Chez PLJ

Well, actually, it’s not blue any more, but it was up until yesterday! I finally had my tooth implant put in yesterday after countless oral surgeon/dentist appointments (well, five) and countless x-rays (well, again five) since January. Peter insisted I use this title to pique the interest of all our geeky friends. (I was going to go with the title “One tooth, Two tooth, White tooth, Blue tooth”, but it doesn’t quite work grammatically or chronologically, and anyway I digress…)

For those wondering what’s involved in a tooth implant, here’s a précis of what I went through (the squeamish can skip the rest of this post):

Mid-December: Dying baby tooth pulled.

Early January: At oral surgeon’s get panoramic x-ray taken to check out bone density. Local anesthetic given (nitrous oxide or general anesthesia available at added cost), then hole is drilled into jawbone by two progressively larger drill bits. There was absolutely no pain; the only sensation I had was a vibration as if someone was holding a drill in their hand and the back of their hand was against my head somewhere. The oral surgeon warned me that I might feel “pressure”, but I literally felt nothing in my mouth. Implant (which looks like a bolt with no head) screwed into jaw. Temporary metallic blue cap screwed onto implant and two stitches put in gums. There was so little pain (getting my tooth pulled was far, far worse) during or afterward it was almost disappointing! I was put on antibiotics and an antibiotic mouthwash which was so horrid (I lost my sense of taste) I quit using it after a few days.

A week later: Check up at oral surgeon to see if there were any problems. Nope.

Late April: Three-month check up. Oral surgeon gives cap a tap to see if implant “took”. Apparently they can usually tell how well an implant worked by the sound the tapping makes (high and bright-sounding: good; dull and mushy-sounding: bad). X-ray taken to check on bone healing. Thumbs up on all counts; next stop is my regular dentist.

Mid-May: Fitting for crown. Temporary cap is screwed off; abutment (post for crown) is screwed on. X-rays taken to make sure abutment is screwed down all the way to the implant; dentist had to do this twice because the first time wasn’t quite right. Moulds taken of both top and bottom teeth to get sent off to the denturist to get a crown made. Abutment taken off (also goes to the denturist); cap back on.

End of May: Cap off, abutment on. Another x-ray to check that seating is good. Crown put on post. Bite alignment adjusted and crown filed down as needed. Tiny bits of surrounding teeth filed a bit because they had shifted even since two weeks ago, underlining importance of getting a missing tooth replaced. Crown glued into place. Ta dahh! Because the bone is not maximally strong yet, I’m told not to chew anything hard on that side for another month. I guess that nut brittle just has to wait!