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Implant and guard when doing the bone surgery, scared of gagging

S

sharon

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Joined
Sep 8, 2012
Messages
217
Possible implant surgery coming up (if the rc and new crown can't be done).

I watched pictures of this on youtube and got very freaked out and anxious when I saw they need to use a mouth guard. I cannot tolerate big things in my mouth (like impressions).

Can anyone tell me how big the guard actually is? Is it like an impression? I am so anxious about this. I will never be able to tolerate something like that in mouth for an hour. I get shaking just thinking about it.

Which leads me to my next question - how long is the surgery to put the implant into the bone? Tooth in a #10.

Thanks so much, Sharon

P.S. I do take valium before my appts but I dont' think there will be enough to get me throught the trauma of having something like this in my mouth.
 
Hi Sharon
I have had 2 implants and I don't remember any kind of guard being used. Can you be more specific of what this might be?
Each implant took about 45-60 minutes or so. But alot of the time spent is in planning before the implant is placed.
Comfortdentist (dentist here) places implants - I'm sure he will be along shortly with more information:)
Coolin
 
Last edited:
Coolin, as best as I can describe, from what little I know - a surgical guard has to be used in order to best guide and direct the drill going into the bone to make the hole for the implant. The guard is made beforehand (with am impression, ugh) and it is fitted around the adjacent teeth and goes into the roof of the mouth (that's where I get scared). It is made to precise exact measurements so that the implant hole can be made in the intented spot and at the correct angle.

If you never even noticed you had one maybe it isn't so bad. Were you awake during the surgery?

Sharon
 
They are not always used but when used they can be very small and only covering a few front teeth so I wouldn't worry.
 
Possible implant surgery coming up (if the rc and new crown can't be done).

I watched pictures of this on youtube and got very freaked out and anxious when I saw they need to use a mouth guard. I cannot tolerate big things in my mouth (like impressions).

Can anyone tell me how big the guard actually is? Is it like an impression? I am so anxious about this. I will never be able to tolerate something like that in mouth for an hour. I get shaking just thinking about it.

Which leads me to my next question - how long is the surgery to put the implant into the bone? Tooth in a #10.

Thanks so much, Sharon

P.S. I do take valium before my appts but I dont' think there will be enough to get me throught the trauma of having something like this in my mouth.

I don't have any implants, but I called my neighbor who has had 4 or 5 implants. She said they never used any kind of mouth guard. I think it might just be something certain dentists use, maybe you can call your dentist and ask. She said she can't recall any of the implants taking over an hour.
 
Hi - I did ask my dentist about it when I was at the appt and he said he will be using one. A ct scan will be taken of the tooth area and most of the guide will be made from that but he will still have to use a small impression. Of course, this will only happen if he can't do the root canal and crown but he won't know for sure until the gets the old crown off and starts drilling away the decay under the crown and looks at the root. At that point if it looks like he can't do it, it will be too late to stop and he'll have to extract the tooth. And then I will have no choice but to go ahead with whatever kind of impression he has to do. Suppose he lied to me and has to use a larger impression?

Fifteen or so years ago I had a crown down and had the large impression (bad time) and when he was finished I asked if there were any more impressions to do he said no, that's it. I felt such relief and relaxed the rest of the appt. When he was all done, surprise!!!!! He had to do one more large impression. When he was finished I asked him why he lied to me and he said that if I knew there was another one to come I would be very upset and he wanted me to relax. I don't know if he lied for my benefit or his but it left a bad taste in my mouth (pun intended) and I lost a lot of trust in dentists because of that.

Comfort dentist - thank you for telling me this can be done with small impressions. I just hope your definition of small and mine are the same. He showed me what he will be using and it doesn't look too bad.

2sleepy - thank you for checking with your neighbor. How she ever was able to do 4-5 is amazing!

Sharon
 
Hi Sharon - going by the description my dentist didn't use a guard. I don't remember enough about the impression part to give details - sorry.
Suppose he lied to me and has to use a larger impression?
Make sure he knows how important it is for him to be completely upfront about the treatment and not hide details which might be scary for you.
I was awake for the implants being placed - not sedated in any way. I was scared - yes - and shaking a bit, heartrate up but I trusted my dentist - he had gone over the process, risks etc so many times that I knew exactly what was going to happen.
Good luck :)
Coolin
 
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