree that filling it with hardware is the right thing.

They might be just fine. They may last for many years. But eventually, they're going wrong - just like your teeth did. All of those thousands spent. Just to put off the inevitable... Dentures.

Got to say, I'd rather pop my dentures out when I'm old and frail. Than have to deal with metal pegs tearing my gums up as I clench in my sleep.

But hey, that's just my opinion. I won't try and dissuade anyone from implants. You'll do what you want to do. It is, after all, your own choice.
 
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