Well, my bridge lasted quite a bit longer this time around.   It’s been over a year since the bridge was last re-cemented in.  Overall, I’ve been quite happy with the dentist that did the work.  So much so that we are now using him as our family dentist.  His prices are quite reasonable compared to others that I called.

Technically, the bridge isn’t quite out yet, one side of the bridge is loose while the other side is still partially cemented in.  It could be a while before it comes out completely or it could be tomorrow.  My experience has told me that I just need to be careful if I don’t want to lose it at an inopportune time.

I still struggle with the decision not to get the implant.  I’m sure I could have found a way to afford it back then but at the same time it is much cheaper to just have the re-cement if it last a whole year.  I think it was about $135 to have the re-cement done and was a very sturdy job.

The question really will be: “how long can the bridge last?”  Right now, I’ve had it for about 26 years.  Seems like yesterday that my brother and I were playing basketball in the driveway when he pump faked and I jumped and then he jumped in to me.  Needless to say we were both bleeding.  Him from the top of his head and me from the mouth.

The dentist was extremely surprised that the bridge had survived this long.  Of course, their was a period of about 8 years where it was in without any problems.  Sure wish I knew what kind of cement the dentist had used back then.  Probably isn’t used anymore because it causes cancer or something…

I’ll make sure and put an update in when it finally falls out again.

Well, I was supposed to go in for an implant some time ago.  Unfortunately, when I went to set up the direct withdrawal from my paycheck with the “business office” they came back and said they were going to withdraw $4600 over the life of the withdrawal period.

I said “wait a minute”, the estimate I have says only $2500 dollars over the period.  At that point she pointed out that the numbers in the textual part of the estimate were only example numbers and not actually my numbers.  Apparently my bad!  Would it have killed them to just punch in my numbers instead of some fake estimate and getting my hopes up.

There is a big difference in $2500 and $4600.  I can get my Maryland bridge cemented in a whole bunch more times for that price.

Of course, not more than 6 weeks later, my bridge falls out again.  Not surprising though.  The last dentist had put it in somewhat temporarily because he knew that I was going in for the implant and we were hoping to re-use the bridge so he didn’t cement it as well as he could have.

This time I called around and found a dentist that wasn’t going to charge for an “emergency examination” and would just do the re-cement.  I am very happy that I did because he actually did something different that the last 10 dentists haven’t been doing and also took the cementing one step farther.

The thing he did different was actually took the old cement off the back of my teeth that the bridge attaches to.  It’s been a long time since a dentist did that during the re-cement.  They always said they didn’t want to because they couldn’t tell where the cement ended and the tooth enamel began.  For whatever reason, this dentist could.  Although, I think that he had more experience at age 45 or so than the last 5 all put together.

The special thing he did was to cement the bridge from the front of my teeth also.  First he cemented the bridge as all others have done with the cement on the wings in the back of the front teeth.  Then when that was done, he cemented the bridge in the front by putting cement in between the two teeth that the bridge attaches to.

At first I was sure if it would be OK because it was different not being able to see a tooth definition between the front 3 teeth.  There’s a little definition there but it is mostly cement that is visible.  He said he could add a little more definition later if I decided that I wanted it.  At this point I probably won’t just to see if will stay longer.  And you really can’t tell unless I smile really wide and you are only a foot or two in front of me.

I’ll be extremely satisfied if this cementing method lasts me a year.  The last few have only lasted 2-3 months and that is with me being very careful when biting and chewing.

As far as the implant, that is on hold as I test out this cementing.  Perhaps I’ll do it next year but I have to be more prepared to pay the extra $2100 dollars over what I thought my original cost was going to be.  I think I’ll also shop around a little more and see if I can get it done for less by not going through my employer.

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!