Back in March of 2024, one of my left teeth was hurting enough that I finally decided to do something about it. As in, ask a dentist. And longtime readers will know that first I thought I needed a root canal, and then I discovered the tooth was cracked and needed to come out completely. At the time, I debated my options, and I ultimately decided I’d go with an implant to replace the tooth.
Well, after more than 2 years, the implant is finally in and finished. And (naturally) I have some Thoughts.
First, the actual implant process takes forever. (Well, for values of “forever” that mean “more than 2 years.”) First I had to wait to get an appointment for the tooth to be extracted, which was going to take around 6 months. Then the tooth hurt far too much to wait, so I had to get it yanked earlier. But then I had to wait for that to heal. Once it was healed, I had to go in for an evaluation to see if I could get an implant. Then there was the implant installation itself, followed by more healing, followed by a fitting for the crown, followed at last by getting the tooth.
Second, this was expensive. Even with decent dental insurance, I’d still estimate it cost around $4,000-$5,000. (I could check precisely, but looking for the charges spread out over 2 years isn’t my idea of a fun time.)
Third, having a tooth is better than not having a tooth, but not as much as you might think. I certainly got used to having that gap in my pearly whites. If I lose another tooth (knock on wood), and the tooth is far enough back in my mouth that I won’t worry about people seeing it? It’ll be a real debate about whether I want to go through all . . . this again. Still, it really does feel nice to have my teeth all present and accounted for again. The new one is a slightly different color than the rest of my teeth, and maybe a smidge smaller? Hard to say for sure, but you can’t see it unless I open my mouth, and it certainly works really well as a tooth, so . . .
Fourth, the most painful thing about everything was definitely the cracked tooth itself. I’m not a fan of dental procedures (shocker, I know), but you get to the point with a hurting tooth where anything is better than just leaving it in your mouth. (Makes you really empathize with Tom Hanks in Castaway.)
In any case, I’m glad it’s all done, and I hope I don’t have to do it again anytime soon.