Curse These Dental Implants

I am not good with time – or details once time passes – but more than five years ago, I had jaw surgery, which saw my lower jaw pushed back and my upper jaw moved forward (or vice versus).

The purpose was to fix my TMJ and hopefully stop my headaches.

Since I was changing the look of my face any way, I also decided to have two implants put in: one for an eye tooth that never came in and one for a bottom molar, which was removed years earlier by a dentist who felt I had too many teeth in my mouth and yanked a couple of them, leaving me with gaping holes and eventually bone loss. (And that meant I had a bone graph, removing it from my hip, prior to having the implant inserted.)

Implants, if you have the money, are apparently the way to go. They are permanent so you don’t have to worry about pain associated with dentures or bridges and they ‘look so real people never know they aren’t.’

Ahh, if only that was the case.

I have hated my dental implants since Day 1.

My former dentist blames the oral surgeon for the look of my upper implant that shows the titanium when I smile. He says the oral surgeon didn’t do the implant correctly.

The oral surgeon didn’t blame any one, nor except the blame, but did say he would do a gum graph, which would cover the titanium, and while there gum graph the rest of the my teeth making them less sensitive. (I am leaning toward this option, however, the former dentist also believes it will happen again as this area of the gum often recedes. The problem is I am not sure I believe this dentist any longer particularly after what happened to Dental Implant No. 2.)

During the summer, I was eating and swore I felt my implant (No. 2) lift. I wiggled it, but didn’t notice anything. I tried eating something else and it didn’t seem to happen again.

A day later I was flossing and the tooth shot out of my mouth and bounced across the bathroom floor.

I freaked. I thought my gums were so far receded I would need to have surgery to put the tooth back on.

I made an appointment with the former dentist (who I left due to the location not anything else originally) who told me implants sometimes come off, particularly if you are eating something sticky. He re-cemented it and I was on my way.

Fast forward to Saturday morning. I was eating a gumdrop and the tooth came off and hit my other teeth.

I am pissed. I spent a lot of money on these implants. I was told they are the best. There is no pain (the top one hurts), they look real (scoff) and they are permanent.

I should be able to eat sticky taffy and the implant shouldn’t come off, not after five years and certainly not after four months. I am not going back to the former dentist to have it fixed, rather I am going to our new dentist to see if she can do a better job.

Curse these implants.