Tag: implant

Front tooth extracted!

Check! I have returned from the implant surgeon. He extracted my front tooth. It only took 30 minutes to complete the procedure. He put my tooth in a small box so I can take it to my orthodontist appointment tomorrow.

Things are getting serious now. There is no way back. I already made some new appointments.

  • In June I will have a checkup appointment. That time the surgeon will check the bone healing. And if everything is fine the implant can be inserted.
  • Then I have to wait for the implant to heal. If everything is going fine the crown can be installed after mid-September! That means I can start making an appointment with my dentist to create the final crown!

So, I will update the final treatment-plan page as soon as possible. This way you know what will happen next!

I was pretty afraid for the appointment today. I was worried about:

  • What if the surgeon hit the other teeth? Breaking other teeth by accident?
  • What if the surgeon broke / damaged the extracted front tooth?

But everything went fine! I look pretty silly now because of that one big gap in my front top row. Really strange feeling and sight! I think I will be happy with the braces being installed tomorrow… Or not?

by bracesat44

My final treatment plan

On Wednesday 16th of November I finally received my final treatment plan. My orthodontist and implant surgeon finally made up their mind and came up with the final treatment plan. The implant surgeon sent me an email and a few minutes later my orthodontist called me to explain what will happen.

The main reason why they started discussing my treatment again is because I have sent them an email asking how the bottom braces will interact with the implant. My orthodontist convinced me to start wearing braces both top & bottom to get the best result.

January things will finally start

So they have decided to move on with the treatment as follows:

January 18th:

  • Extraction of front tooth 21 at implant surgeon office.
  • Installation of the implant (without temporary tooth) and install some bio material to fill some missing bone.
  • Installation of a healing abutment.
  • I will have to take the extracted tooth with me. The rest of the day I will have a gap at location 21.

January 19th:

  • Appointment at orthodontist.
  • My extracted tooth will be used as pontic. This means, the tooth will be attached to a bracket on my top-row archwire. This way the gap will be hidden.
  • Installation of brackets and wire on top row (with the pontic). I will need the top braces for minimum 6 months.
  • Installation of brackets and wire on bottom row. I will need the bottom braces for minimum 9 months.

After this procedure I will have to:

  • Get used to the braces 🙁 (Oh my!)
  • Wait for the implant abutment to heal (takes about 6 months)
  • Optional: This step depends on the healing process. Checkup the tissues around the implant and gum correction (takes about 2 months)
  • Checkup healing of implant. Then wait another 2 weeks minimum / 3 months maximum
  • Installation of definitive porcelain crown.

Everything will be fine!

Summarised this means I will end up in full metal braces. So I will get braces installed on top and bottom teeth. My worst nightmare will come through. I have decided not to think too much anymore and to move on with the treatment.

Yesterday, I visited my general dentist (30 minutes appointment) to get my yearly checkup and as expected she was happy to see my gum and teeth are in good shape. She wished me good luck with the implant and braces and reassured me everything will be fine! Wish me luck!

by bracesat44

Bottom braces in January

It looks like January 2023 will be the real start of my treatment. I have visited my Ortho last week. We decided to start with the treatment of my bottom teeth. For now it will be a single-arch treatment because I have to wait for some feedback from my implant surgeon. The ortho appointment only took 30 minutes. We discussed the options and signed the contract!

The decision to move forward makes me nervous because it is pretty definitive. But I’m also happy because this was taking way too long. Tomorrow I’ll call my implant surgeon to discuss the treatment / extraction of my front tooth (and when to schedule it). My ortho told me the top teeth don’t necessarily need braces, but to make things perfect she suggests to go for it. I will check with the surgeon at what faze the top braces can be installed. My ortho didn’t want to start with the top arch because of the bad front tooth.

I have selected the basic damon metal braces. Because they won’t stain after drinking coffee (yes, I drink lots’o coffee!) and eating some spicy food! Metal braces are less expensive than ceramic braces, this is also a reason to not go for ceramic.

I btw, the braces treatment of my bottom arch will take +/- 9 months. That is acceptable… Isn’t it?

More I can’t say. A lot will depend on what my implant surgeon will say. As you know I also have schedule a second opinion implant surgeon appointment in January next year! More info to come soon!

by bracesat44

This week will be the week?

It’s been a while!

It has been little bit silent again. Most of the time I have been waiting and waiting and waiting. I don’t have all answers yet. Don’t know if I have to start the braces treatment. Or do I have to start with the implant immediately? This week might be the week to get the final treatment plan!

First the implant surgeon didn’t send my medical record to my dentist. So I had to ask her over and over again to share it with my dentist (and orthodontist). We have been waiting for this report since my in-take appointment in July. Delays, delays, delays 🙁

I have been sending emails and made some phone-calls… Now finally end of September we received the report. The report states that:

  • My front tooth needs to be extracted to get rid of the root infection.
  • Orthodontic extrusion is not needed. We can skip that.
  • Orthodontic treatment is still possible but can be done independent from the implant placement.

Now what does the orthodontist say?

So I tried to contact the orthodontist… Again: It took weeks to get a response. Looks like there was a misunderstanding. After receiving the Implant report my orthodontist thought that a braces treatment was not necessary anymore. This is strange because she suggested to get braces installed to make room for the implant? Remember?

I managed to have a call with the orthodontist last week. I asked her what to do: Do I need to start a braces treatment or not? Is there any reason to skip the braces and move on with the implant? She told me she will contact the implant surgeon and see what to do. On Thursday 27th of October (This week!) I have an appointment with the orthodontist to see how we can move on. Let’s see what this week will bring!

by bracesat44

Waiting waiting and waiting

On 26th of May I decided to send an email to my orthodontist. I have told her that I prefer to give up my front tooth and go for the implant. I’m getting impatient and don’t want to wait for the periodontist appointment end of this year (October 2022). The periodontist already responded to my email telling me he will cancel the surgery. (I don’t think he is happy with my decision). My orthodontist sent me another email and told me I should talk to my dentist now to get me in touch with an implant surgeon. After my x visits to dentists, orthodontists, endodontologists, periodontists,… I’ll end-up with a visit to an implant surgeon… How complex can it be? Waiting, waiting and waiting.

So the next thing I did was sending an email to my dentist to bring me in contact with an implant surgeon. But my dentist will be on holiday until June 7th… So I have to wait again to see what will come next.

I know, that with this decision (to give up my front tooth), things will get serious. I’ll have to wait for my dentist now to bring me in contact with the implant surgeon. After that, my orthodontist told me she will contact the surgeon and see if she can use braces to try to save as much bone as possible. I described this special “bone grafting”-procedure on my previous blog post (option 2). This would be the only and really only reason why I would consider starting to wear braces at my adult age 🙁 My worst nightmare is coming closer and closer.

But I know I HAVE to do something. Waiting is not an option anymore. I want to find a solution to stabilize the bone loss around my top front tooth.

by bracesat44