Two titanium implants

You can tell when someone takes a pride in their work by the way they talk about the task in hand. My work-in-progress implants involved careful planning and preparation by my dentist, Dr Rash Patel, to make sure all goes well.

I have a large gap from previous extraction of a molar (back in 1989 and that is another story). Then, eventually, the tooth next to the gap (labelled X) gave way. That meant I was going to have a two-tooth gap - too wide for a bridge so implants was the answer. In some ways it was a bit of a repeat of the two previous implants - see An extraction and two posts.

Rash very carefully extracted the tooth by bisecting the crown and extracting the two roots separately. That way the bone between the roots remained undisturbed and maximised the bone regrowth where the planned implant would go. That needed six months healing but in the end it was nearer to a year before I went back.

I went back for a proper three dimensional CT scan to check bone density, location of the nerve and positioning of proposed implants. Casts were taken and implants prepared for the procedure

The actual implant installation was done under sedation and all seemed to go very well. I was under for two hours and Mary was the "responsible adult" who came to escort me home as required after sedation. I knew nothing as I was "away with the faeries".

The after effects were minimal: I took a couple of paracetemol for when the anaesthetic wore off and that was it. No painkillers needed the next morning, no bruising, minimal swelling that subsided in a couple of days. A tribute to Rash's skill.

A couple of weeks later I went back to have the stitches out. Next up a fresh impression, and then the actual crowns. In March the things that look like golf tees will be replaced by two new crowns and I will be able to eat properly on the right side of my mouth for the first time in over a year. Om nom nom.