In Reply to: pain/implants/dentures posted by Mark on December 06, 2000 at 00:54:11:
Mark,
Immediate dentures, like the name states should go on immediately after the tooth extractions. Getting them on right away helps minimize the swelling. But, I don't know much about your bleeding disorder, like you said, there may have been reasons to not put it on immediately. It may have been so that they could keep an eye on your bleeding and make sure your blood was clotting properly. Since you just had this done last week I could imagine that you are still pretty swollen up. You will possibly have to wait another week before the denture, which should already have been made, will fit onto your gums. Though I don't know what your dentist had planned.
On a regular case, the patient is still coming back for several office visits after the immediate denture is in place for any adjustments that are needed while the swelling is going down, and so the Dr. can keep any eye on the healing. Patients report being very happy with them.
If the pain in the tooth,next to the extraction site,is severe then you need to see your dentist. But if it is not, the pain could be for several different reasons. It could be just tender because it is next to an extraction site. It could be that when the Dr. was extracting the tooth next to it, he could have been putting pressure on that tooth. Kind of like if you have ever bit down on something hard, like a piece of bone in your hamburger, and bit it kinda funny, and it hurt. Then your tooth hurts for several days afterwards. In other words the tooth may be a bit "bruised" in the socket that it sits in. Give it some time to heal.
Finally with your question about implants. You would need to talk with your Dentist about wether you could get them. If the reason you are getting immediate dentures is due to periodontal disease, you probably would not be a good canidate for implants. For now it would be in your best interest to get the lower denture. In order to do an implant your bone will have to be completely healed up, and the sockets from the extraction sites will need to fill in with new bone. This will take somewhere around 6 mo. to a year for that bone to completely heal. Then after the bone is healed, (quick basic version) the Dr. would screw a titanium screw into your bone, cover your tissue back up over it and let it and the bone heal again. Now the time period for this healing used to be about 6 months, but this has significantly changed to a much lower waiting period, I don't know off hand what it is now. After it has healed the implant can be finished, which would take a few more office visits depending on what you would need done. For your lower arch you possibly would only need two, one on the each side, left and right. Your partial denture would use the implants as posterior rests, assuming it is your lower 6 front teeth that you still have. Being only 24 I would wait much longer to get implants. You should have a good ridge of bone for your partial to rest upon, and the Dr. can attach clamps to your teeth for your partial to clamp/snap on to. As you get older that ridge of bone will slowly get smaller. Remember that you will be wearing these dentures for a very long time. I couldn't tell you how long to wait but if you plan on living until your 80 years old, you may want to wait until your around 40-50 years old. If not, then get it sooner. And by that time, Implant technology may be much greater.
Good Luck.
- Re: pain/implants/dentures Mark 02:33:02 12/08/00
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