Oh Sheila, I think you should get implants! And in keeping with the "other" sort, I think you should get unreasonably large teeth. So big you can hardly close your mouth. So big that when you walk by, people comment "Did you see the chompers on that one?"

Well, maybe not.

I understand your concern. That's a lot of money. My dentist and I are having a bit of a go around with my teeth right now. My molars have deep cracks in them... Super deep. So deep he can get his pick into them. He promises me they'll eventually break and if I wait too long, I'll get root canals. My insurance isn't too keen on paying for pre-emptive crowns to avoid root canals. They'd rather take a wait & bleed approach. I don't really want crowns either, but I think I'm going to pay $900 out of pocket before the end of the year to get two porcelain crowns. I really don't want to be looking at more serious stuff down the road...

Can you consult with another periodontist? I've discovered huge differences in both prices and workmanship among tooth-pros. Might be worth it. It really surprises me how much dental health can have a direct impact on other health... notably cardiac health. It's so much more than cosmetic...

That sounds like the kind that is implanted into the jawbone. Very sturdy, which is recommended for masticating. A friend had implants done for her upper eyeteeth [and the one beside] so that she could continue to chomp on fresh apples. She paid over $10,000 for *each* of four teeth... and all I could think was that that amount was more than I paid for my first house, lol. However, they do look very natural and she can chomp apples with no problem.

Yes, Michelle, I know there can be repercussions from poor dental care into other areas...one of the reasons I had this last too taken was because even though it had been hanging on for years my dentist had concerns about infection. Othewise, my dental health is good nowadays, I get my teeth cleaned three times a year.

This could become an issue of bad bite tweaking the rest of my teeth.

But $10,000?? I'll just have to die earlier if my savings are going to disappear at that rate.

I am in a similar situation 2 teeth in the upper back..the area which hasn't the same success rate as other areas of the mouth for implants. I'm not going to do it. I haven't even looked into the cost and if it were a simple thing would probably pay whatever the price. I don't want my jaw bone drilled into, and I don't want anesthesia of any kind. If my jaw bone is not sturdy enough they have to graft some bone fragments,either mine or someone else's. I take Fosamax and even though the chances of bigtime problems are small they do exist. So...if I see that my other teeth are being really affected by the missing two back teeth,I might opt for a bridge at some point,but no way am I having implants.

I think any comment at this time from a toothless (soon to be 78) year old would be superfluous. Steve in Baltimore County.

Timely post. After a hideous abcessed tooth last year, I got serious about my dental health too. I haven't paid for a house yet, but I have invested enough in my mouth in the last year and a half to buy a decent car.

I just got my first bridgework this month. I had a choice of implants as well, and I considered it strongly, because I'm not much into hassle and it seemed like a nice pretty permanent solution. I read up on everything I could and one site in the UK said that if you are in good health, as far as implants are concerned age isn't an issue. But, I am in Marda's camp on this one. In post menopausal women, I worry about the effects of bone loss.

I'm sure you also know, with missing teeth, the jawbone beneath it where the tooth would have embedded does lose mass if you do nothing about it. So, you shouldn't just leave gaps, because not only can it cause misalignment, if and when you do need a bridge or implant, you may need some reconstructive surgery in that area to make either a good option.

I went with a removable bridge. I'm in the "honeymoon" period now getting them tweeked to be comfortable. He's finally got the upper bridge right as far as not even knowing it's in there, aside from a lisp I've developed. He's got the occlusion issue resolved as well. I think I need one more appointment as far as comfort is concerned with the lower bridge. I'm optimistic it will happen.

If I only had one space to fill, I'd have gone for the permanent bridge without even thinking twice. Aside from a little extra care with flossing, they're next to invisible have a pretty long "shelf life", and if you ever do decide to go for implants at a later date, they're still an option.

Very timely post! I am in the same position with the lonely back tooth and I just had the titanium post implanted this morning for the cost of $1,805. (That included a 5% discount for paying today.) Luckily, I only have to get one implant, not two. So far, anyway.

As Calliope said, the jawbone keeps losing mass and since I have periodontal disease, I didn't want to lose any more bone mass from the disease. When the periodontist extracted the tooth in May, he grafted bone to the area and it healed nicely.

I'm not sure what the dentist will charge for the crown, but I think the cost is about the same wherever you live. I will just have to pay it, because the alternative is worse.

DH had the implant a few years ago and has a removable bridge instead of a crown. He doesn't have periodontal disease, just soft teeth.

Due to poor dental care as a child, I had to have several teeth removed in my late 20s. I have worn two partial plates for over 40 years, and while they haven't been perfect, they've served me well. I can "chomp" apples and eat corn on the cob with no problem. I do try to be careful if a piece of hard candy is involved -- but I'd rather have chocolate, anyway. :>)

Oh boy, can I relate to this! Despite making sure that DH took care of his teeth, his genes have caught up with him & in the past 4 years we've spent upwards of $20,000 on his mouth! It seems like just when I think we're done something else happens. I finally told the dentist that it would have been a lot simpler (and I'm sure cheaper) if he had just had every last living tooth yanked out & gotten false teeth.

The dentist, however, blithely told me that "they didn't do that anymore" and that, if at all possible teeth were saved. I guess we may go bankrupt taking care of his teeth as I can't see any end to this as he gets older.

My DH always said that if we run out of money he will take a mortgage on my mouth. But seriously 2 years ago when we were in Mex he needed emergency dental surgery. It cost about 1/4 of what it would have cost in the US and was just as good. Dr. Victor pulled out Dan's tooth, scraped away an abcess, packed the place with antibiotics, drilled out an old root canal and replaced it, and put the tooth back in. This took two days and cost about $600 US. Our US dentist said it was realy good work. If you are really interested I will see if I can find Dr. Victor's address. That was in Guadalajara. As I recall Dr. Victor had some trainign from Columbia University, but the downside was he spoke very little English.

I only know two things on this topic...

1. I'd find a different way to eat apples (or anything else) before I'd get posts installed in my jaw.

2. Dentists apparently have the highest suicide rate of any profession in the US.

about # 2. I've often wondered why that is. What could it be?

I didn't know that. Police officers have a high one, and I know why. But, dentists? Now if it were a proctologist, I think I could understand.

If you are near a dental college, you may be able to get work done for much less.

The students do the work, & you may actually get better results;
students are doing it the *right* way, the textbook way, not the practice-management-for-profit way.

I wouldn't have anyone drillling into my jaw for practice - heck I wouldn't even let a beauty school student cut my hair! :)

I don't frequent beauty shops but once or twice a decade, but years ago, I had shoulder length hair, and wanted a trim and a perm. Couldn't get any of the salons to take me without an appointment so did get brave and went into the beauty college.

I got the next student in line, who happened to be a young man, and that is STILL a rarity in our area. He asks how I want it done, and I tell him, as long as it's still longer any way he wants to do it because it grows out so fast anyway.

You'd a thunk he won the lottery. rofl. To this day, I've never had a better style from any experienced operator. He got a heavy tip, I got a cheap hairdo, and I complimented him and told him he had a great future ahead of him. He shared with me it was so refreshing to have somebody trust him enough to just "create". He normally got the older set who wanted those tight little curly perms and therefore never got to do anything fun. Yes, the instructor kept close tabs on him.

Schools are a good way to get a practitioner who does put their heart into it and who has a mentor handy to keep them out of trouble.

His name was Vidal Sasson, right Suzy? :))

Not hardly. Never saw him again, either. I suspect he moved on to the big city. Did you notice that many people who used to be cosmetologists (do they call them that any more?)and went to beauty school now go to barber school instead.

LOL! Going to a beauty school to have your hair done is like rolling the dice on the craps table in Vegas. Sometimes you win big, but the other times........