Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I read these posts about implants as a reminder to maintain sound oral hygiene. You have my sympathy.
Some of us simply have soft teeth. I started in the dentist when I was 5 years old. I’ve been in the CHAIR a lot. Long years with that damm slow drill, and dentists who didn’t have to faintest idea how to hit the nerve with anesthetic.
I have been to a lot of dentists. My favorite and the best just died suddenly last week shoveling snow. The second best was a dentist who also had a PhD in Dental Genetics, and was on of the four dentists who started the Pennsylvania State University Dental School at Hershey Medical Center, in Hershey PA.
All the rest were mediocre or just plain BAD.
My current maxillo-facial dental surgeon is incredible. When he did the extraction on Thursday, he hit the nerve with literally no mouth skin numbing, and made sure I felt no pain. And then he stitched it up and put collagen into the hold to prevent dry socket. Beyond the regular dentist, this guy is the best. And to top it off(this is a guy comment), all his assistants are cute young women---which(for a guy) makes the experience even more enjoyable. Quite the talker except when he’s working on the tooth, and then he switches to doctor voice, and becomes all business. I’ve never felt in safe hands than with him.
I can't afford implants. I'm hoping to keep my teeth the rest of my life. We'll see. I do have a lot of crowns on my back teeth, so these will need to be replaced as time goes on. I have budgeted for that.
I am giving up hard candy like lollipops, which I love. You know those big swirly lollilops that kids love? I love 'em, too. I have one. After I eat that one, I am determined not to eat hard foods like that anymore.
I suppose if the front and front-side teeth start going, I will have those capped. Altho I don't like the idea of that, since they will end up being different colors. You can always spot caps. They don't look like real teeth, although they are very strong and last many years. They run about $1,000 these days, I think.
I have had a partial since my twenties when an unsupervised dental student broke my tooth while performing a root canal. I prefer the partial to the money and time involved placing implants.
And dependent on your oral health, implants may not be a good choice. Before I 'd get implants, I'd get a few opinions and maybe a workup by a dental school because they are not selling a product; that said, dental residents need experience so they are motivated by other things.
I has a resident wanting to redo my entire mouth (implants and veneers), not for therapeutic reasons but aesthetics.
My partial works for me and dentists are always shocked when I tell them I have one, you can't tell.
I dont plan to have perfect teth to impress everyone on the nursing home. Ill save my money. Heard too many horror stories.
That is where I am at too. At 72, I have no one I want to impress with a Hollywood smile. My Dentist would love to do a whole bunch of work on me, partials, etc, but I keep having to tell him to do just the immediate problem work and that is it.
In the past 4 months I have had 3 root canals, and 4 caps. Out of pocket has been $2500, thank God for insurance, they paid another $5000.
My ex wife had alot of teeth capped, $30,000.00, and she continues to have problems with them.
I've never had great teeth but was brought up to always take care of your teeth. Had to have braces in high school. Throughout my life I've said that I could have traveled the world many times with the money I've spent on dental costs. Lots of root canals and crowns.
But I'm glad I did! I still have my own teeth except for one near the front that an idiot student dentist pulled because I was having pain. That occurred when I was recovering from a stressful divorce and didn't have a regular dentist. And they make you sign your life away so that you don't sue them.
Well, that tooth left an open gap right near the front. If it had been anywhere else I wouldn't have minded. I went around like that for about a year before I decided that it looked stupid and I needed to do something. I was only in my late 50s at the time.
When I asked about a crown, they suggested an implant. The dentist said it didn't cost much more these days than a crown. They were right about that. And a well done implant apparently is for life, whereas crowns break and have to be done over and over.
I asked around for recommendations and went to a someone who was highly recommended. I don't have a lot of money but this was worthwhile and they let me put it on Care Credit so that as long as I paid it off within a year, there was no interest at all.
That is where I am at too. At 72, I have no one I want to impress with a Hollywood smile. My Dentist would love to do a whole bunch of work on me, partials, etc, but I keep having to tell him to do just the immediate problem work and that is it.
In the past 4 months I have had 3 root canals, and 4 caps. Out of pocket has been $2500, thank God for insurance, they paid another $5000.
My ex wife had alot of teeth capped, $30,000.00, and she continues to have problems with them.
my wife had her teeth all capped 15 years ago. through the years bacteria worked its way underneath and now she has major issues. 20k in the last 2 years to deal with the issues .
I have one implant. A crown failed and there wasn't enough tooth left to replace it. My teeth are not good. I have crowns on all my molars. I wish I got my teeth genes from my mom rather than my dad. Hers are still pretty good at 92. I went with gold crowns rather than porcelain. They will last a lot longer and they feel great in my mouth. I did go with one of the new composite crowns for an upper molar. The dentist casts them in the office, so it was a one day solution. It feels good, but I will have to see how it wears. I see the hygenist every three months and have gotten an electric toothbrush and waterpik as she recommended. Anything I can do to keep my teeth is worth it. It's not just cosmetics, your overall health and enjoyment of life depend on oral health. The bacteria in your mouth also affect your heart and blood vessels. From all accounts, eating with dentures is miserable, and I don't want to go there.
I have one implant. A crown failed and there wasn't enough tooth left to replace it. My teeth are not good. I have crowns on all my molars. I wish I got my teeth genes from my mom rather than my dad. Hers are still pretty good at 92. I went with gold crowns rather than porcelain. They will last a lot longer and they feel great in my mouth. I did go with one of the new composite crowns for an upper molar. The dentist casts them in the office, so it was a one day solution. It feels good, but I will have to see how it wears. I see the hygenist every three months and have gotten an electric toothbrush and waterpik as she recommended. Anything I can do to keep my teeth is worth it. It's not just cosmetics, your overall health and enjoyment of life depend on oral health. The bacteria in your mouth also affect your heart and blood vessels. From all accounts, eating with dentures is miserable, and I don't want to go there.
You just reminded me that is another great reason to use gold. Copper and silver are good elements for us internally in our bodies. Perhaps they were on to something with the gold before and it would definitely last much longer. Versus the other porcelain, caps, crowns, etc, etc will just wear down over time.
My teeth are pretty good as I've never had a root canal or crown but I am cursed with periodontal disease and recessed gums - earlier in life I brushed my teeth too hard and flossed only a few times a week. About 15 years ago, I went to a periodontist for a complete deep cleaning and gum surgery on a back molar. My regular cleanings were increased to every 4 months and I started flossing daily. Around age 60, despite flossing daily, the size of my periodontal pockets started to increase and I am now on a 3 month cleaning schedule plus I regularly use a small brush to clean the gum line in addition to flossing. My dental regimen is tedious and time consuming and I may still lose that back molar at some point. If that is the only tooth I lose, I will count myself lucky. If I eased off on the dental care, I’m sure I would lose several more teeth.
Ok so this is a somewhat off topic rant. Feel free to scroll by.
I have lots of fillings and some crowns but my bite, while not lovely looking was fine. At 50 something and getting pressure from 2 dentists in 2 different states to get braces for cosmetic reasons I caved. Got invisilign. Well what I didn't understand is that in order to decrease the size of a large gap in the side upper they would have to shift all the other teeth farther apart - ruining my nice close contacts.
I now have to floss constantly and religiously or my gums immediately start to bleed and have gap problems. Like in no time.
Not to mention that doing that has the effect of...collapsing your face a little something I really don't like the look of as I age. Dentists look at someones mouth and are compelled to make it look perfect. It was just stupid at my age, my life expectancy and lifestyle vs. the return and maintenance and problems.
So now the biggest issue is I live in fear of a stroke where I won't be able to do this all this flossing for myself (stroke runs in my family) or just breaking an arm by falling on the ice. What happens when I'm in a nursing home? I rarely flossed my teeth before (I suppose thats sort of gross ) but I didn't seem to need to, my gums were always great. My teeth are going to be a huge problem as soon as I start having trouble flossing whether its arthritis, stroke, demetia.
I'm 60, my teeth now seem to need lots more fiddly care than they did before, everytime I get a crown I have to buy a new 180.00 retainer. My bite has never been the same! It always feels a little off. I have to wear retainers every night or my teeth start to move (can't do permenant ones). Oh and now nightly wear isn't even enough for one tooth that is showing some sort of nerve or root thinning on xrays and my dentist wants me to wear retainers more than when I sleep. WTF.
And now the kicker though I don't know if its related. I have been experiencing trigemenial neuraligia which is serious pain and which can be caused by dentristy. And tends to cause a lot more dental problems regardless of cause. The nerve shocks to my front tooth are seriously uncomfortable. People with this have a terrible time brushing their teeth. (I'm not that bad but it always gets worse from everything I've read) I don't know whether this is the case but MS and tumors were rule out by an MRI.
To bring this back to topic, no implants yet but I won't be surprised if, when I need to. My dentist did say the small ones are an advancement.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Throughout my life I've said that I could have traveled the world many times with the money I've spent on dental costs. Lots of root canals and crowns.
) but I didn't seem to need to, my gums were always great. My teeth are going to be a huge problem as soon as I start having trouble flossing whether its arthritis, stroke, demetia. 
