To Implant Or Not To Implant...

If you have a tooth above with nothing below it, you'll end up with a "long" tooth. My husband's aunt is "long in the tooth" in the front of her mouth... it's really bad

Thanks all.

And thanks maplebri for the detailed response...the tooth had extensive/deep root canal in the past (I think this one was likened then to a bowl of corn flakes) and is now split in three and unable to be saved. A bridge isn't an option--it's either out or an implant, I'm afraid. The surgeon comes highly recommended, and is the chief of Oral Surgery at Overlook (Dr. Margo Freedberg) so I'm comfortable on that front, and not worried about covering cost in any case, whatever it is. I do worry about the upper tooth/grinding thing if I just have it removed.

Have a consult set up for next week and am planning on moving forward with it. Thanks again for the insights.

Dr. Freedberg did my implant. I loved her and the implant is perfect.

That's good to hear. Thanks.

Whichever path you choose, after dental surgery, make sure that your bite is even and that you are not pressing harder on one side than the other when chewing. This problem happened to me without realizing it, and I ended up with severe nerve pain (TMJ) for a very long time until the situation was remedied.

@MapleBri, thank you for that information. It adds uncertainty to my thoughts, but it is information, and more information is almost always useful.

Why are implants so much more costly than other procedures performed by the same endodontists that take about the same amount of time?

Scuse me, I'm gonna go floss and make a dentist appointment

Tom - - not too much to consider here- - really.

If a tooth IS worthy of saving (little mobility present, reasonable tooth structure remaining, strong chamber-floor furcation and decent surrounding bone), then it SHOULD BE SAVED!.....absolutely NO QUESTION ABOUT IT!

The wall street journal did a survey of the most lucrative medical professions in todays healthcare environment....oral surgeons and periodontists came out among the top (along with plastics and dermatologists). I'm reasonably certain that the popular innovative use of dental implants have made these dental providers part-time "bankers".

Why are they so costly? While it is true that the overhead cost of the implant itself is "high", given the chairside time involved, I liken the procedure to be somewhat equivalent to the ophthamologists treating cataracts 20 years ago, a procedure which takes all of 7 minutes - but medicare has drastically reduced the fee schedule in recent years. Many different dentists are now really getting into it - and its probably a matter of TIME before competition kicks into play - "supply and demand" will drive these fee schedules down a bit (as well as dental insurance companies fee schedules- but it will take a little time to see this unfold. However, we ALL get mailings touting how wonderful the local provider is in inserting these implants. Insurance companies ARE now beginning to cover a portion of this procedure and i suspect the free-marketplace will reel in providers fees....over time (Just like Actifed used to be by prescription only, and now its OTC and practically in every aisle in shoprite even! - "times change")

I still maintain the most important cautionary note when doing these implants is: "EXPERIENCE PREVAILS!"

Thank you again, @MapleBri.