Does My 91 Year Old Mother Really Need Dental Implants

My mother has had bad teeth most of her life. She grew up in poverty and never went to a dentist. When she was finally out of poverty, she spent much of her time saving money out of fear and spending none of it on herself. This is why I have a degree and a comfortable life. So, this dentist is insisting that we make my 91 year old mother to undergo surgery in order to get dental implants. He says it is essential for the health of her jaw. But, I’m more concerned about her general health and ability to survive a surgery at her age. There have to be options, right?

Ellie

---

Dear Ellie,

Yes. the first thing I want you to do is never take your mother to that dentist again. Yes, her jaw will slowly shrink after her teeth are removed, but it will take at least ten years for that to make any significant difference to her quality of life.

While the dental implants surgery is fine for most people, your mother’s age is a huge factor. I don’t know her health, but even if she is in good general health, her age alone makes her more frail. Plus, during the healing process there is a lot of chance for infection.

There is nothing wrong with her having removable dentures at her age. Unless your family has a habit of everyone living until the age of 112, I don’t see a reason to put her through that.

This blog is brought to you by a friendly Douglas, AZ Dentist, Dr. Gilberto Tostado.

Read More...

My dentist is struggling to get the right color for my implant crown

About a year ago, I was so excited to get a dental implant to replace my missing right upper front tooth. Everything went fine with my implant procedure, but I’m disappointed in the resulting esthetics. My dentist has really struggled to get the crown color right so that it matches my left front tooth, and we’ve redone this crown at least three times now. Sometimes it’s been too dark, at other times it was noticeably too light.

I don’t know why my dentist can’t get this right. He’s getting frustrated with me, telling me I should just be grateful the implant is doing well and that it’s not his fault that my tooth color is hard to match.

He also told me that continually manipulating my implant to change the crown could compromise the implant itself.

I don’t mean to be so difficult; it’s just that I want my new implant to look like a natural tooth since it’s so visible. But I also don’t want to risk damaging my implant.

What should I do at this point?

Thanks for any advice you can share,

Paul from Phoenix, AZ

 

Getting matching dental crowns makes a world of difference!

 

 

 

 

Dear Paul,

Getting a dental implant is an exciting step that can change your life for the better, so we’re glad to hear your procedure was successful. But we’re sad to hear that you’ve had such a frustrating experience with your current dentist.

The good news is that your situation is not as hopeless as it may seem. You can safely get a new crown for your implant that matches the neighboring teeth!

There are three things we want to make sure you’re aware of.

Point number one: it may help you to hear that you are not being unreasonable. Given that the tooth in question (maxillary central incisor) is one of your most prominent teeth, it’s only natural to want your implant restoration to blend in seamlessly with the rest of your smile, so there’s no need to worry that you’re being a “difficult” patient.

Point number two: it is perfectly safe to grind off your current crown in order to replace it with a new one. Get a second opinion from a dental implant dentist who has extensive experience in esthetic implant restoration.

This brings us to:

Point number three: your current dentist doesn’t seem to be a very experienced cosmetic dentist, and this could be the reason he’s not interested in creating a closer match for your implant crown.

It’s not an easy feat to get a perfect match. Even skilled cosmetic dentists need to try in a crown more than once to make sure the color match is true before they bond the crown in place.

Many general dentists rely on an industry-standard shade guide to pick colors for their crowns. This guide, however, doesn’t account for all the subtle variations in color that can occur naturally in human teeth. Dentists who rely heavily on this guide and have little to no interest in achieving an exact match don’t put in the time to customize the hue or to communicate specific color instructions to their dental lab ceramist.

So in short, it sounds like your current dentist may not be putting in the effort necessary to create a well-matched restoration for your implant. You need to work with a dentist who takes an artistic approach to restoring dental implants and is willing to try in your dental crown and make needed adjustments multiple times before permanently cementing it onto your implant.

Posted on behalf of Dr. Tostado, a cosmetic dentist near Douglas AZ.

 

Read More...