Yay! Good job. So glad you’ve taken care of the infection. At this point, it’s just cosmetic. You’ve got your health protected. The implant screw will be a bit of a tough day. Not too bad, though. And once you’re on the other side of that, it’s cake! Just a waiting game, but you’ll be done before you know it:)
About the cost…My dentist said that a bridge costs about half as much as an implant, but it’s hard on surrounding teeth and needs to be replaced every ten years. Implants last a lifetime and are usually maintenance free. I’m a fairly young middle aged person…getting the implant was MUCH less expensive than paying for multiple bridges and complications with neighboring teeth. Not to mention it looks fantastic. Very happy with my implant. Hope you are, too:)
Many policies limit the pay out to $2500/yr, and usually major things like crowns and implants are paid at 50%. I had a really good plan and it paid to $4000/70% of procedures. It also set the costs with preferred providers who agreed to the costs for certain things. I think the implants were about $4000 each with the preferred rate. It wasn’t all billed at once, but there was a cost of about $2500 for the bone graft, prep, the putting the screw in, then about three months later the crown. I know the crown was $1500 on the second one because I fought the insurance company over that for two years. So of that I paid 30% and insurance paid 70%, but my premiums were pretty high so I really paid a lot more.
I just went to the endodontist today. I had the tooth removed and a bone graft in July, I went today for the cat scan. The bone grew up, but not thick enough, it’s 3.6 ml thick and the smallest screw is 3 so he doesn’t think it’s thick enough. So I’m getting another bone graft, but he said he could put the screw in at the same time. So I go back Thursday to review the plan, get the price and set the appointment. This next one will mean another 3 - 4 months until the tooth can go in, but at least the post will be in. I have this crazy contraption I wear now that has the missing tooth on pink plastic that goes behind my teeth. I can eat in it and wear it all day. I’m guessing I’ll be in the neighborhood of 5k when it’s all over. I just pay a bit at a time at each procedure.
What about dental implants for the incisors? Is the procedure the same? I’m a little confused as to why some of you were able to get the screw implanted immediately and others needed a bone graft. Thanks!
The bone graft is needed sometimes to stabilize the walls of the socket. Imagine putting a screw into a spot where the bone wall is paper thin on one side…it would open it up to a risk of complications, fracture at that spot, etc…and risk ruining the alignment and stability of the screw. If the bone is good on all sides, the screw can be implanted right away. If the bone is thin, you need to build it up for a while with a graft and natural healing (your own bone cells will grow across the graft and become thicker, stronger, living bone) Whether you need a graft or not will just depend on how the socket looks after the extraction. Good sockets…you get to go right to the next step. If you have weak spots, they need to be corrected first.
My D had implants to replace congenitally missing teeth. Since she had no roots the bone in those areas didn’t develop normally and she had to have bone grafts to create enough bone to anchor the implant.
I need to have a molar pulled, bone grafting then implant. My dental insurance doesn’t cover anything. How can I get my medical insurance to cover some of this? After all, it is surgery! Does anyone know what “codes” need to be used in order to get this covered?
Forget it, it’s not covered under medical, it’s dental.
Tomorrow I go for round two…another bone graft and this time they’re doing the implant. In 3 months I get the tooth. I’m dreading this, the drugs, the sitting there while he does it, the recovery…ugh…why, why why?!
I’m currently in braces (time #2) and have had 3 expanders during adult braces to widen my palate. Ortho has been able to gain almost as much room as when my bicuspids were pulled.
I’m now waiting for expander #4 to come in, which will push back my upper molars a bit to gain the rest of the space. I am dreading another expander far more than the implant procedure! They make very unclear speech and food constantly gets stuck in them. Don’t know yet if I’ll need the bone graft, but would definitely not be surprised. I’ve had a lot of bone loss due to the bicuspid extractions.
PSA–parents, please explore all your options thoroughly and do diligent research before you agree to pull your child’s teeth for ortho. I’ve had a lifetime of complications from my childhood ortho pulling those bicuspids.
I had those bicuspids pulled, too! I wish they had had palate expanders back in our day
Is 22 childhood? I finally gave in and let the dentist pull one of my daughter’s bicuspids. She was 22.
sryrstress- are you getting implants to replace the bicuspids?