Anyone have any experience with dental implants? The dentist says choose between a very pricey bridge, or extremely pricey dental implants, to the tune of $3,000 per tooth! If I don’t do the implant, he’ll want to grind down a canine tooth and put a cap or crown on it so that it will be strong enough to hold a bridge. Hate the thought of grinding away a perfectly good tooth. Concerned about the cosmetic appearance, for both options. Do you have an implant? More than one? Are you happy with it? And was it worth 3 grand?

Have you gotten a second opinion? I once went to one dentist who insisted I needed some very pricey work done. Made a few calls to check pricing for same work at different dentists and then decided to go to a different dentist altogether. Turned out I didn't need all that pricey work.

Caveat: I abhore dentists.

Yeah, I've actually discussed it with three dentists, due to the number of teeth involved (4) and the grand total on the quotes. I'm hearing $9,000 to $12,000. Dental insurance has a cap of about $1,000 per year per person, max benefits, and probably (not sure yet) has an exclusion on implants anyway. At these prices, it feels like buying a car that I've never seen before and no one can even show me a picture of what it really looks like and there's no refunds or changing your mind once you test drive it!

While I did inherit dental problems from a long line of family with dental issues, I do not have implants. My dad does though. He got them a couple of years ago on his bottom front teeth. While he said it was an extremely painful procedure, he seems pleased with the results. I did not inquire about cost, but I know it was pricy. I agree with Truff...get a second opinion.

(I am TERRIFIED of dentists. I'm not sure I could sit through an implant procedure. )

My four front upper teeth are implants. I fell trying to ice skate when I was 14 and killed one of my front teeth. For years, and in my wedding pictures, I had one dark tooth. Then I got a crown, but after a number of years with it, I was having issues. About five years ago, I got implants for all four front teeth. It cost about $8,000, and was a long process that included wearing a temporary bridge that made me talk funny.

In the end, it was worth the misery and money. For the first time in decades, I like my smile.

Regarding how they will look will greatly depend on the dentist and the company making the teeth. Typically they look better than real teeth because they are uniform in color.

Crowns are about $1,100 and insurance will pay for 50% ?

I would save my money elsewhere and go with the crown.

My husband has one and I agree with Sci. Getting them was extremely painful; however if we wanted to spend the money he would get another one or two. He opted for a bridge instead.

My experience was quite different than what others have noted. I've had mine for 20+ years. I had no pain whatsoever with my implant and I have not had any problems with it. It's a molar, so maybe the pain factor differs depending on the tooth location. I'm getting another one, probably before the end of the year. I highly recommend them. I think it's worth the money, considering how long they last compared to any alternative. Just make sure you find a dentist that is highly experienced in doing implants.

I don't have either, but if I had the choice I would go with the implant. I agree it is a shame to ruin a perfectly good tooth for a bridge. My husband broke a tooth above the gumline so the options were a bridge which would have been filing down his front tooth, or the implant. He chose the implant. His only problem was when they went in to extract the broken tooth, his jaw was also cracked, so they couldn't place the implant right away. He had to have bone filler put in and wait for it to heal. In the meantime he wore a temporary tooth which is like a retainer (upper). He had to remove it to eat, which was awkward sometimes in the restaurants. He has now had the implant for about 5 years and no problems whatsoever. It looks totally natural and feels natural to him.

Also, just wanted to say his cost him $5,000. Is definitely a dent in the pocketbook, but it was worth if for him. Goes along with the braces we put in our kids' mouths! With the implant and our kids' braces, comes to about $25,000! Wow! And insurance covered none of the above. Crazy!

Are dental implants the same thing as "caps"?

No - caps cover the tooth - dental implants are a man made tooth that is implanted into the gum and bone permanently.

I have caps over root canals and a number of crowns. Some have been in there 45 years. I don't think we had the choice of implants.

ahh, okay.

I know those are expensive and used a lot cosmetically. Although, some people end up looking a little horsey when they have those!

My first thought with caps is that they'd end up looking like Chiclets (think the Dennis the Menace Movie with Walter Matthau )

They have come down in price a lot. My daughter will have to have 2 of them for missing permanent teeth. Lots of orthodontics work before the implants. She is young so we are doing implants. Worth the investment for her.

$3,000 is about the average for what is charged for one implant. A good dentist takes molds of your current teeth and the implants are sized and shaped to match. Shouldn't be able to tell a difference from those and real teeth.

It was worth the money for my dad to get implants. He was having bridge work done every couple of years. He never complained about it being painful but did complain about the expense. LOL

My daughter took a line drive in the mouth at a varsity softball game in high school and lost 2 teeth. One tooth stayed attached to the braces and they were able to pop it back in (boy did that make a sound I don't want to hear again), the other is lost somewhere in the softball diamond.

We looked into both implants and a bridge since they were front teeth. Our dentist recommended a Maryland Bridge, because they were concerned about her jaw bone in front being too thin to accept the implant (unique to her, not a general issue).

I will say though... we were all gung-ho for the implant before she said that. Of course, she was a teenage girl too. There is always the risk that the bridge will fail someday, but she is 23 now and I guess that will be her concern

I have an implant for one of my back molars. It cost $5,000.00. I used my flex spending account. I had the the initial surgery late in the year. It takes 4 - 6 months to heal. I had the 2nd surgery the 2nd year. I waited longer than recommended to get the actual implant by having it done early in the following year. It pretty well wiped out my flex plan each year, but it didn't hurt as much.

CYM--Pay close attention to the warnings about jawbone thickness. My wife had three or four implants done in the late 70s when the technology was new. The doctor recommended them as part of a last-ditch effort to avoid full plate dentures. They knew that her jawbones were thin, but hoped for the best. After countless half-day dental appointments, the work was done. Within a year, the implants began working loose, the area got infected, and they had to remove everything and go to plan B. Months of painful and time-consuming dental surgery and a nice chunk of change went down the drain.

A couple of years ago, I lost one molar too many and had to choose a bridge or implant. Based on my wife's experience, I was very reluctant to consider the implant. My dentist and the oral surgeon explained that 30 years' experience had greatly improved the implant success rate. Today, they know how much bone is needed (top to bottom) to hold the metal pin and prevent what happened to my wife. Some patients simply don't have thick enough jawbones and are not candidates for the procedure. Others (including me) are close enough that the additional thickness can be achieved with bone grafts.

My surgery went smoothly and the final product is working great.

Thanks, all. Going to get at least one more dentist's opinion before proceeding. Initially the first dentist (the $12,000 quote) wanted to do bone work to strengthen the jaw. I was happy the others didn't mention any of that, until I read your replies. Now I'm thinking the others didn't mention it because they don't do them often enough to recognize the need for it, and/or, right before we get started they'll say "Oh yeah and you'll need to see a bone specialist" and then their $9,000 quote will start to look more like the $12,000 guy.

Those bone grafts take months and months to heal and set up. All that time you will have a temp that must be taken out to eat, so that may limit your eating out in public. That would be a deal killer for me.

It was determined that I didn't have to have bone grafts and I didn't have to take my temp out to eat. I just had to be careful and take the temp out and rinse after meals.

I'm glad to have my implants and know that I'm lucky I could do it, but I hate them. I can't explain it well, but will always wish I didn't have to have them. I won't do it again unless there is no other choice available to me. Mine took almost 6 months from start to finish.