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Can a Dental School Give Me Implants?

I am having a hard time with my dentures. They don’t fit like I want them to. Dental implants are pretty expensive though. Is there any way that I can go to a dental school and get dental implants at a discount? If not, can I get a better denture. The ones I have now make it hard for me to eat.

Tessa

Dear Tessa,

Yes, dental schools will take patients. This is important for them because they need a way for their students to practice. The price will be lower because your treatment will take longer. This is because it has to be done under supervision with instruction. Everything a dentist does needs to be taught.

The complication here is that it cannot be any dental school. While all of them will train their patients on dentures, only the specialty schools will train in dental implants. Even though you won’t get work that the top of the line implant dentists can do, it will be significantly above average. I would call around to make sure of which services are available.

I want to give you a warning, though. The one thing you absolutely do not want to go to a dental school for is any cosmetic dental work. There are so many cosmetic dentistry horror stories done by inexperienced cosmetic dentists under training.

This blog is brought to you by Douglas, AZ Dentist Dr. Gilberto Tostado.
Click here to learn about implant supported dentures.

Avoiding Facial Collapse

I’ve been crying for two weeks. My doctor recently diagnosed me with a severe calcium deficiency. My dentist suggested that I should extract my teeth now to save myself from the constant dental appointments. I’m only 37. I can’t stand the idea of not having teeth. Plus, a friend of mine said that I will have something called facial collapse by the time I’m 50. Is there any way to prevent this from happening? Or even save my teeth?

Evelyn

Dear Evelyn,

First, I want you to take a deep breath. I don’t think you are going to need to remove your teeth. If you have a calcium deficiency with an onset in adulthood it will not impact your teeth. The only way that would happen is if you developed the deficiency while your teeth were still developing.

There are many different types of dentists. Some will do anything to save tooth structure. Others would rather just get rid of the tooth. It sounds like your dentist is one who prefers pulling teeth to saving them. I don’t think this is the best dentist for you, especially at your age. I definitely wouldn’t pull all your teeth and get dentures.

Your friend was correct about facial collapse. This is a condition that happens after long term use of removable dentures. Your body senses when your teeth are removed and begins to resorb the minerals in your jawbone where they will be more useful. As a result, your jawbone slowly shrinks. Eventually, there is not enough jawbone left for you to even keep your dentures in, which rest upon your lower jaw.

If you ever got to the point where you did have to have your teeth removed, the way to prevent facial collapse is to have dental implants placed and then anchor the dentures to them. I don’t think you’re in this position and highly suggest you get a second opinion.

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

Dental Implants After 10 Years

I wanted to get dental implants from the very beginning but did not have the money. I decided to just get the regular dentures and save up. Unfortunately, I had several setbacks including a car wreck that left me hospitalized and without income for a couple of months. I’ve finally got enough money to get the dental implants, but it has taken me a little over ten years! Am I too late? I hope not because I REALLY hate these dentures.

Maggie

Dear Maggie,

I am so terribly sorry about the accident you were in as well as all the hardship that has resulted from the accident. It says a lot about your perseverance and character that you were still able to save up for dental implants after that. Honestly, I’m impressed.

Here is some good news for you. You are not too late. Technically, you can get dental implants at any point after getting dentures with two caveats. First, you must be in good general health to be a candidate. Second, depending on how long you have been in completely removable dentures, you will need to have bone grafting done in order to have a successful outcome.

When your teeth were removed, your body began resorbing the minerals in your jawbone in an effort to be as efficient as possible with your its resources. Unfortunately, this has the side effect of shrinking your jawbone. That jawbone in needed in order to retain the dental implants. In dental circles, we call this facial collapse.

In your place, I recommend seeing an experienced implant dentist, one who has post-doctoral training in the procedure. Have him or her do some great diagnostics, including a CT scan to see where you are bone-wise. That will determine how much bone grafting you need. Once that is done and you’ve had some time to heal, you will have the go-ahead for dental implants.

The great thing is, now that you’ve been living with dentures for the last ten years, your quality of life is going to go up dramatically after your dental implant procedure is completed. You’ll feel like a new woman!

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

Half My Dental Implants Have Fallen Out

I received eight dental implants in total. I’ve already paid for five of them and will pay for three more and some dentures in a couple of months. However, they’ve already started falling out. Today, I lost the fourth one and it has only been a little over a week since they’ve been placed. I feel I should get a refund on these so they can be redone. I’m also wondering if I should be concerned over the remainder of them. Have you seen this happen before?

Laurie

Dear Laurie,

First, this is not normal and should not have happened. Your dentist has a 50% success rate for the dental implants he’s given you thus far. Most competent implants dentists have a 95% success rate and even that 5% of failure doesn’t happen for a year or more out. As for a refund. I would not just ask for a refund. Getting dental implants redone is not as simple as replacing the ones that failed. Instead, you have to first have a bone grafting procedure to build back up all the bone that was lost during the failure and removal of your dental implants. That costs even more than what you paid him originally. What I would like you to do instead is request him to pay to have these redone by an implant dentist of your choosing. My recommendation is you find someone with extensive post-doctoral training in dental implants as well as a high success rate so you can be certain you are getting competent work done.

Before moving forward with your replacements, I would like you to get a solid explanation for why they failed in the first place.

Common Reasons for Dental Implant Failure

Infection at the implant site.
Inadequate bone support. This is always the fault of the dentist. If he or she does adequate diagnostics, the problem would be realized and dealt with using a bone grafting procedure.
Cheap implant fixtures. Rather than pay high fees for implant fixtures held to rigid standards, some dentists will try to increase their profits by purchasing cheap fixtures.
Incorrect placement of the implant – Also completely the fault of the dentist.
Premature loading. This means the dentist placed the crowns or dentures too soon. The bone needs time to integrate with the implants in a process known as osseointegration.

This blog is brought to you by Douglass, AZ Dentist Dr. Tostado.