Porcelain Goddess

My next appointment was on October 29, and it took about two hours because the dentist had some difficulty with one implant abutment.

Today’s appointment consisted of -
• Removing the existing hardware that’s holding in the temporary denture
• Inserting custom abutments into the implants
• Fiddling with the one implant abutment that wasn’t lining up correctly
• Taking new bite impressions
• Inserting the fourth snap into the top denture
• Putting the existing hardware back in
• Cementing in the temporary

The custom abutments are made specifically for my implants and my teeth. They will be the anchors that hold in the permanent bottom denture (or crown). The crown that was used today was made of porcelain, as will be my permanent, but it was unpolished. I’m not sure if this piece becomes the final, but I have a feeling that, with some additional work, it will take shape and become permanently affixed in my mouth. The dentist commented that the color made my top teeth look yellow, which we obviously don’t want. I’m aiming for that movie star white smile.

Because he had such trouble with the one custom abutment, he believed that something had happened to the one tooth when the crown was in the E-Z-Bake oven. Okay, I’m kidding. They don’t use an E-Z-Bake oven. They use a REAL oven that gets REALLY hot! (More about that in a future post.)

The dentist wants the lab to make some adjustments in my bite and to accomplish that, three additional impressions were taken. The bottom tester teeth were left in and using what looked like a caulk gun he shot impression material into the sides of my mouth. I then had to bite down so that he could shoot it between the front teeth. Count down the obligatory three minutes and then examine the impression to make sure it’s good. We did this three times. The third time was the charm, because that’s the impression he was happy with. Using that impression, he put the puzzle pieces of my mouth together again and bagged them up for the lab.

I go back on November 4. The dentist believes that that COULD be my final appointment, depending on how the appointment goes. If the appointment has any glitches, I will need one additional appointment. In any event, I will certainly have complete and permanent teeth by the time Connie and I leave for Curacao.

Be still my heart!

I Love Heavy Metal

My next appointment was October 22. It consisted of trying on the metal model of my bottom teeth. The existing hardware that’s attached to my bottom implants was removed, and the dentist put in different abutments that would accommodate the metal model. After the metal model was put in, the dentist made a number of adjustments to orientation. According to him, the appointment went smoothly and everything is looking good.

I asked again about a completion date, and the dentist assured me that I’d be done before November 19, the date on which my sister and I leave for Curacao.

I go back on October 29 for a 2.5 hour appointment where we’ll be working on a “bisque bake.” I believe this is an actual porcelain model of the teeth. The bottom teeth will be one piece and will be attached to the implants via temporary cement. Temporary cement is used in the event of any problems that require the dentist to get the teeth out. So, while the bottom teeth were billed as being “permanent,” they’re not really permanent. It makes sense that the dentist would be able to get them out in the event that something breaks.

I am amazed at the skill that’s required of my dentist in this work. He works with teeny tiny pieces of metal and plastic which need to be affixed to these implants. He wears some funny-looking glasses with magnifiers, but still. If his fingers were any bigger, he’d be in trouble.

In my humble opinion, and based on what I’ve been through, he has a much tougher job than the periodontist. The periodontist pulled teeth and placed implants. Not to take anything away from the periodontist’s expertise and skill, but it’s up to the dentist to then work within the confines of the implant placement. My hat goes off to him. Sure, he was paid well, but I’m amazed at how this is coming together and at the steps that are required to make everything work.

Good news all around! I’m gettin’ happy!

I Do Impressions – Of A Mouth

My next appointment was on October 12 and lasted an hour. I got tissue punched again! One of the implants was not sticking out enough to accommodate the gizmos that had to be used in this appointment.

The dentist removed the spikes and screws that are helping to keep the bottom denture in my mouth. He then snapped red arrow-like gizmos onto the implants. In real life, these arrow-like gizmos are called transfer abutments. He had trouble with one of the implants, because the tissue had grown up too close to the top of the gum line. So, he brought out the novocaine and ground down the tissue. God, I’ve gotten to the point where I HATE those shots.

Anyhow, these gizmos are used in conjunction with impression material and they pinpoint exactly where the implants are and the direction that they take. For example, one implant could have a slightly different trajectory than another.

So, I got to keep the impression gunk in my mouth for five minutes. When the time was up, out came the impression with the red gizmos firmly implanted (no pun intended) in the impression, as planned. That will be sent to the lab and a “bite impression” will be returned to the dentist by next Wednesday.

The dentist also did some other kind of impression where he put a mouthpiece on the bottom and made me move my bottom jaw toward the back of my mouth and then up to meet my top teeth. I had to do that a couple of times. Fortunately, I was given a mirror so that I could make sure that my mouth was doing what my brain was instructing it to do.

I have a 1.5 hour appointment on the 22nd for more impression work and the bite “try on.” The dentist said I probably have 3-4 more appointments till I’m done. Now, that doesn’t necessarily translate into 3-4 weeks, so at my next appointment I’m going to push the dentist to have this stuff completed before my November 19-24 trip to Curacao with my sister. I obviously don’t want to push him, but it sure would be nice to be done with this before vacation.

After he was done with the impressions, he put a healing abutment on the implant that had to be tissue punched. That meant he had to shave some of the bottom denture out to accommodate the added height. Then the other spikes and screws were put back in and the bottom denture cemented into place.

Whew, writing about what happened at this appointment makes me tired! I think I’ll take a nap.

Back To The Grind

Okay, I’m back from vacation with my batteries recharged and a fresh perspective on life. Well, not quite. But I DID have a great time with my sister, and I THINK I’m on my way to getting my life figured out.

Cathy and Connie

Back to the blog. On October 5, I had an appointment with the dentist so that he could re-cement my bottom denture. Again. It had come loose on October 2, a Friday, and the dental office is closed on Friday. Since I had been down this road before, I decided that I’d just be careful over the weekend eating and would call first thing Monday morning to have it fixed.

The dentist elected to start with impressions since I was there. Yippee! He took two impressions of the bottom gums and one of the top with my denture in. Taking an impression of the top is to help with bite alignment.

This is my mouth-related appointment #29. I told the dentist we needed to stop meeting like this.

It’s Vacation Time

I’ll be picking up my sister at the airport in West Palm Beach this afternoon, and we’re flying out of Miami tomorrow. We’ll be in Curacao till November 24, and I’m looking forward to seeing my sister and getting away. You know that my blog isn’t real time, and by now I’ve got all my permanent teeth. After 35 appointments, I’m done. And I have to admit that I’m suffering from a bit of depression and mixed emotions, which I’ll get into later. Anyhoo, I won’t be posting for a bit because I’ll be enjoying my sister and trying to get my shit together.

Go Fish

I saw the dentist on September 29 because my bottom denture had come un-cemented. Boy, that was sure an adventure for me. One minute I’m chewing a little piece of watermelon, and the next minute I’m fishing a denture out of my mouth. I ran to the mirror to see if I could figure out what I needed to do to get the denture back where it was supposed to be. It presented a bit of a challenge, as the little pinholes in the denture needed to fit precisely onto the implant abutments. It gave me a chance to see what my bottom gum looked like with the implants and various abutments. Let me just say that I could do some serious damage to someone if I bit them.

As long as I was at the dentist’s office, he looked at my bottom gums and commented that they were healing nicely.

When the cementing was done, I told him “Okay, I’m going to go eat a taffy apple,” to which he replied “Okay, I’ll see you this afternoon.” He’s such a funny man. Guess I’m not supposed to be eating any taffy apples.

Don’t Be Shy

After my dentist loosened up my implant snaps for the second or third time, I mentioned to him the dream that I had had about pulling out my implants and how I thought that was probably having an effect on my ability (or lack thereof) to get my teeth out.

He told me that if I ever pulled out my implants while removing my teeth, he’d have to write an article about it because he had never heard of that happening. He went on to say that once the implant osseointegrates, it is solidly ensconced. When implants have had to be removed, for whatever reason, they have had to be drilled out.

Having this conversation with my dentist made me feel better and gave me the confidence to exert whatever pressure was needed to get the teeth out.

If you encounter issues about which you are concerned, don’t hesitate to bring them to the attention of your dentist. If you have a compassionate dentist, he’ll take the time to explain what’s happening.

Birthday’s Are Supposed To Be Fun

I think what was at play here was that it finally hit me that I will never have my own teeth again. I thought these teeth would be placed into my mouth and they’d feel exactly like my natural teeth. Not so.

I was supposed to take the teeth out that night but despite repeated yanking like hell couldn’t get them out. The connections are very solid (which is good for stability). I even had my fingernails trimmed substantially in anticipation of having to pull out teeth.

I tried again the next morning and couldn’t do it. I got a brainstorm to use something that had some gripability, so I grabbed a thin t-shirt and tried again. The teeth finally gave up the ghost. I had MacGuyver’d my way into getting those suckers out! And remember the dream I told you about in my October 31 post? I’m happy to say that I didn’t pull the implants out of my bone, although the possibility of pulling out my implants was still in my head.

I have to learn to talk again, and I feel like I’ve gone back to the beginning of the process. I’ve been practicing talking, and I’m sure I’ll be back to normal before long.

I can’t say that anything I’ve been through to date – not even getting new top teeth – has been pleasant.

I Feel Like It’s My Birthday!

Unfortunately, the teeth came in and the dentist wasn’t pleased with them. I didn’t get a chance to see the teeth, because they were sent back to the lab for correction. My new appointment was now September 14.

Again, it was hard to contain my excitement as my appointment to get my new teeth approached. The plastic on the roof of my mouth very nearly drove me to become an alcoholic. Just kidding. Seriously, though, it was a very aggravating and annoying part of having a denture that was not affixed by implants and thus was free to bob and weave inside my mouth.

September 14 was here. I was in the dentist’s chair. He brought out my new teeth. Oh, I’m in love. The teeth were highly polished and shiny. The teeth were a beautiful shade of white (#59, if you’re interested). The teeth were gorgeous and looked just like teeth. Natural teeth. Real teeth. Wonderfully straight and white and shiny natural and real teeth. And there was no plastic piece to cover the roof of my mouth.

But the excitement of getting my permanent upper teeth was over-shadowed by what had to take place at the appointment. There was unscrewing of healing abutments, screwing in of connector abutments, use of a torque wrench to tighten the abutments with just so much force, the teeth being taken out and put back in to get the alignment of the implants, three rounds of keeping them in my mouth with some awful crap that smelled and tasted just like acrylic fingernail stuff,
snap-ins that were too tight and had to get yanked out, blah, blah, blah.

Okay, I think you get the point that I was having a total pity party here. Let’s move on to happier times.

Freud Would Have A Field Day

Boo! Happy Halloween!

I have to tell you about this dream I had, and you’ll understand why a few posts from now. It’s unusual for me to have dreams (at least that I remember vividly), so when I do, they’re usually significant, scary, weird, or for some other reason memorable.

If Freud were around today, he’d have a field day examining some of the weird dreams that people have. My dream is no exception.

So I’ve done a bit of research on how my new dentures are going to work. I know that the top is going to be an implant-supported overdenture that “snaps” in to my four implants. I know that I’ll have to remove that denture to clean it.

One morning I woke up with a very vivid dream still running through my head. I’ve got my new top teeth and I’m standing in front of the mirror waiting to take them out. I grab the denture and pull. All of a sudden blood is everywhere. What in the hell happened? I try to clean myself up to see what’s happened. Wouldn’t you know that I’ve pulled the damn implants right out of my mouth.

Well, let me tell you. This dream stays with me. It’s always in the back of my mind that I could pull out my implants.

Of course, that’s the “beauty” of dreams. They’re generally not based in fact. Thank god.

Thinking back to this dream, though, it appears that this piece is being posted on the right day!