I wound up with an infected gum on my upper right gum. The dentist called it an angry one. I was referred to a periodontist who thinks that I may lose the tooth. This the first time I've had any problems with my teeth.

I had to have a crown on one of my Wisdom teeth. To get the crown in, she had to remove the tooth behind my wisdom tooth...

Oh, and 3 root canals in one year...2 after they had crowns

OK...of all who have posted here of having dentistry done, how many do not do any flossing at all or reg cleaning?
The reason I ask is that describes me in my forties. Then after 2 bridges, 4 crowns, and various other fixes...I decided to take better care of the teeth. Since that time...nothing has been needed to be done and I'm almost 64

I'm not the greatest at flossing. I get my teeth cleaned every 4 months. I produce plaque like crazy. The infection was caused partially because of my gum receding.

I had the same before...had to get the root planing done. It wasn't fun..they scrape below the gum level to clean the plaque that is down there. The gum recession is usually permanent...they told me.

Mickey paid about 1/2, my share is a little under $1,000 for the implant, the upper spark plug pull is another $300 plus another $1.000 for that implant, plus the replacement crowns (teeth) a $5,000 adventure.

My dentist said a lot of people when they hit their retirement tend to give up on their dental insurance, not a good idea.

Floss and brush daily, had nothing to do with that. 63 old teeth.

Yeah, that's what the periodontist did. I have to stick a rubber pick on both sides of the gum twice a day. Plus stick a proxibrush 3-4 times on both sides of the gum once a day. A proxibrush is like a very small brush.

Better to read about it than to hear it and smell it.
GD straight. I am a cheap date on versed. 1 mg and I am not on this plane of existence.

They produce some uber bad ass hardware for dental and maxillofacial facial surgery. Little titanium locking plates where the head of the screw is threaded and is rigidly attached to the plate, headless cannulated screws, all sorts of groovy stuff. Titanium is used for metal implants a lot, because it is the best thing they have found, and are likely to find if you ask me. It forms a coating of titanium oxide, which is extremely tough. Bone likes it a heck of a lot more than other metals. You put one of those old stainless screws or pins into bone and they get loose. Bone sticks to Ti better.

Hugh, get a couple of those gel ice packs for your face. You may find that ibuprofen works for your pain as well or better than narcotics, but you want to be careful taking anti-inflammatories perioperatively though, so ask the appropriate people first. If you alternate the narcotic and NSAIDs you can attain better pain control.

I added 4 different words to the dictionary on this post

How much do you have left for this year? Mine only pays $1,500/year.

Yes, it's perfectly safe. It couldn't be more safe!

HA, good one. I can't watch that scene. The periodontist while digging around asked me if it hurts. I said not as bad as the scene in Marathon Man. :D

I feel bad got you guys who are having poor luck with teeth. I guess I'm lucky not to have had too many problems in that regard. I brush & floss twice a day and have become addicted to those little plastic tooth picks I buy in Walmart. They have a sharp end and the other is like a feather shape with little barbs. They do a great job of cleaning out between teeth. I have some caps (crowns ?) on some of my molars. It's a result of an unethical dentist my parents took me to as a kid. He told my parents my molars had cavities in the middle on top. I told my parents I didn't see anything, but they told me he was a dentist and knew. So he drilled most of my molars in the center & filled them. Some decades later sine of the teeth cracked around those fillings & had to be capped.

There is no evidence that daily flossing has any effect whatsoever on the health of teeth and gums.

More like genetics. I never had good teeth from the get go.

At one point I had more repairs and fixes then I had teeth. I have few crowns, a bridge and 2 implants.

This is an X-ray of the "helicoils" screwed into Mrs WD's jaw. The teeth get screwed into the implant.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1490181613.jpg

Straumann tissue level implants. Pretty nice placement.

I brush and Waterpik. Waterpik is much better than flossing. Have very healthy gums.

I'm having all new teeth put in because I've ground away all the enamel on my back teeth exposing dentin. Front teeth is more cosmetic and "while you're in there." :) All in all, couldn't be happier with the experience so far.

I had to have my two front teeth replaced with implants. At age 17 both front teeth died withing a few month of each other. The dentist back then said it was likely from being hit in the mouth so many times by my older brother. I had root canals done way back then. Eventually they turned browner and browner and looks horrible so I did crowns. Those lasted for several decades but got to the point they were just worn out.

To keep the crowns in place was impossible so implant time. Step one is removal of the roots and grow new bone with cadaver bone as a start point. It is hard to talk with no front teeth and a lot of foods are a real challenge to eat.

Instead of just looking like I was from Arkansas I let my mustache grow. No one could tell I was toothless unless I smiled real big. It is a challenge to eat with a mustache in the way and I used a LOT of napkins.

Eventually I got the implants studs and some little screw in plugs to keep the threads clean. When that healed it was time for the new studs screwed into the threaded hole and the tooth snaps on to that.

I am a curious type and when the oral surgeon pulled out the torque wrench and I could hear the click of full torque I asked what the torque value was. They use a weird system of Newtons per centimeter so I dug up the conversions and it is of course pretty low in inch pounds.

https://www.bauersmiles.com/2012/06/dental-implant-torque-guide.html/

I love these things.
If i run out it's like withdrawal.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1490191562.jpg

Don't rightly know, but I have back up coverage through my wife's insurance, the back up coverage pays zero on these implants.