Does anyone know anything about tooth implants?

[Tigger1]

My sister just had two teeth pulled and a temparary partial made. The partial did not fit and a new one had to be made. Before she puts the money out for a good partial I thought she might want to look into tooth implants. I see more adds for them than ever before. I also heard someone talking about them at work. Does anyone have an idea what they cost? How soon do they need to be added after extraction? How painful? Do they last forever or need replaced?

Thanks Tigger

 

[MoniqueU]

I would also like to know more about them My daughter has to have one perhaps two when she gets around 18 and her jaw stops growing. She knocked out permanent teeth on a Razor Scooter (with a helmet on). I know my mother in law had them and I want to say for almost a full mouth of them it was close to 30 grand for all the work. I could be off base but that is what I seem to recall. I don't know how painful it is or how long they last. Hopefully someone else will have more information.

 

[CherCrazy]

It is not a quick or easy process, as I understand it. My neighbor's son is getting them. He had an orthodontist screw up his mouth, and now has to have implants put in to replace the teeth that she killed. Yes, she actually killed his teeth.

Anyway, he had some surgery done to get his mouth ready. Next he has to wait a few more months for this surgery to heal, then the implants are screwed in place. I would guess that this will cost at least $2k per tooth....my DB got an implant a few years ago and it cost him $1500. I know his insurance didn't cover it, because he waited a few years until he could afford it.

 

[DisneyMim]

Well, I am in the middle of one now. About 8 months ago I had a tooth pulled that was beyond hope. Believe it or not I had had a root canal in the tooth years ago, but it became infected, etc. Long story short, the tooth had to go and I had a choice of either a partial, implant or just let it stay that way. I decided on an implant. After the tooth was pulled (and this may have taken longer because it was infected and had a root canal, I'm not sure), I needed to let it heal for about six months until the next step. About a month ago I went in for the next part and had the "post/screw" part put in. I am not exactly sure what this is called, but it it feels like a round flat disc. The pain is not too bad this time around. When I had the tooth pulled it hurt more. The hard part is trying not to eat on that side of the mouth. You have to be very careful. In about 4 months I will go back and have a new tooth made. Thw whole thing will cost around $5K, but I have to add that I had another problem with the tooth behind this one (yes I had bad dental care years ago and am paying for it now) so I am not totally sure what I am paying for because a lot of it is alltogher. It is very expensive and very time consuming because I have had to go back for check-ups a lot. I hope I explained it right. Basically it is a pain in the pocket and mouth! At this point I think it would be easier to get wooden teeth, but my dentist won't let me. LOL!! For those of you who are thinking implants, I was told you have to look at it as long range. Hopefully I will be happy eventually.

Good Luck!

 

[Alice's Mom]

I won't be much help as far as cost, amazingly my Mom's insurance paid for mine.

When I was 8 I was riding my bike downhill when the chain broke and flew face forward over the handle bars, and I lost my brand new front tooth and a few babies, well I finally had the implant at 17 after a whole life of temporaries (denture). It took a few weeks to heal and I lost a lot of weight that I didn't need to lose (now I could) but it did heal perfectly. I didn't have a tooth so I didn't have removal surgery in that instance, but I have had the removal of 4 teeth to prepare for braces and my 4 wisdom teeth and those healed in a few days.

So an implant can be put in anytime since mine was done 10 years after the fact.

The dentist said I will have this for the rest of my life and I have no doubts, 11 years later and it hasn't budged!

Growing up I was so embarassed by the fact that I was missing my front tooth and I am so thankful for the implant. Its my big secret that none of my friends or past boyfriends have ever known about, it just occurred to me that my daughter doesn't even know.

 

[tiggersmom2]

My sister just had two teeth pulled and a temparary partial made. The partial did not fit and a new one had to be made. Before she puts the money out for a good partial I thought she might want to look into tooth implants. I see more adds for them than ever before. I also heard someone talking about them at work. Does anyone have an idea what they cost? How soon do they need to be added after extraction? How painful? Do they last forever or need replaced?

Thanks Tigger

A big question would be WHY did your sister have the teeth pulled? If it was due to periodontal disease then ..no...she would not be a good candidate. Implants are VERY expensive and will NOT last if impecable home care is not followed.

The patient goes in and has the jaw bone drilled into and then that heals for about a month....then an implant can be placed. If homecare is good they will last as long as you do.

 

[Syrreal]

Honestly, it depends on the implant and on the bone quality of the jaw. I've had two done recebtly. For one of them, I had a root canal that wasn't finished properly leaving the tooth brittle. It broke under teh gum line and there was no other choice. It also depends on what type of implant the dentist uses.

First they will pull the teeth. I believe there is one type of implant that you can actually put in as the time they pull the tooth but I don't know anything about it as this was not used with me.
if they don't do that one, you wait atleast between 4 to 6 months (depending on bone regeneration) before they put in either the implant pin or the implant itself (again depending on the one the dentist uses and it also depends on the distance between your gumline and your sinus cavities. I couldn't get the one that they put in right away because my sinus cavity actually comes into my mouth---no room). They will numb your mouth (or you if you go to a sedation dentist) and put in the pin. This takes about 1/2 and hour.. at the most. Then they will give you antibiotics and you will have to eat nothing but cold liquids for 24 hours. They then wait for the swelling to go down in your mouth before they mold and put in the actual tooth part of the implant.
If you can't get the whole thing put in at once, then you wait about another 4-6 months so that the pin implant bonds with the bone before they put in the second part. Here the dentist will again numb the mouth and make a tiny cut to access the pin. They add another part to create space and make sure your gums don't cover the pin again. Molds are taken. A few days later the tooth ready to be put on. This can either be a tooth that is pushed onto the pin and bonded with resin or one that is screwed in and then closed like a cavity filling. In either case, the dentist will not leave any space between the surrounding teeth and the implant so you will feel a tightness in that area for a few days- similar to the tightening you get with braces.
Overall, not painful at all. My dentist didn't even give me pain medication and said that if I needed it I could take tylenol. Actually, the tooth whitening I did hurt more than the implants. But it can take a long time to finish it all.

 

[HOGFAN]

DH has had his replaced twice in 30 years. They are usually not covered by insurance tho. DH says they are very painful when they have to be replaced.

 

[The Mystery Machine]

I do know I am scared about them for my dd.

Due to genetics on DH's side my dd's are missing teeth. My oldest (missing the top 2 eye teeth) & who has a repaired heart defect, was not allowed to get the implants.
Thankfully she would have only needed 2 and the Orthodontist just pulled her teeth forward to fix her bite.

Now my youngest...She is missing 4 teeth. 2 upper, 2 lower. The gaps are huge. She is 9 and we are going to start the process of figuring out what to do about it this summer.
Poor kid.

 

[Davids-Coco]

I have two missing teeth... Adult teeth never formed because of genetics. They wanted to pull the top one and push them forward.

I will get implants (at some point when I'm not pregnant). The way we will do it includes drilling into the jawbone and dropping in a little metal peg. THe bone will grow back and through the holes in the peg. Then after 6 months, they will uncover the top of the peg and put a crown on them. They say that the pegs are lifetime and have yet to replace even one. The crowns have the normal life of the crowns.

We are looking at a grand total of about $5K plus $400 every time the crowns need to be replaced.

For the time being, my orthodontist made me a retainer (clear kind that cover all my lower teeth) with "fake" teeth put in it to hold the space. That is the most important thing so that the other teeth don't crowd the space. It was fairly cheap and fits much better than any partial ever did for about 1/5 of the cost.

 

[mommyintn]

My husband had his whole mouth done by a friend who is a reconstructive dentist so we got a slight discount but it was still very expensive (think nice car) And it was time consuming and painful for him.

 

[Tigger1]

tiggersmom2

My sister takes very good care of her teeth. Not everyone is born with strong teeth. I live in a different state so I do not talk to her very often, but I think I remember her having problems with a tooth just crumbling into pieces.
She has had a lot of medical bills with her eyes also, she is blind in one eye and has problems with the other (glaucoma, detachment of ritina, ect). Age and bad luck is just catching up with her.

 

[HoneyPooh]

We do these in our office and they cost about $1,600 per implant. The ones we do have about a 5 month turn around time. The $1,600 does not cover any bone grafting you may need to make the area conducive to an implant. We haven't found an insurance company yet that has covered any of our implant cases. We've had two companies claim that they will cover it and then denied it as medically unnecessary once we billed it out. If you don't need bone grafting the first step is to drill the anchor into your jaw bone. We then wait for about 2 months and then check to make sure the implant is not being rejected by the bone (happens often). If the xray looks good we then put in a healing abutment that stays in for another 2 months. When you come back if everything looks good in the xray you have your regular dentist (we are an oral surgeon) make the cap that hooks to the implant anchor. Make sure the doctor doing your implant is very experienced. This is a very delicate procedure and if the anchor isn't in just right, you could have to redo it multiple times. We have excellent surgeons and we had one lady who had hers reject three times before we got it to stay. Our patients have mostly found it a frustrating and expensive but very worthwhile procedure.