This page is discussing the denture portion of my story from the point where Doc and I decided to go ahead with the
dentures.
You can see on the extraction page that Doc took three teeth on the one side. This is to allow me to have one side to
still be able to chew on. It was odd really, having all those extra teeth on the one side just felt funny. My diet is basically
soft food anyway - pasta, yogurt, oatmeal, protein drinks and coffee. I do eat some tough stuff, but it was easy to stay
off that during this time frame.
The following week, Doc took the two back teeth on the other side (I don't have a shot of that). This was the weirdest
feeling I would have preferred even number on both sides. As I noticed that first week that the appointments had been
set up that way, and I have a high tolerance for pain anyway, I scheduled a second day during that same week to pull
the three teeth in front of those. This is the five bloody sockets on the extractions page that you see. I don't have a lot of
patience for putting things off.
Once I was left with just six teeth up front, Doc took additional molds of my teeth to set up the immediate denture. Prior
to the final six teeth coming out, I had a wax try-in to see how they would look and make any last minute adjustments
before the denture got made.
The final round of extractions was the six front teeth. I have got to mention that though I can take a good amount of pain,
Doc saw the tears rolling down my face and gave me more of the good stuff! It is kind of shocking to realize that what
we see of our front six teeth is just one third of the darn tooth! Those things are DEEP! Doc was good at being able to
remove the teeth with very little discomfort, but the size of them was... interesting.
As soon as the extractions had been done and some cleaning of the bone for any fragments had been accomplished,
Doc put in the immediate denture. It has to stay in over night to facilitate healing of the fresh extractions. This was
interesting for me, because I had to go to work directly from his office! Some bleeding occurred and I had to be a little
careful how much I smiled that first day. The bleeding was under control rather fast. After the one job I had to do, I had to
go and meet another client and discuss some technical issues on another project. This was a little difficult due to the
initial gagging reflex from having the denture in my mouth, it takes a couple days to get used to it.
The next day, Doc made some immediate adjustments and everything was much better! Now it was time to let the
gums heal for a while.
After a couple of visits over the next two weeks, the gums began to shrink up from the swelling due to the extractions.
The dentures became more loose each day. By the time I went in to have a medicated soft lining put on, had I needed
to blow out candles on a cake, the teeth would have flown out of my mouth! During one of the visits, Doc mentioned a
Mini-Implant that can just be inserted right through the gum - into the bone. I began to look into those as a possibility.
Doc cleaned up the denture and put a gel like medicated substance in the denture. I had that in my mouth while it set
up, quite like the mold they do for the teeth, but not as gooey. That set up pretty fast and after an adjustment, I was good
to go. Three days later, Doc had me back in for another adjustment, but during the healing, a splinter of bone had
bothered my gums. Doc removed that splinter and an infection that formed in one of the front sockets - you can see this
on the healing page in the third picture down. It just kind of ballooned up.
Doc and his office staff have been surprised in my acceptance and ease of transition from good teeth in good bone to
a denture. The fact of the matter is I knew what to expect because I had been looking into it for so long before I even
met him.
Do your homework and know what to expect. Check out your dentist, if you are at all uncomfortable - find another one
who will work with you. My Doc cares about what he does and honestly wants to do a great job. That is a rare trait these
days but don't even think about working with someone who your not totally comfortable with!
Currently I go back to Doc this next Wednesday - I'll update this part of the story then.
9 July 2003 - Doc cleaned out the soft medicated stuff - what was left of it, I used Efferdent to loosen
some of it up the night before - to try and make Doc's job a little easier... I hope that helped. On this visit, Doc and I discussed
the lower rack of teeth. Before I left the office on the previous visit, I asked his secretary to also schedule a "probing" of my
lower teeth. This would show Doc how I was progressing and how good or bad it was. At the end of that, he had to
agree with my original thought, and it was indeed best to remove them as well. He replaced the soft medicated lining
with another one of the same to help the gums heal up.
Doc is great, a dentist has the goal of saving the natural teeth that we have to the best of their ability. Since I have
researched my case well in advance of going to see him - and I listen to everything he says and follow up on
researching the options, he knows that I am fully aware of the situation I am entering into.
There is no long term study on the overall success of these Mini-Implants - especially in the scenario that I am intending
to use for them - long term (life-long) support of both the lower AND the upper denture. The fact of the matter is that
these things have typically been used for short term and temporary use while the heavy duty implants have healed into
place. The way I am intending to use them is for full support of the upper and lower denture without using the deeply
implanted standard implant.
Watch the other pages on the site, extractions, healing and others will be getting updated as I progress along this
treatment plan.
On 28 July 2003 I have another appointment. In the mean time, I have just been healing up and letting the gums come
together. On that last appointment, I had Doc "probe" my lower teeth and what I thought all along is what is going to
happen - the complete extractions of the lower teeth.
The situation is that there are areas around each tooth that get probed. On the inside and the outside positions of each
tooth - they are holding like champs. It is the other four areas that have deep pockets of insecurity and bleeding - yet I
don't bleed when I brush those lowers.
I have a public speaking engagement in September that I need to have a full set of teeth for, so I'll be pushing to get
these done in time for that.
Though my gums have been healing and the denture has become loose, I discovered that Fixodent Extra Hold powder.
This stuff is very lightly sprinkled on the denture and the excess shaken off, done correctly there is no left over to shake
off. Anyway, the stuff turns to a glue that wont let go for many hours! Brush your mouth out very well first, because it is
going to be a while before you can get your teeth out again!
Coffee, eating - no matter, the stuff holds. I'll update the site after Mondays appointment.
28 July 2003 - Went in to see the Doc to begin the lower extractions. Doc took out three teeth and cut a
bridge in half. The third tooth was the rear anchor for the bridge. I thought he was still working on one tooth when he had
actually just about finished.
I go back on Thursday for extractions on the other side. I have two public speaking engagements in September and
need to get the lower immediate denture in place as soon as possible.
4 August 2003 - Did not make it in for that appointment. I had an infection from the above extraction. It
was likely due to bacteria already there in combination with a flu like bug I picked up at the wrong time! The first day was
hell, the rest of the week - through the weekend was bad. I had a temperature of 99 - 100 degrees (my normal is 97.6) for
the whole week - the fever broke Sunday! Doc had prescribed some Penicillin to help me get over the infection, but I had
also taken aspirin for headaches. On Monday, the 4th, when I went in, I had too much blood loss (due to taking the aspirin)
and Doc had to stop short while trying to extract the final root of the second tooth he had been extracting. I go back on
the 11th to get the rest of that done, the root and the third tooth.
