Bridge vs. Implant - anyone??

My tooth broke about 10 days ago...I was hoping to get it repaired but the dentist is advising against it - apparently the decay is close to bone so a repair could be a very long saga of dental trouble.

So she is referring me to see an oral surgeon to have it removed (*ouch* - horrid memories of the painful aftermath of having a wissy tooth surgically removed). Apparently it is best to replace it with something - either a bridge or an implant.

The bridge sounded fabbo until she told me they remove the tops of the adjoining 2 teeth in order to put it on :o.

The implant sounded fabbo until I actually thought about having a screw inserted in my jaw :o.

Wondering if anyone has had this done/is a dentist/dental nurse who can shed any light on this at all. I need about a million fillings as well - I stopped counting after number SEVEN - thanks to chemo :cry: - so I was sitting there in shock. Didn't really ask many q's.

An implant is going to be a heck of a lot more expensive than having a bridge put in, plus from memory when I was a dental nurse, there was a chance that they wouldn't 'take' but that was years ago so I assume that they have improved things since then. The bridge is just a cap over the adjoining two teeth and and the 'tooth' in the middle of them - no different to having your teeth capped anyway. I would personally prefer to have a bridge than an implant.

hey MD :)
go for the bridge IMHO ( i was a dental nurse) you wont tell that the other teeth eithe side have been adjusted. becasue it will all look like teeth. it will be cheeaper and quicker ( about 3 appts for the brigde too.

You wont notice it and it is better to have the gap filled. dentist will shape the teeth either side to place the other teeth over it and it will jsut look like normal. pm me if you want
xoxo

have pmed you a link

omg sherie i jsut notived you have 19k posts!! you go girl!!
LOL ( princess)

if the teeth either side are perfect, as in decay and filling free and look like they wont need any fillings inthe near future then id look into the implant, if the teeth either side already have fillings or decay then go for the bridge

So far every one has been pro-bridge and I'm guessing that's because it seems less invasive and costs less?? Is that the only reason? What about longer term maintenance and/or problems further down the track.

With the bridge, I'm worried about other problems brewing underneath it, kwim?

ETA - Trill I had forgotten you were a dental nurse in a former lifetime LOL.

Oh yeah, and thanks for the link M22...tho I'm still a bit squeamish about looking at the diagrams right now. Blergh!

they may give you a special floss to clean underneath it. They last for ages and ages and i worked for age ages an di have ever recemted about 2 and thy were poorly fitted in the first place.

i am not to sure about mait for the implant should be much at all.
do you have PHI?? if so then may be worth doing the imlants yo would get a fair bit back. speak to teh surgeon and see what they have to say or go for an inital appt with them re implants prehaps

HTH

pmsl
- i know and understand
:)

Hi Marydean,

I have recently gotten a quite for an implant as I have lost my tooth also. I was quoted $5700 (implant and crown ) by my dentist before claiming back from my private health insurance, I have extra dental and can claim back about $1,500. I cant afford to have this done right now, also they wont do it until all your teeth are clean and no decay is around.

Hope the pricing helps!

Bel
xxx

Well, MD, I'm just about to go to the dentist tomorrow to have the crown fitted on my implant and finish the process for good - FINALLY!

I decided to go down the more permanent path of the implant, since it looked the best and had the best outcome. I tried a sort of bridge that stuck to my two teeth beside the gap as an interim method and I broke it off, twice, in my sleep, so I'm glad I never set off down that to start with. I am also wearing a retainer with a false tooth in the meantime as well, and it's a pain. Looks fine, but I have to take it out to eat and clean.

I needed orthodontic work to align my teeth before I had the implant done. You might not need that. It was the most expensive part of the whole lot. The implant was particularly unpleasant as a procedure, but it wasn't really painful and I recovered very quickly. I got my implant done with a very experienced surgeon who pioneered the procedure in Australia some time ago and is known for being excellent. He was also the most expensive out of any I've heard of, but this was the one part I didn't want to be saving $$ on.

I have to have the crown fitted tomorrow, which is also not cheap! You need about 6 mths for the implant to heal before the crown can be attached. I had a lot longer due to slightly slower healing and a lack of effort on my part. :redface: But I'm so pleased my smile will be as close to perfect as I can hope for tomorrow, and it should stay that way for the rest of my life.

All up my costs were (before health fund rebates and spread over about four years - thank goodness for private health) about $7,500 for orthodontic work, $3,000 for the implant and $2,200 for the crown.

Mine was quite tricky though, since I have some genetic dental issues. GL!

ETA: Mischa, if you want to get the names where I got it done, let me know. The surgeon was just around the corner from you!

WTG jen- good adice form someone who has one :)

Thanks, that is very helpful re the costs. I can have some parts of it paid for by Medicare and other parts by PHI but I'm not sure yet what bits would be paid each way and no idea of what my out-of-pockets will be. First most important thing is getting the offending tooth out - I guess i have time to think about my options while that heals.

From memory I got about $2,500 back from the orthodontic, $1,000 from the surgery and only about $700 tomorrow for the crown.

I had good PHI extras cover, with the maximum back on dental/orthodontic that our fund offers. Lifetime maximum for oral surgery (I think that includes some other dental work) was $3,000.

I've got a bridge & have had it since I was approx 13 yo and am now 33 yo (so about 20 yrs I've had it) About 3 weeks ago it come unstuck (I was chewing on a minty, although it had felt loose the week prior). I just went to the dentist & got it rebonded. He did say that it probably won't last as long as it did the first time.

Initially to clean it they gave me a special floss that inserts between the gap of your gum & the false tooth, but when the gum grows over you won't need to do that again. You just brush & floss in the usual way. The only thing I don't like about the bridge is that it is metallic (they may be different now) and it looks like I have a mouth full of fillings....

In case you are still pondering this.... I got an implant in Nov 09 & get my crown fitted in approx 2 weeks. All up about $4000 after PHI rebates. The implant was absolutely pain free - I would get all my molars replaced by implants if the cost wasn't so high. I would thoroughly recommend this path as it leaves the other teeth alone & is pretty much guarenteed for at least 20 yrs after which time you might need to replace the crown. Good luck anyway - hope it all works out!

Hey MD, let me know if you're still pondering this......am happy to discuss further if you would like :)

I am about to get the crown for my implant fitted next month. It has been a long process, but one that I would definitely recommend.

My dentist said that given that I have problematic teeth at the best of times, interfering with two perfectly health teeth in order to do bridgework just isn't worth it.

I know there are loads of reports on implant rejection, but those are pretty outdated. With modern technology, the rejection rate is very low.

As for pain, both the extraction of the offending tooth and the insertion of the screw (along with a bone graft as I didn't have much bone mass left into which the screw could be inserted) was NOTHING compared to having root-canal treatment. Sure you feel a bit of pressure, but with the local anaesthetic it really is quite painless (except for a bit of tenderness for a day or two).

In terms of cost, you would be looking at just shy of $6k, with about $1k - $1.5k back from PHI. A lot of money, yes, but this is a permanent solution. Well worth it, in my opinion.

You have my sympathy (my teeth are the bane of my existence :()