NWR: Has anyone ever had to get a dental implant?!

I have two implants. For the teeth on either side of my two front teeth. Same as you, I never had adult teeth grow in, more noticeable though *lol* I had part of the procedure done at the same time that I had my wisdom teeth removed. To be perfectly honest, that first procedure was the worst one. But they gave me drugs to combat that. And then I had a second procedure to put in the screws. A separate person did my actual implants. He took pictures of my real teeth and then he made beautiful fake teeth to put in and they matched my other teeth very nicely. My dentist was the one to put the implants in and attach them to the whole apparatus. Don't be nervous, everything will work out just fine. Let me know if you need any support!

How long was the process? My dentist is saying it could be 7 months because they will have to do bone grafting, wait a few months after that, place the implant after the bone grafting is healed and than wait a few months after the implant is place to put the tooth on. But he says that it will last a life time.... you haven't had any issues with yours?

Im a dental assistant, so i see tons of implants, and my fiance actually got one in december (he is SOOOOOOO anxious about the dentist!!) youll get the graft, then they'll tell you how long that has to heal before you can actually get the implant put into your bone. after the implant is placed, hopefully by an oral surgeon and not just a general dentist who sometimes does them, you have to wait at least 2 months until you get the actual tooth. i watched my FH get his wisdom teeth out and implant at the same time, and i timed the surgeon how long it took to place the implant post - 8 minutes! ive heard from NUMEROUS people that getting the tooth out(which u obviously wont do since youve already don t have them) is 100x worse than getting the implant post. bone doesnt have nerve tissue like gums/etc do, so youll be numb but wont feel much. and the healing process is really not bad at all. they'll give you directions like brush it gently with Peridex rinse, and during that time you'll have a flat healing cap that is screwed onto the post. you'll need to be careful to not eat anything hard on the implant for those two months while the post is integrating into your bone. after that, you'll return to your general dentist who will place a couple parts into the post after removing the healing cap, take acouple impressions, and you'll leave with a temporary cap covering the abutment that is placed at that same appointment. you'll have to be careful with the cap if it is temporarily cemented on because it can come off (its meant to). couple weeks later, you'll return to get the actual crown. they take off the temp, check fit of permanent crown, then cement it in. cant eat on it for 2 hours and after that, it is normal tooth. a VERY small percentage of implants fail, and usually it is due to lack of the dentist removing all the cement after they permanently cement the crown in. we RARELY hear of people having any issues and after while youll forget which tooth is the implant. the crown can come off, but the post is a forever thing. and technically the crown shouldnt ever come off (it does its not a big deal just recement it) and it can be replaced if needed. then, if you ever come to need dentures in your 90's, you can remove the teeth and use the post to get denture implants where the denture locks into the implant so it doesnt move or pop off while eating like a lot of dentures do. its still removeable, it just doesnt shift while its in there like people have probs with dentures sometimes. but hopefully you never come to that! we just tell people that they can double for that use if they ever come to need dentures. implants are GREAT, well worth it, you wont be dissatisfied. theyre expensive, but if your teeth are already shifting they will just continue to do so causing more problems and loss of more teeth later in life. especially if you have teeeth above the spaces that dont have anything to chew up against, then those teeeth will over-errupt over time and eventually you'll lose those teeth too.

anyway that was a lot of info but hope it helped a little! implants are great and you'll be glad you did it..the process is long but once youre done you never have to worry about them again and it takes away probs in the future with other teeth good luck!

Thank you both SO MUCH for the advice. I feel SO MUCH better about it now. =)

Future dentist here. Implants are a great way to replace teeth, and they aren't a big deal at all. I recommend them if you have the funds.

Most of mine are, for a number of reasons. I had almost no pain at all and no issues since they were put in. They are gorgeous. The anticipation is much worse than the actual procedures. Mine took roughly a year from the extractions to the finished product, but the day after the extractions I had temps, and they were gorgeous.

If you're getting good advice to have this done, do it before more damage happens, because it will; not to scare you, but dental problems don't get better, they compound.

They are expensive, but it's worth finding someone who has been doing them for a while and is very, very good at it. I have a fabulous guy in NJ, and I'm sure he could recommend people across the country. Do not go to a general dentist; you need an endodontist and a prosthetic guy. You're a young woman and you want these things to serve you for a lifetime.

Carlene- thank you for posting this. I am missing permanent teeth, too. I still have my baby teeth (bicuspids) with veneers, but will eventually need implants. This thread has been very reassuring!

Good luck!

My FH has a lot of implants, having gone through the process with him, all I can say is that it's all worth it. The pain is temporary, and the result is fantastic! He has a beautiful smile and feels so much better about his appearance. Make sure that you work with the best people that you can, because it can make all of the difference in the world. It's all worth it!

Implants are ment to last a long time ( hopefully a life time) Nicole has all the right advice and I'm sure see people get implants placed everyday. I also work for a large dental office (receptionist) people say the worse part is the extraction. The whole process will probably take 6-8 months since you don't have any teeth there ( takes longer when you need the extraction first). My dad recently had 2 done and was feeling fine the next day. He actually took the day off from work but was feeling great. Just make sure to take the meds the doctor recommends. I hardly see any implants fail or come out. People will call and be so upset and say my implant came out 99.9% of the time it's the crown that came off. Sometimes the crowns do come off if your not careful but it's and easy fix. Best of luck. I say if you have the money go for it!

I had one that was rejected. It was the most horrible thing I have ever had to deal with in terms of dental treatment (I was in braces for almost 10 years, multiple extractions, etc. so I have been around in the dental world). I was allergic to the metal in the post for the implant (as it turns out I am also allergic to surgical steel that they use for things like needles and dental pics, etc.). Everything seemed fine for 6 months then I got a massive infection in my jawbone. They had to do two apicoectomies to get rid of it and they had to remove the implant. I have a partial "denture" thing now that fits into my mouth like a retainer. The scary thing was everything seemed just fine then BAM I had this horrendous infection. I was on antibiotics for a month.

I was in a really bad car accident in 2010 and had my front teeth knocked out. It was the worst experience of my life. I am just like you and terrified of the dentist and always taken excellent care of my teeth. I thought there was no way that the teeth would look like mine or look real for that matter. Needless to say I sucked it up and went through the first process 6 month after my accident. The best decision I ever made! I paid extra to have anesthesia for the initial surgery because of my high level of anxiety with the dentist. They gave me pain killers for pain and I didn't even need them. I was at home eating soup that night. The process was a lengthy process. I had my first surgery at the end of December 2010 and had my final product the beginning of June 2011. But it was worth it.

My implants were done in a bridge....so it is one piece with 3 teeth on it. I did have one incident with it in the beginning. My dog hit me in the face pretty hard and it caused it to break the cement seal on my implant, so the crown actually loosened and fell out. It was an easy fix and I have never had a problem since. I highly recommend it

Someone up there said you want an endodontist and a prosthodontist but its actually an oral surgeon you want to go to for the actual implant part...and endodontist does root canals lol...and a prosth isnt necessary, your general dentist can handle the crown. they send impressions off to a lab who should have plenty of experience with it. you'll pay much more going to a specialist for the crowns and its not necessary if u dont need it

Mine took almost two years start to finish, but part of that was it was just hard to schedule the follow ups and I had two setbacks with an infection and the graft not growing back quite right. That being said...now that it's in (and paid for) it's awesome. I'd never know it wasn't my original tooth and really the only pain was associated with the extraction. I have big dental fear so they gave me Atavan for that part, though, and that was amazing, ha.

I'd say for one or two crowns, yes, a dentist, but not for anything more than that. I had a total reconstruction, and because I'm a public speaker, I needed someone with a more holistic approach. And yes, not an endo, an oral surgeon for the beginning. The best one you can fine.

I had a choice between a bridge and an implant a few years ago and my dentist strongly recommended the implant, but i balked and got a bridge instead. it's fine, but if i could do it all over again i'd get an implant (even with all the time it takes and the other issues people have raised) because the bridge just doesn't feel right since it's not set in my jaw like the rest of my teeth.

I have four implants.Two of them are front teeth and other two are the back teethes,Dental implant is really a time consuming procedure which takes four to five months.After the Dental Implant i had tolerate lot of pain.But now i am completely fine enough that i can eat Anything.I had gone through the Dental implant at Dental implant dentist Rockville MD