Dentist stuff (££££) - implant or denture?

Cloud

Cloud

Mlem
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Dec 18, 2019
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Uh... help

To cut a long story short my front teeth plus one neighbouring tooth were broken and killed when I was about 16 and fell off my bike. Root canals were done, later in life I got the two front ones crowned to look nicer. Now one of them is failing under the crown and causing a pimple on the gum, and has been condemned.

I effectively have an ultimatum from the dentist. Either have the tooth taken out and a denture for about £300 (and if I don't like it after a few months they can TRY a £900 bridge, but as the neighbouring teeth are dead and weakened it might leave me 3 teeth down so it's a huge gamble), or leave it in and get referred for an implant and they go from there. Implant would be £3000

That is a HUGE chunk of my fairly paltry savings. There's also the possibility that my other tooth will fail at some point in the not too distant future and be another 3k.
But is a denture a pain to have? All that hassle of taking them out at night etc? And as I'm "only" 39, and single, and wouldn't mind the odd shag... well, I'm kind of scared that we go to sleep together and I have to pop my denture out like an old man and they're totally grossed out as if they just fucked a 90 year old. And the denture route is basically irreversible (save for bone grafting which I'd have to ask the price of and therefore can't afford) due to the bone shrinking so once I've made that decision, that's it for life.

I just don't know, and I'm quite distressed. £3k.... yeah hopefully that means I'm set for life so there is that argument but... man...
 
If you get the denture, do you have to take it out every night? And is it just a denture of one tooth?
 
Cloud said:
1 tooth and yeah has to be taken out at night
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I don’t think this would stop someone from hooking up. I agree with Lucille about getting the best you can afford though
 
If you can afford implants, I'd go for that. Dentures are far better than they used to be but with a front tooth that's on show all the time, id want the best.
 
I regret spending money on a denture. It just made me gag and looked hideous.

I'm gonna save up for an implant.
 
Definite consensus towards the implant it seems, here and elsewhere

Heck of an outlay and I just hope the other two teeth behave for a while! Dread the day I look in the mirror and see another £3000 bump, lol
 
Investigate having it done abroad. One of my team went to Turkey for hers and she’s thrilled with the result (and the price!)
 
Yeah if you’re spending £3k at least get a NICE HOLIDAY out of it.
 
The main thing that worries me about doing it abroad (aside from Covid related hassle) is that Turkey is rather a long way to go back if something isn't right!
 
As Ag said, top dentures make you gag so if you have a sensitive gag-reflex it'll be really hard to get used to it. I'd go for the implant if you can afford it. Doesn't your dentist do payment plans? I'm pretty sure mine does and you can spread it over up-to five years depending on the treatment cost, might be worth asking them.
 
Cloud said:
The main thing that worries me about doing it abroad (aside from Covid related hassle) is that Turkey is rather a long way to go back if something isn't right!
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I sometimes see people who have had treatment abroad and then come to us with problems. It's really tricky to step in and try and fix something when you have no history and some people may flat out refuse. That said there's a huge Turkish population where I work and so many of them have various treatments out there and are happy!
 
Well now it's hitting the fan!

So I agreed to the implant route. "okay we'll refer you", this was 2 weeks ago, heard nothing since.

Gum pimple has shrunk to almost zero, in exchange for bstard tooth getting more loose.. today accidentally put pressure on it while biting and honestly thought it'd come out. Wobbly as heck now, can feel every mm of the tooth down to the root pressing back and forth on the sides, it's fairly painful (made painless with Ibuprofen) and I have a feeling it'll fall out overnight or tomorrow.

So, makes me wonder about the prospects of an implant. Maybe by the time I'm seen, bone grafting will be needed.

Just hoping to get some sort of movement and despite the "we won't extract it, that's the implantologist's job if you go that route" I think it needs to come out.
 
Oh OUCH.

I have one bridge which I’ve had since I was 18 (neighbour to front tooth, whatever it’s called) - just lost a milk tooth as a child and there wasn’t an adult one to grow underneath for some reason, so braces had to fix the alignment before fitting the bridge. I was offered an implant at the time at the paltry cost of £250 which I stupidly rejected! Strangely the bridge is still going strong and I’ve had no issues.

They originally told me it would last 20 years, and then later a different dentist said they were only supposed to last 7 years, but 22 years later and it’s still absolutely fine. So you could always go down that route, but since yours is more than one tooth it might be less comfortable.
 
I was warned a bridge would be a gamble as the neighbouring teeth are also dead (I broke the 3 of them back in the day and it's the middle one that's now failed) - and whilst they're hanging in there for now (*touch wood*) putting the force of an extra tooth on them could lead to a worse problem... she rightly says £900 is a lot of money to be gambling with

Anyway been seen which is the main thing. She knows it has to come out at this point and that holding off for the implantologist to do it is no longer an option (I think it's just a best practice thing to reduce the risk of not getting seen to in time after the extraction and getting jaw bone resorption). It'll have finally fractured properly when it did an ouchie last night

Going back tomorrow morning for impression to be taken (warned to take some painkillers first!), then again asap for extraction and temporary denture. And the implant process will go from there

I've been warned the process will "not be pleasant" (which I take to mean will be UTTER HELL) but will just bite the bullet, get an implant done local, hold off buying another car for the foreseeable and.. well hope and pray the other two dead teeth stay put for a while!
 
I have implants for my two front teeth after years of a bridge. I was told it was likely I would need bone grafting to secure the implants, especially after 15 years or so. But it turned out I only needed grafting for one of the implants so I think bone reduction is a very long process, not something that can happen in weeks or even months? Its also not as expensive to bone graft as you may think (comparatively to an implant anyway). About £500 I think I paid for grafting and my dentist charges top dollar usually. And thats also for porcine bone which is more expensive, the other alternative is shave it off your hip so FUCK THAT. Anyway, my point being I wouldn't let bone grafting put you off. But you did right with an implant, expensive but so worth it.
 
It's apparently pot luck with the speed of bone resorption!

Got my impression done today, extraction next Friday. Bloody hurts at times but ibuprofen mostly keeping it under control

Expected the impression bit to hurt like hell but didn't feel a thing thanks to combination of ibuprofen and a very gentle and careful dentist!
 
Next to the small gum pimple I now have gained quite a large lump/abscess over the weekend. Not a swelling of the face yet but quite a swelling above the tooth and I'm worried how close it is to the neighbouring one. Wondering if I should get them to move the extraction forward as Friday is quite a long wait considering how rapidly it's worsening.

Doing some salt water rinses for now in the hopes it keeps it under control somewhat.

I read a comment elsewhere that someone had to wait for the infection to clear because the injection for numbing couldn't be done due to the risk of poking the infection into the bloodstream.
 
Perhaps if you give them a call and explain the situation they can evaluate whether they should reschedule for sooner. It will also give you some peace of mind too because reading through other people's experiences on the internet could increase anxiety. In general I think people on the internet tend to share bad experiences, if everything went well they are less likely to share the experience.
 
Oh yeah I'm terrible for digging round the internet for answers and finding horror stories lol

Shall call tomorrow and find out
 
Tooth out and temporary denture fitted yesterday. A shitty day of wondering when the small amounts of bleeding will stop, not being able to drink alcohol for 24 hours (thins the blood) and only being able to delicately eat a few soft things. And the first of a few days of fretting about whether I'll get "dry socket" which sounds dreadful.

A little better today in that the bleeding's stopped and theoretically can drink again, though I'm questioning whether to just hold off a bit longer.

The denture is tiny and thin, impressive that way, but feels like a huge slab of plastic and not sure I'd want to mess around with one for life.
 
I've had threats of dry socket every time I've had a wisdom tooth out. Don't smoke for 24 hours, they said. 19 year old me lasted 2.4 hours.
 
Decided if I'm going to be sensible (plus I have a weekend away next weekend that I don't want to add any risks/complications to) then I might as well go the whole 72 hour hog that seems more widely recommended. Do me good anyway. It's been properly miserable though, as a borderline alcoholic living in a borderline alcoholic country - can't wait to get back on it!
 
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