[Closed] Anyone have a dental implant?

Implant is elective surgery with all the associated risks.

PROS

It's relatively established technology and should be a simple process.
You'll have a "permanent" repair, will feel and look like normal tooth
Should last 20 years +

CONS
Expensive
Abutment needs to be grafted into your bone. You may need need extensive surgery to make that happen (rare) and it will take time to heal
The tooth WILL need replacing at some point, it will/can wear or crack like any other tooth
Over time, the bone might wear away
There are complications: excessive bleeding, infections, nerve damage, even broken jaws. discuss this with the specialist.

Take time to do some proper research, go to lots of dental surgeons and discuss with them their success and failure rates, find out who they use and recommend. DON'T select on cheapest price (as if you're going to, but y'know...)

I don't know if this is an "implant" in the same sense but,

I broke my two front teeth at school (the lad sat next to me swung a punch me, I ducked and smashed them on the edge of the desk). One left enough protruding that they could build it back up with some sort of tooth substitute, the other was broken just above my gun line.

To fix it, they drilled out the tooth, burnt the nerve and then fitted a metal peg in it. Then they fitted a regular crown (they called it a 'cap' back then) onto the peg.

It's been fine over the years. I had issues with early crowns eventually coming away and having to be replaced, but the current one has been on for a couple of decades or more. Guess they got better glue.

The reconstructed one was eventually capped as well (I forget why now, so they matched perhaps). That one did cause problems later, ended up with an abscess that needed a root canal.

I don't have an implant, but I have a space for one...

Like the OP I had a molar that was beyond saving. I was offered a choice of a) a plate (bit of a faff) b) a bridge (not great as it involves sacrificing the molars either side) c) an implant (possible cons as per nickc above, who I suspect is an actual dentist) d) leaving it, for now.

I went for d) having checked that I could have an implant later if required. This did require additional dental surgery to check for and remove a tiny bit of ex-molar that my standard dentist couldn't deal with.

I will probably go for an implant at some point, but the gap I have now isn't an issue so my current plan is to wait until I need more than one implant and have them done together. I might do one of the dental tourist trips to Hungary when that time comes. I have no idea if my plan is a good one!

warning: I am NOT a dentist. My experience is running and managing urgent care dental practices for the NHS. (I've seen most things, and had to write the letters of apology afterwards...)

Don't go to Hungry for your dental treatment. It's not that Hungry has bad dentists, (the UK can sort that out for you) it's just that if anything goes wrong...who you gonna call?)

Implants are like anything really, done properly by a good surgeon, it will be fine, done by an idiot it will go wrong. All you need to do is sort the decent surgeons from the idiots...simples.

I've got two and they are great but incredibly expensive. I could have got by without them but it is much better with them. As mentioned above, it's elective surgery even if it is fairly standard elective surgery these days. In the end I would do it again if I needed to.

(just in case you don't get more replies there are a few other threads on this eg.- http://singletrackmag.com/forum/topic/dental-implant-advice. not a dig, just for your info. if you want more reading)

OP have a search this has been discussed before

I have one, done eventaully after living with a gap for more than 10 years. I got mine done in Singapore as I felt standard of densitry was higher than private sector in the UK and it was 40% cheaper. I'm happy I had it done. My Belgian amd French friends never have dentistry done in the UK, always go "home" for it.

I did, the aliens put it there, but I managed to smash it out with a chisel.

My Belgian amd French friends never have dentistry done in the UK, always go "home" for it.

[url= http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-35751896 ]That's right, as only the UK has bad dentists, as every fule no[/url]

I had a bone-graft and single implant placed 2 weeks ago but it's going to be a good few months before I get an actual 'tooth' (with plans to then have a second 'tooth' built later once the gum has shaped).

I had quotes in the range of approx £2K to £3.5K. That included bone-grafting which is not always required and the highest included having the tooth 'crown' being replaced once the gum had shaped around an initial temporary crown).

I didn't use them but these were at the cheaper end of the spectrum:-
[url= http://www.dentalcareplus.org.uk/ ]http://www.dentalcareplus.org.uk/[/url]
They were going to be about £2K for me.

Cheaper still (I imagine, but I never got a figure) was going to go through the student clinic at the dental hospital but you have to get a referal and work to their appointment schedule which wasn't flexible.

I have one, done eventaully after living with a gap for more than 10 years

You know, it never even occurred to me that "a gap" was really an issue. A full adult set (including wisdom teeth) is 32 teeth; I have 22.

I had four perfectly good molars removed when I was at school to make room for others (my mouth was overcrowded apparently) and my wisdom teeth never arrived. The other two are the upper first premolars; either random casualties or more overcrowding issues, I don't even remember now. They're noticeable gaps.

Had front two teeth done last year after not having any for years due to sport injuries. Cost was approx £4500.00 as needed a bone graft for one tooth.

Very happy with results but by the end of the process was thoroughly fed up of it as felt that I had had about 60+ injections over 6 months. Dentist did say the front teeth are particularly difficult. Would recommend it as the strength/results are better than expected.

However, mine was not straightforward and was certainly more painful than the “its like root canal” that I had been advised.

Thanks for the input folks.

My forum search skills must be below par, as my initial search turned up nothing, and a re-search now only yields this topic. Must try harder!
http://singletrackmag.com/forum/search.php?q=dental+implant

Thanks for the link though 🙂

The cost is what has kept me from biting the bullet (puntastic) up until this point, but the £500 fancy crown I have is moving around, and after the last chat with the dentist I know the tooth is goosed, so it will need removed regardless... Fun times ahead 🙁

Had crowns but one of the root base's wasnt stable/solid anymore and kept getting infected. I was sort of forced into going the implant root or just dentures (too young for that). I stayed away from implants for as long as I could but in the end just had to. There was nothing wrong with the crowns other than one started to move and therefore infection.

Good luck.

I've had two implants done and have been very happy with the results. You do end up feeling like a regular in the surgery (don't need to introduce myself anymore!). mine was £4100 with a bone graft on one and I had to have one post replaced during the initial treatment. As has been said, the key is finding a reputable practitioner. I've also got a bridge and to date all is good but care is now a lot more important, now I'm in the routine it's not really an issue.

My forum search skills must be below par

site:singletrackworld.com/forum dental implant

'site:' restricts your search to a single site

Aha!
Cheers leffe.

Research seems to be mostly positive, so it's probably the best of a bad bunch of options if bone etc is ok. Damn that whole grain bread!

Will see what my dentist has to say next week, soooo much fun to look forward to this summer...