Well, I scheduled my implant this week. I’m a bit nervous about the whole thing because there is always a chance it doesn’t take in your jaw bone. Then it will be a colossal waste of money.

My surgery isn’t until August 6th. Partly because of vacations scheduled for myself and for the doctors in July. Also, they had to coordinate between the dentist that will be doing the follow-up dental work because he needs 45 minutes before the surgery to remove the Maryland bridge that he cemented back in last week. If he isn’t able to get it back off then he’ll have to cut it off and then I’ll have to pay another 500 dollars for a temporary rubber tooth (not very excited about the thought of that since you have to take it out to eat). I’m really hoping that he didn’t cement it on too well.

So what is this going to cost me? Glad you asked…

The estimate that I was given is about $2,600 for my cost. Health insurance is covering a good share of the surgical procedure for implanting the post - I think I’m lucky there. Most of the cost is the additional dental work of making a crown, possible additional temporary tooth while the post heals and the cost of the post itself. Plus plenty of other incidentals. If you’d like to see a full estimate breakdown, leave a comment and I’ll see about posting the info if readers want to see it. Unfortunately, where I work we don’t have dental insurance but just a spending account of $1,000 which really doesn’t cover very much for a family of 5. So, most of the cost will be coming out of my pocket. I looked into using a dental plan but the dentist that works with this surgeon doesn’t subscribe to any and to get the surgery paid for in-network I’m kind of stuck using them.

Here’s something else that I’ll likely do before the final post is made. I’m going to get my teeth whitened. I haven’t been able to do it because the old dental bridgework couldn’t be whitened. Since a new tooth will be made, I’ll have my teeth whitened and then match the new tooth to the whitened color. I’m a pop drinker and I’ve had 40 years of cola drinking staining my chops. I’ve significantly cut back over the years but the damage was already done.

I’ll write more as it gets closer to the surgery date…

Over the next six months I’m going to be documenting my personal experiences of getting a dental implant. A dental implant is when the dental surgeon installs a post into your jaw bone then seals your gums back up and you wait. You’re waiting for your jaw bone to accept the implant as if it was bone and grow around the implant location. In some cases you may need a bone graft to help with the build up of the implant location if the original jaw bone material has deteriorated since the original tooth loss.

Here’s my story. When I was 17 (24 years ago), I was playing basketball in the driveway with my younger brother. He faked a jump shot and I went up to block the shot, unfortunately as I was coming down he went up with the shot and his head went right into my upper jaw. I came down with a front tooth (#8) driven about a quarter inch into the roof of my mouth and excruciating pain. My brother got of easy with a small gash in the top of his head.

As luck would have it, my normal dentist was also the emergency dentist that weekend. After an x-ray found that the tooth was broken below the gum line, my dentist was forced to remove the tooth completely. The pain of losing the tooth was over but little did I know that the real pain was going to be just beginning. At the time, Maryland Bridges were the common solution when a tooth loss occurred on a front tooth. In hind sight, most dentists would go for a 3 tooth bridge where you cut down the teeth next to the newly formed gap and create a 3 tooth bridge. The Maryland Bridge is a fake tooth with some “wings” coming out of each side that are then cemented to the back of the adjacent teeth.

I should have known that this was going to be a problem because the first couple of cementings didn’t hold for more than a couple of months each. The next couple of times laster a year or so each. Then I got lucky, then next cementing actually lasted about 12 years. It was awesome! I even got to the point where I didn’t even think about it when I ate. Then, about 5 years ago, I was driving with the family to Arizona and bit into a breakfast bagel from McDonald’s and there was this awful crunching sound and I knew that the worst just happened.

First thing we did was call our friends in Arizona and have them find a dentist that could do the re-cement - on a weekend! Luckily, they found a very nice dentist in Flagstaff and he didn’t even charge too much. But, ever since that 12 year bond broke I haven’t been able to find a dentist that could keep the tooth in. In the last 5 years I have had the bridge re-cemented at least 10 times if not a couple more.

So, after some prodding from my wife, I finally went to see a dentist about getting an implant put in. I went through the visit to the dentist and then a dental surgeon and the gave an estimate for the work to be done. Some of the surgical portion is covered by medical insurance but the rest will be coming out of my pocket. Some $2600 worth, possibly more if they can’t reuse my current Maryland Bridge. At the end of 2006, I had decided a would put off an implant because I can get a lot of re-cements for $2600. But of course in February of 2007 it fell out again (playing basketball at the gym) and then again last week (playing basketball with my kids). So now I’ve made the decision to actually go through with the implant.

This week I had an appointment with my implant specialist dentist who will be doing the dental work and he made an impression with the tooth out to help the surgeon with the post placement and alignment. Next I’ll be scheduling the implant surgery. Hopefully it will be in the next couple of weeks so I can get this over with sooner.

I’ll post more information as soon as I know more next week!