Dental implants

Ah, yes, most of you blog about your fun and interesting times.  I'm blogging about my dental implants yesterday.  To each his own.  I already had one false tooth being held in by a bridge.  Then when I had a problem with another tooth and it had to be pulled, the entire bridge had to come out because a bridge connected all these teeth together.  So now, where these 2 missing teeth are, I had the 1st part of my implants yesterday.  Implants are surgically placed in, and fuse with the jawbone.  This way, the neighboring teeth are untouched.  The implant is a titanium post placed in the jawbone,  and over 2 to 4 months or so the implant will fuse with the jawbone and forms a base for the next parts of the implant, which will be above the gumline.  That will be the abutment, which holds the crown on, and the crown, or the tooth.  Bridges, like I had before, require cutting down neighboring teeth to get them in.  Implants are self sustaining since they fuse with the jawbone.  It also helps prevent bone loss, which can be a problem with bridgework.

So...yesterday, I had the first part done.   It took about 4 hours.  The first 45 minutes was sawing off the bridge that I had.    It had been reconnected  with temporary cement but was still a job to get off.   There was an incision made in my gum.  Precisely measured.   Holes drilled.  Implants inserted in the holes.  Gum tissue repositioned around implants and stitches placed.  I'm on an antibiotic, was given pain med, which I took and needed yesterday, but don't feel like I need today.  Need to eat soft diet for 48 hours or so, have stitches taken out next week, will have occasional appointments to see how healing is going and when the implant and bone have fused, will get the abutment and crown.  End of story.  And everyone lived happily after.