Dentures & Implants

Frank Z

Well my friends the time has come to say goodbye to my teeth. I've been fighting a losing battle with cavities and generally poor teeth since I was a little kid. At the ripe old age of 44 I've begun the process of having my remaining choppers yanked.

I know that the first thought that some of you are thinking is "Shoulda brushed 'em!" I can assure you that I've tried every brushing technique, brush configuration, mouthwash/fluoride rinse, "electronic-ratcheting-spin your tongue right outta your head-gizmo" known to man...and am still losing the battle.

Spent some time in the dental chair today doing a consultation. I'm going to end up with a full set of uppers and lowers.

According to the specialist I saw today, my regular dentist, and everyone that I know that has dentures, the lowers are a really pain to keep in for a variety of reasons. With this in mind I'm considering a couple of inserts in the lower jaw to retain the denture permanently and may have the same thing done to retain the upper as well but thats not a given as of yet.

Has anyone here undergone the same procedure? How much did it cost you? Please feel free to answer via PM if your so inclined.

Early B.

Please keep us posted. I'm interested in what you find out.

Thanks.

hearingimpared

Frank, I have a friend of mine who took better care of his teeth than a dentist. His problem was genes and heredity. I imagine you are having the same problem. . .it's like baldness I guess. Sorry to hear of your woes.

On a lighter note though you will be able to quote Curly Howard after a trip to the dentist, "I'm baldheaded in the mouth."

Frank Z

It's frustrating to say the least. I've had dentists give me the sarcastic eye-roll when I describe the problems I've had, then they look at my x-rays and their jaw drops like it has a weight attached to it.

My biggest concern is the cost. No I'm not cheap, but the last few years have been tough and I'm not in a position that allows me to finance a bunch of dental work. I'll sell assorted body parts to to this, but I fear it's going to take a while to get the funds in a sack to hand over to the dentist. I'm guessing this is going to be a 5 figure procedure.

Fireman32

Frank,

A friend of mine is in the same boat as you are and has both full uppers and lowers. I will talk to him during the week and try to find out some more info for ya.

Dave

PolkWannabie

Implants are easier on lowers then uppers ... On the uppers nasal cavities get in the way ...

They are expen$ive ... I looked at having implants to replace a failing 3 unit bridge a few years ago ... Cost ? ... $12k ...

I don't know if this is the same procedure that they use to anchor a full set of lowers to make them at least semi permanent or not but from what you've said they sound like they would be.

phoneisbusy

Frank Z wrote:

...
My biggest concern is the cost. No I'm not cheap, but the last few years have been tough and I'm not in a position that allows me to finance a bunch of dental work. I'll sell assorted body parts to to this, but I fear it's going to take a while to get the funds in a sack to hand over to the dentist. I'm guessing this is going to be a 5 figure procedure.

I needed a rear molar straigthen in my early twenties and had no dental coverage at the time being a poor student and such. My dental was kind enough to suggest my case for a case study that a group of dentists do to keep in practice. I got a discounted rate and in return a bunch of men got to stare at models and moulds of my mouth and watch my progress. Universities sometimes do the same thing for dental students. Perhaps you can ask your specialist if he nows of such a situation?

Good luck

Dave

Frank Z

Thanks all, I appreciate the info and the support.

phoneisbusy,
Thought about it, but have serious reservations about being a practice dummy. My daughter was born (2 months premature) at a teaching hospital and the hacks there almost killed my wife, quadruple dose of insulin cuz a nurse didn't read the doctors instructions properly. I'll stick with someone that's got a bit of experience after that fiasco.

brettw22

Cost will be a huge one.......

I wish I could give you numbers, but my dad's spent $10k over the past 4 years or so on his front teeth...........I don't have any idea on dentures or bridges......

PolkWannabie

Frank Z wrote:

... the hacks there almost killed my wife, quadruple dose of insulin cuz a nurse didn't read the doctors instructions properly ...

Doctors writing is typically atrocious ... I think by the time they get out of med school they've already had to write so much that their penmanship has been permanently scriblized ... However, I get your point and I agree ...

In any case the specialist should be up front about costs and options ... If you don't like what you hear about the procedures or costs involved then get another opinion or two ...

danger boy

Frank, I have a friend who went thru the same thing about a year and half ago. yes it's a tough road ahead for you.. but once thru, things are better. He's very happy with the way his turned out. He has full upper and nearly full lower too.

He's only 35 yrs old.. some people are just predisposed to that i guess.

Good for you for taking care of it now though... before things become worse.

good luck.

phoneisbusy

Frank Z wrote:

Thanks all, I appreciate the info and the support.

phoneisbusy,
Thought about it, but have serious reservations about being a practice dummy. My daughter was born (2 months premature) at a teaching hospital and the hacks there almost killed my wife, quadruple dose of insulin cuz a nurse didn't read the doctors instructions properly. I'll stick with someone that's got a bit of experience after that fiasco.

Ouch. I can see why you'd have reservations. The group that worked on me were practising dentists. After re-reading what you have in mind, avoiding the university teaching schools would be a good idea.

I wish you the best of luck though.

Dave

read-alot

Frank, those inserts in the lower jaw are they pins inserted into the bone?

I just spent 6k on my lowers. Yes there went my amp that I was saving for.
Everythings good now that all the gum tissue and swelling have healed.

BaggedLancer

I just heard a guy at work talking about this last week. Is it true that to get implants is actually a long process? Supposedly he said something about the first time they insert the retaining pins into the bone.....then a couple months later, after the gum tissue grows around the pins is when they start putting the teeth in.

What about even picking up a temporary coverage just for dental? Alot of dental plans will pick up a good portion of the bill.

Anyway, good luck with it Frank.

read-alot

"Alot of dental plans will pick up a good portion of the bill".

Mine didn't cover getting old with worn out teeth. The older you get you find out just how bad the insurance companies hate you.

BaggedLancer

My insurance gives you a certain amount toward each procedure based on the procedures cost. However, depending on the procedure it limits you to 1 to 2 per year.

cfrizz

Hi Frank.

I just finished in October a 3 yr project to get my 2 front teeth implanted! I lost a 30 yr battle to save them. I fell face first in grade school & severely chipped the teeth & damaged the nerves. If I had known 20 yrs ago that I would have lost them anyway I would have had them pulled back then & saved myself some of my bone.

I have every tooth in my head except for them & my wisdom teeth & have only had 2 cavities in my life!

It took 3 yrs because since I had multiple infections over the years I had no bone in which to put the implants so I needed bone grafts first! If I had had my bone I would have had the teeth pulled, 6 months later, gotten the screws put in, 6 months from that gotten the crowns & would have been done.

So it took 3 yrs at a cost of $6,000.00+ to finally complete it, but I COULDN'T BE HAPPIER! My doctor was great, he worked with me every step of the way to accomplish this, including using me as a case study for when he teaches other dentists to do the procedure. The entire procedure was photograghed & filmed. The 1st bone graft that came from my own bone didn't cost me a thing, which would have cost $1,600.00. The subsequent artificial bone I received cost 1,200.00 each. The 2 crowns were $1,200.00 each.

Some Dental carriers will now help pay at least for some of the cost of getting the crowns. They will not cover bone grafts. So I got some help from MetLife Dental at least in the end of last year.

Now I will tell you this. In order to have the best chance of getting & keeping implants the following should be in place:

1. Good Dental Genes! If your family history has bad teeth, then DON'T waste your money on implants since you don't have the healthy bone & gums needed to support them!

2. Do NOT smoke! It was the first question my dentist asked me!

3. If you have diabetes or other serious medical condition, don't bother.

If you are an adult and are told that you need a root canal, DON'T DO IT! Root canals will eventually fail & you will lose the tooth anyway. Have it pulled & get an implant. Save yourself years of hell with infections & surgeries to save something that you will eventually lose.

If you have any other questions, don't be afraid to ask!

candyliquor35m

A wholistic or biological dentist will tell you to never put any kind of metal in your mouth. This includes bridges, implants, gold, amalgam or even root canals. A neighbor of mine has implants and he suffers from severe gout and MS. These is tons of info available on the internet. Here is a good starting point: http://www.iaomt.org//index.cfm?newsFlip=news

Take your time and do as much research as possible before making a decision. Good luck.

cfrizz

Mark, I have 2 titanium screws in where my front teeth used to be. They like to wait 4-6 months for your own bone to form around and graft to the screws, this is what keeps them in your head!

Dental plans have just started paying some for at least the crown portion of the procedure. They will not pay for you to have temporaries so that you are not walking around toothless. I spent over 600.00 for 2 sets of temporary teeth over 3 yrs. I had to take them out whenever I ate since they were not strong enough to withstand that kind of pressure & at that cost I wasn't going to risk breaking them!

BaggedLancer wrote:

I just heard a guy at work talking about this last week. Is it true that to get implants is actually a long process? Supposedly he said something about the first time they insert the retaining pins into the bone.....then a couple months later, after the gum tissue grows around the pins is when they start putting the teeth in.

What about even picking up a temporary coverage just for dental? Alot of dental plans will pick up a good portion of the bill.

Anyway, good luck with it Frank.

cfrizz

Implants have been around for 30 yrs. The others procedures are even older than that. If these procedures had that kind of impact we would have heard about it long before now!

candyliquor35m wrote:

A wholistic or biological dentist will tell you to never put any kind of metal in your mouth. This includes bridges, implants, gold, amalgam or even root canals. A neighbor of mine has implants and he suffers from severe gout and MS. These is tons of info available on the internet. Here is a good starting point: http://www.iaomt.org//index.cfm?newsFlip=news

Take your time and do as much research as possible before making a decision. Good luck.

Frank Z

My dad is currently having problems with his teeth as a result of inserts. As I understand it, good bone structure is the key. He doesn't have it so the implants aren't working out for him. Why his dentist put him through the entire ordeal is beyond me.

BaggedLancer

cfrizz wrote:

Mark, I have 2 titanium screws in where my front teeth used to be. They like to wait 4-6 months for your own bone to form around and graft to the screws, this is what keeps them in your head!

Dental plans have just started paying some for at least the crown portion of the procedure. They will not pay for you to have temporaries so that you are not walking around toothless. I spent over 600.00 for 2 sets of temporary teeth over 3 yrs. I had to take them out whenever I ate since they were not strong enough to withstand that kind of pressure & at that cost I wasn't going to risk breaking them!

yea, i remember this guy saying something about a significant wait between the first procedure and the second one....so I assume what you just said is what he is talking about.

Hopefully I don't need any major dental work in the immediate future. Too expensive and I'm too young!:eek:

cfrizz

Sorry to hear that Frank.:( So I think your only option is dentures! Good inherited genes are really the deciding factor here. If you don't have it there's very little you can do about it.

Frank Z wrote:

My dad is currently having problems with his teeth as a result of inserts. As I understand it, good bone structure is the key. He doesn't have it so the implants aren't working out for him. Why his dentist put him through the entire ordeal is beyond me.

cfrizz

Then do yourself a favor & ask your parents how their teeth are & go get your own teeth cleaned every six months & use a mechanical tooth brush twice a day in between visits!

BaggedLancer wrote:

yea, i remember this guy saying something about a significant wait between the first procedure and the second one....so I assume what you just said is what he is talking about.

Hopefully I don't need any major dental work in the immediate future. Too expensive and I'm too young!:eek:

Frank Z

Yeah, my bones are Bee-Ute-E-Full!!

I'm gonna have to move a bunch of A/C units over the coming months, I get the feeling this is gonna cost a buck or two.

candyliquor35m

candyliquor35m wrote:

A wholistic or biological dentist will tell you to never put any kind of metal in your mouth. This includes bridges, implants, gold, amalgam or even root canals. A neighbor of mine has implants and he suffers from severe gout and MS. These is tons of info available on the internet. Here is a good starting point: http://www.iaomt.org//index.cfm?newsFlip=news

Take your time and do as much research as possible before making a decision. Good luck.

I forgot crowns, no crowns either.

And all root canals should be pulled immediately. The toxic crap they put inside of them is not play-doh.

read-alot

cfrizz wrote:

Implants have been around for 30 yrs. The others procedures are even older than that. If these procedures had that kind of impact we would have heard about it long before now!

Yeah and what about these cats walking around with all this grill work done just to stand out and be different or the hip and knee replacement joints or the titaninum cages holding spinal fractures.

You would think that the gout would bury them.

Come to think about it I hurt worse now than before when I had more amalgam and steel holding bridges in my old teeth.

krabby5

yep..those of us with teeth issues are SOL..

Insurance really doesn't cover nearly enough unless you have good teeth...

My insurance covers 50% for crowns and other stuff..but the kicker is I only get $1000 max for a year..:rolleyes:

that's doesn't even cover the cost of ONE implant..

I guess what should I expect for $10 a month?

bobman1235

My dad got just plain old dentures years ago, I've never heard him complain about them coming out on him or anything. He seems to enjoy popping them out to mess with people, honestly.

Seems for all the extra cost / pain / risk of implants, I'd just deal with the slight hassle of having regular dentures.

kn505

Sorry to hear about your problem. Your dentist should be able to give you an estimate on different procedures.
My father-in-law got his denture last year for over $10k. He was miserable with his new denture for several months because he could not eat. My mom had her done in Vietnam for $500 (but it was 5 years ago). If it was me, I probably wont do it in Vietname. But I would seriously check to see if it can be done in Thailand. I heard a lot of good thing about plastic surgery in general to be done in Thailand for very good price.
Good luck.

Frank Z

I've got an appointment next week to discuss my otions and the costs involved.