Dental Implants

[Onlyforaday]

I am seriously considering having implants to close a gap of three missing teeth. The gap is towards the back and is only visible when I laugh or smile very widely.
I am 65 and family are saying that they wouldn't bother if they were me but I'd like to know if anyone here has gone ahead with such work please and how things turned out? How long did the process take from assessment to completion and was the pain bearable?
Thank you.

I got an implant on one of molars and it was great. No pain at all. There's lots of appointments though and I think it took about a year from start to finish though I had to wait 3 months after my tooth was pulled to start the process to ensure it had all healed.
There's no pain at all but I'd imagine if you get 3 teeth done at once you'll be lying down for a while so as long as you can tolerate that you'll be fine.

I am sort of towards the end of the process on one tooth/gap and three weeks after the actual implant surgery on a second.

So the first one I had the implant positioned in November with a bone graft. The surgery itself was fine. Long but bearable. I had to stick to a liquids only diet for a week afterwards. No lumps in anything so I even had to blend soup. The stitches came out after two weeks. My healing was a little slow so the dentist wanted me to baby the area for about another ten days. I couldn’t brush my teeth for the first week which sounded disgusting but was actually fine. I had to use an antibacterial mouth wash four times a day. And I wasn’t chewing anything I wasn’t actually using my teeth so they didn’t get horrible.

I am 60 and wanted it done as I hate having two gaps. One is bottom left and the other is upper right. I thing the upper right one happened as I had such a gap on the left that I wasn’t using that side so I put extra wear and pressure on a fairly big crown.

It’s not cheap! And I have had two root canals on other teeth too so all in all I’m afraid to add up what it all cost. But it will hopefully be worth it.

I didn’t want any sort of denture or bridge so it was implants or nothing.

I obviously don’t know if the protocol is the same everywhere but my dentist waits four months after the implant surgery for healing before putting the actual tooth/crown in.

Have a consultation and see how you feel. If you've not had the teeth for a while you will also need the bone augmentation work (think that's what it's called).

I had to have a molar removed and decided to have an implant. I’ve been delighted with it. The process took quite a few months. The advantage being that although in the end it is expensive you pay each time for what they have done so the cost is staggered.

Thank you all! The gap has been there since my 30s so it's a long time. Hadn't realised the process could take so long or that augmentation might be required.
I think I will go ahead with an assessment; the initial one is free and then there is obviously a fee for x-rays etc should I decide to go ahead.
Lots to consider.
If I could have a denture without the horrible roof of mouth palate I would make do with that but have been told that, even if I chose a less intrusive metal one this time, the metal clips would show when I smile.