Please come and talk to me about dental implants

[lisalisa]

AFter a terribly long saga with my tooth I now have to have it extracted and have an implant. Apart from being horrifically expensive what else should I know? I have a rough idea of procedure and what it entials but how painful is it and how hard is it to get used to the implant and what can go wrong? Presumably at this type of price it does at least last forever?

I had an extraction followed by implant about 18 months later. The implant process was painless but very expensive. A year ago I had the titanium post put in - that had been preceded by various bits of measuring up and going for a 3 D xray. I was given an ice pack and told the implant might be uncomfortable but by the following day I didn't need to even take paracetamol. These parts were done by a specialist dentist in Harley St and then I went back to my own dentist to have the crown put on, about 6 months after the post. I asked how long it would last and was told 30 years IIRC. My dad died and left me a gift of money, which I spent almost entirely on having all this done privately, otherwise I could never had contemplated it. I am very pleased with the finished result and feel like the expense was worth it. The grimmest bit by far was the extraction which started off the whole process. I think there is a tiny chance of rejection of the post, but the whole point of lots of measuring up and initial investigation was to establish whether there was sufficient bone to put the post into. Sorry although it's been quite recent, I can't recall too much, which is probably a sign of how well it's gone for me.

thanks whenwillisleepagain - btw I reaad your name as " when willis sleep again " as in boys bits sleeping!!!! I had to read a few times to understand it!!!!!

How grim is the extraction ? Please be brutally honest!

I had an extraction recently. It was a lot better than I thought it would be and such a relief. So happy to get it sorted. No pain, just a bit of wiggling around and out it came.

Hey it's me with the hard-to-read name again - loved what you thought about that! My extraction probably not one to judge others against IYSWIM. My tooth had loads of cracks, one theory being that they were caused by grinding. So I went to have root canal treatment but when I got there, the guy was less optimistic and said I could either chance it for six months and reassess, or have it out a day or two later. I opted for extraction because I was 6 months pg. The extraction took over an hour apparently because my tooth was so shattered and each bit had to be got out. That bit didn't hurt and was probably most uncomfortable because of my pregnant bump. But I got something hideous called dry socket, but I think if you follow the aftercare precautions advice from whoever takes the tooth out, this could well be avoided. Also I assumed it was normal and put up with it for nearly a week, when with the wonderful gift of hindsight I should have got back there much faster.

Tahnks all and ugh whenwillisleepagain!! Poor you with dry socket! That's awful.