The youngsters they’re letting post here these days!
One other POV I might add to the subject is that on the question of bridge vs implant, a reasonable answer could potentially be “neither”, depending on the tooth in question. As I’ve said by now in several different threads, I had a molar yanked last week (9 days ago now). I had major trepidations about both the procedure and the aftermath, but it turned out to be no big deal. I had (and still have) no immediate plans for any sort of replacement, and I’m doing just fine without it, but it’s a molar way back, second from the last, and everything else is intact. I really can’t even tell that it’s gone. Of course a front tooth would be a whole different story.
I also had a tooth pulled. It was the last one on the upper right. My dentist sent me to an endodontist to try to do a root canal, but it wasn’t gonna work. So my dentist said, “We’ll just pull it. You’ll never miss it.” So he did, and I haven’t.
I have three bridges and they have never given me the least problem. The oldest is at least 35, maybe 40 years old. Yes I have to floss underneath daily but floss threaders take care of that. A lot cheaper, a lot faster and, as I said, trouble free. For the last two i did, briefly consider implants but decided against them.
While I’m glad you’ve had a great experience, I have known multiple people who’s older relatives either did not have good outcomes or were told by their dentists not to do it due to their age. I don’t consider 70 reeeeeellly reeeeellly old () but it’s a fact that most people don’t heal as well the older they get. Implants are a long and expensive process and it’s terrible to go through that only to have major complications or have the implant fail.
So I’m sorry I made you clutch your pearls but age is a legit consideration.
My father-in-law had terrible teeth. He was also a jazz musician who played a variety of wind instruments, and he was still playing professionally at the age of 90. He’d lost enough teeth that his remaining molars were unlikely to be stable enough to support a bridge. His embouchure was starting to be affected, and he was afraid (probably with good cause) that he wouldn’t be able to adjust to playing with full dentures. At 90 and in mediocre health, he found a dentist who was willing to do implants.
He had to get two cardiac stents implanted as he was starting the dental process, and he had to put it off while he was on blood thinners. Then, after his cardiologist gave him the go-ahead for pausing the blood thinner in order to undergo the dental procedure, his afib worsened, and the hospital cardiologist implanted a pacemaker. After that, I strongly suspect he went off the blood thinners again, this time on his own, in order to go back to the dentist. And then he had a minor stroke, then a major one, and he died not long after.
So, can you be too old for dental implants to be a good idea? I’d say probably. And should his dentist have been more realistic? Almost certainly. Did the $10,000 down-payment check the dentist refunded to his estate make up for any of this? Well, I don’t think so, but he was mentally competent and we all have to die of something, so we didn’t make a fuss.
I had a tooth extracted a number of years ago, and was told that because the adjoining wisdom tooth had come in crooked it would be difficult, and possibly expensive, to have a bridge put in. It was suggested that I go with an implant but I didn’t have it done at the time because the orthodontist who was recommended to do it was not part of my existing dental plan. So I lived with having a missing tooth.
Now, I’m not sure I could have an implant done. I’m 70 years old, with health issues which might complicate the required surgery.
Bumping this old thread with an update: #14 came out yesterday. It started feeling weird back in March - not pain, just didn’t feel right if I chewed on that side. I knew I had an exam & cleaning scheduled for early April so I just mentioned it to them when I went in, they said the crack was definitely getting bigger, and gave me a referral to an oral surgeon, who extracted it yesterday.
I haven’t had a tooth pulled since I was a child, when I had to have some baby teeth pulled to make room for other teeth coming in. Surprisingly, it didn’t hurt at all, although the expectation that something was going to hurt had me all tensed up. And of course the high pitched drill noises and cracking sounds during the procedure didn’t help.
So I guess now I wait for it to heal then at some point reach back out if/when I’m ready to fill in that empty space with something.
I’ve had two teeth extracted not long ago. The first one was a walk in the park. I paid for complete anesthesia and I woke up and it was over. Excellent!
The second one was a bit different. I told the oral surgeon (a different one from the first) that I wanted the same experience as the first: completely out and wake when it’s over.
I wasn’t put completely under and I remember most of what happened, including cracking the tooth in half to get it out. And when she did that, it hurt. As I was leaving, my mouth full of cotton, I asked over and over why I wasn’t completely out as I expected. No answer.
A week or two later at the follow up, I again poltely asked why this happened and I was met with open hostility.
I was ejected from the office with no exam given.
Prost could be right. There is an entire field of dentistry that is prosthetic dentistry. You could be going in for a prosthesis or prost as easily as a post.
Good thread.
I’m 77 and in the middle of sorting out two 30+ year old bridges that failed at the same time.
One cracked and was moving around and the one on the other side ( both upper molar area ) literally came out in my fingers.
Bit of a shock.
I’ve always had poor teeth due to German measles as a kid screwing up my dentine for life.
So I got a good run from my mid life bridges but there is always wear and tear especially if you only eat on one side and grind your teeth in sleep which I do.
Have some dental cover from private health insurance here in Australia but nothing compared to the cost at a regular dentist of getting both sides sorted.
One bridge was 4 teeth - the other 3.
Now as pensioners in Australia…despite indexing…our living costs outruns our incomes despite having house paid for, no heating costs and living reasonably frugally.
So my dentist recommended going to local Uni which had a dental training school and it is FREE for seniors. ( check your area ).
They don’t do implants which I likely would not be eligible for anyways. ( not enough bone )
I’m being treated by a 4th year student supervised - he has 1 year left which he will spend out in the community with more supervision.
Now the appointments are long - 3 hours due to training procedures but the facility is superb. Queensland introduced 50cent bus fares everywhere so I take bus for 20 minutes to the uni …$1 round trip and no cost for the appointment. Can’t even drive the mcycle for that cost.
Will end up with a single appliance I think tho possible bridge replacements. I’m getting very good at gnawing food with dysfunctional back teeth at the moment. Fortunately my bite had not been impacted..there are sufficient teeth to keep my bite geometry okay but SFA for proper chewing.
This month was a time out as I missed an appointment and I welcomed that break. Time to heal and deal with a couple abcesses one on each side needing a/b.
Both partner and I have long life genes with 3 of 4 parents making 95 so getting this sorted properly at 77 worthwhile.
Still …getting old sucks…glad I’m still riding tho.
addendum: step dottor needed extensive dental and took a dental vacation to Bali and saved a ton of money. A number of countries offer those YRMV …do your homework.
So what’s the deal with these places advertising on TV that they can give a full set of implants in one visit? Are they full of crap or are the implants low quality or what?
Never seen that ad. My husband is partway through getting his second implant. It takes months. There are two steps that intrinsically take a long time: injecting cadaver ground bone and waiting for the body to grow new, healthy bone around it, and implanting the “root” (a piece of metal) into the new bone and waiting for the bone to heal up around it. The second step is done without attaching a tooth so the root doesn’t get pushed around as it’s healing into place. Only then will he go back and have a fake tooth attached to the fake root.
I can imagine skipping the first step if the underlying bone is healthy enough, but i can’t imagine skipping the second step.
I’m sure I mentioned this in some thread, implants can hold a removable bridge. The bridge is then removable, it snaps into the implants with a fixture that screws into the implant just like a prosthetic tooth. This makes it easier to keep the bridge, teeth, and gums clean. When several adjacent teeth are missing this should be considered since it requires only two implants. It works well enough to hold an entire upper or lower denture in place with just two implants. I don’t know if it’s possible, but maybe a crown on an existing tooth can mate with the snaps so only one implant is needed for a bridge.
Update on my stupid teeth if anyone is interested…
As noted above, #14 (upper left molar) was extracted in mid-April. Since about mid-March I had been chewing mostly on my right side since the left didn’t feel right. And obviously I continued to chew on the right for a time after the extraction to let it heal.
So, late May I’m eating a sandwich for lunch, and feel something hard in there. I spit it out, and it’s a chunk of tooth! About a quarter of my lower right molar (#30?) broke off. So, great. Big hole up top on one side, jagged broken tooth on the bottom of the other side. When I called the dentist, they couldn’t get me in for a week.
Luckily it didn’t hurt, again it just felt weird having the broken tooth in there. So, soft food for a week and chew on the left as much as I can.
A week later I had a temporary crown and they scheduled me to come back in three weeks to have a permanent one put in. Which was yesterday. So now I’m at least back to normal on the right. Now I just need to figure out what to do about #14. I need to check what my insurance will cover, but right now I’m leaning towards implant.
) but it’s a fact that most people don’t heal as well the older they get. Implants are a long and expensive process and it’s terrible to go through that only to have major complications or have the implant fail.
( check your area ).
