Archive for November, 2008

Implants in my nose

Saturday, November 22nd, 2008

I had my missing teeth replaced in 2003. The dentist removed the two corner teeth in front. They were the anchors for my bridge replacing four teeth. In total I have now six dental implants and the crowns are cemented onto the implants and not screwed into them.

I had also a bone grafting from my hip bone to do the implants, and i found out later because of severe pain on my hip that there are two wires to keep, I dont no what, in place, but they need to be removed. I am really scared.

That is not all. The ear and nose specialist found that two of the implants are in my nose, which causes severe sinus problems for me. I dont know what else can be the problem. He said it needs to be removed, but my dentist feels that could cause other problems.

My jawbone is very sensitive so is my upper gum where implants are done. Every four to six months they try something new and it is very painful. When they took off the bridges, I look like a monster with all these implants. I also lost more bone even though they have done bone grafting.

Please advise.
Myra from Namibia

Myra,
I think our level of care in the United States is higher than in Namibia, but we have seen most of the problems here that you talk about having there.

I don’t know anything about the Namibia health care system and how many and what quality of dental implant specialists you have, but I’d encourage you to find another dentist and get a second opinion.

The implants in your nose are definitely a problem. Whether or not that is the entire source of your discomfort I can’t tell without a full exam, but that definitely should be corrected. But my inclination would be to not go back to the dentist who put them there because I would think he or she would be likely to just do the same thing again. To avoid improper implant placement, you need to have a three-dimensional CT scan, and that shows the implant dentist exactly where it is safe to place the implants. So find a dentist who uses these three-dimensional CT scans. That would be a good start.

And you shouldn’t be having any pain in the bone or the gum around the implants. That’s a sign that something is wrong.

Links to related topics:
Phoenix dental implants
Dental implants in my nose
Pain with dental implants
Dental implant failure

 

 

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Choices for replacing a front tooth.

Tuesday, November 11th, 2008
I lost my front permanent tooth. I was hit by a pole. The whole tooth came out. I’ve been wearing a flipper every since last November. I’m in high school right now and I’m getting really tired of this flipper. So what are some suggestions?

P.S. Can you include what I can do and the price? My mom doesn’t have any kind of insurance.

Kelsey in Florida

Kelsey,
There are three basic choices for how to replace your missing front tooth.

You can have a removable appliance, such as you have. A flipper is the least expensive removable appliance. It is rather flimsy and is usually used as just a temporary replacement. There are other more sturdy removable partial dentures that you could have, but they are all somewhat annoying and uncomfortable.

Another option is a fixed dental bridge. To give you a bridge, your dentist would need to grind down the two teeth next to the missing tooth and place crowns on them, and then a false tooth would be suspended between the crowns. But with you being still in your teens, there are extra risks that those otherwise healthy teeth could become infected if they are ground down the way they would have to be in order to get a dental bridge.

And the third option is a dental implant. This consists of a root form that is implanted in the jaw in the place of the missing tooth and then a porcelain crown is placed over that.

For you, a dental implant would have several distinct advantages, especially since you are fairly young. You wouldn’t need to have healthy teeth ground down. Plus, when a tooth is missing, the bone that used to support that tooth gets dissolved away by the body, creating an unsightly bony defect. A dental implant prevents that bone collapse from happening.

The cost of having a single tooth replaced could vary from $2500 to $5000. That would be the combined cost of the root form implant plus the crown that goes on top of it.

Related links:
Read more about the choices of a dental implant vs bridge
Read our page about the cost of dental implants
See our main web site for lots of additional information about dental implants

 

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