Dental work bridge or implant, which way would you go?

geepondy

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I've got to make the following decision sometime next month before my 2008 flex spending pay dries up (I have a grace period into next year). I need to replace a bottom left end tooth and have two options, a fixed bridge or a implant, both costing about the same. With the bridge, I would have to have two additional teeth capped but one of them has a deep filling and the dentist said that in the upcoming years I am looking at having that capped anyhow so if I wait that would be an additional expense. However the second tooth necessary to be capped for bridge support is pretty healthy. The dentist leans towards the bridge as I would be fixing two problems at once but again, I would be capping a healthy third tooth. I don't know much about implants, how they feel in the mouth, how durable they are, etc as well as the distress/discomfort involved in the implant process. I do have a bridge on the other side and it's pretty comfortable. It feels pretty natural although I sometimes have a problem with some food getting stuck underneath such as popcorn husks.

To all you younguns' reading this, if I would have brushed and flossed my teeth religiously when I was younger, I would have saved several thousands of dollars on dental work, not to mention the distress of having such work done.
 

lctorana

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When I was faced with this choice four years ago, my decision was definitely implant. No question. And I haven't regretted it ever.

My reasons were twofold:
1) a bridge, which joins three teeth together in a row, will weaken the one behind and in front.

2) When you yank out a tooth, you will notice that it has four roots, sprouting roughly from the four corners of the tooth. This means that dead-centre under where the tooth was, there is usually a small, solid nub of bone. Your dental surgeon will drill and tap a hole in this, and screw in a titanium implant (titanium because it melds with bone well and becomes a part of your body) that is threaded inside and out. A steel post is screwed into this. When this heals, the said steel post is crowned with a false tooth made by a dental prosthestist, and the overall result is a tooth as solid as any of your real teeth, and which is colour-matched to the rest of your teeth so you cannot tell it is there. Except with floss - it does feel a bit wierd with the floss.

But for the sake of the rest of your life, and in particular the tooth facing the missing one, it's worth the money if you can afford it.

But in my opinion, a bridge is best avoided.
 

sunspot

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I have 4 implants to hold a full upper denture.
I took Demerol for 3 days followed by Codeine for a week. I swear it felt like he used an air nail gun to install them. I joke that I have 16d's driven in my skull.
Go for the implants. They are much better than a bridge.

I'm soon to have the bottoms done next.:party:
 

geepondy

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Sunspot, you don't paint an encouraging implant installation process. Is this all done at the dentist's office or do you need oral surgery at a medical clinic or hospital? I would hope that they could at least keep you pain free during the procedure. I once had a tooth pulled out where they never quite could numb the roots and it was the worst pain I ever experienced.

I have 4 implants to hold a full upper denture.
I took Demerol for 3 days followed by Codeine for a week. I swear it felt like he used an air nail gun to install them. I joke that I have 16d's driven in my skull.
Go for the implants. They are much better than a bridge.

I'm soon to have the bottoms done next.:party:
 

sunspot

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I had a top notch oral surgeon do the work. I was on full anesthesia like I wanted. I had some bone loss where one of the implants was going to go, so he did a bone implant (artificial bone) near one of the nasal cavities. That hurt up to my eyeball.
I'm not going to lie, it hurt for a couple of days but remember, this was my whole upper jaw not one quadrant.

I was given Mepergan Forte (Demerol) that I used for a few days and then went with TYLENOL® with Codeine for the rest of the week.

If you are only having one implant, I don't think my situation will be the same for you.

IMHO, have the implant and be done with it all.

More questions? Ask away.
 

TigerhawkT3

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I had an implant to fill in for a congenitally missing tooth.

Where to begin? I love this thing! It looks better, feels better, and works better than frail human teeth, and I get to say that I have a titanium bolt in my skull!

Yes, you will need surgery. IIRC, it wasn't in a full hospital, more like a kind of dental hospital, and I was only there for a couple hours. I was only "partially" anesthetized, but it felt really close to full. It was like sitting in a really boring class, where I was aware of the teacher droning on (that would be the drill bit in my jaw :) ), but I knew what it really was. I distinctly remember hearing a far-away grinding and saying "wow."

I needed no painkillers at any point after the surgery. I just had a slight ache for several hours, but it wasn't much.

I also had my wisdom teeth out (all four of them) during that procedure. The dental surgeon did such a good job that when I came back a few days later for the reputedly unpleasant cleaning of the holes, they discovered that we wouldn't even have to do that.

Make sure you have someone videotape you trying to drink something (preferably cold and tasty, like a fruit smoothie) afterward. A totally numb mouth means that you'll have smoothie dribbling down your chin and be entirely unaware of it. :)

So, IMHO, go for an implant. They're super awesome.

After the implant is okay to work with, your dentist will install your new tooth. They use a very tiny wrench. I can still hear my dentist yelling to his assistant, "where's the abutment screw?!" Ah, good times.
 

Lightmeup

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Some new dental implant clinic has been advertising heavily on the local TV channels, so I called them up just for yucks and asked what a full set of implants would cost. The answer was $50,000. I knew they wouldn't be cheap, but that seems way over the top to me.
 

lctorana

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A full set of implants? Every tooth? Not surprised.

Wouldn't dentures be a better option in those circumstances
 
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Lightmeup

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It was for a full set, upper and lower, with each set anchored at 4 points. I still think that pricing is out of line.
 

sunspot

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My Uppers with 4 implants, cost about $10k. This was about 2 years ago. $50k seems a bit out of line.:thumbsdow
 

Jarl

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I'm UK based, and have cracked a root (front, top); apparently it's only a matter of time before it falls out (even less time if I get into another fight >.<), and so I have a choice between an implant and a bridge. My dentist, who knows what he's doing, says I should definitely go for the implant rather than the bridge.

So yeah, implant ;)
 
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