Finally the end of the implant saga!!

DH finally got his artificial tooth cemented onto his implant yesterday! We have finally come to the end of what has turned out to be an 8 month ordeal!!

DH had the screw for the implant put in last June and has been dealing with a temporary tooth attached to a retainer (called a flipper) ever since then. Several months into wearing it he was on a bike ride with some friends, bit down on a granola bar and snapped the tooth off of the flipper. DH typically took the tooth out to eat because his bottom teeth would hit it otherwise. He thought he would be okay this one time because it was just a small granola bar and he was biting down with his back teeth. Unfortunately, the granola bar was really hard and he broke it. Needless to say he was not a very happy camper when that happened. So ever since then he has been super gluing the tooth back onto the flipper and it would last anywhere from 1 day to a week or two depending on how well he was able to attach it. A couple of smaller pieces have broken off here and there and also been glued on (amazingly I found a small piece in the bathtub before I took a shower one day).

Unfortunately with it being the front tooth, everything has been a little more critical than when I had my implant done several years ago. We were waiting for the new year to get the final tooth done so that the insurance would pay for some of it. So DH went to the oral surgeon the first week of January and got the clear to go ahead with the permanent tooth. Then DH went to the dentist to have some impressions done and actually drove over to the dental lab that would be doing the tooth so they could take some more pictures and make sure they got the color just right. Then they told DH it would be about 3 weeks to get the tooth made.

DH had an appointment on January 31 to have the final tooth put in. He went in that morning and came home with no tooth! They put the tooth in at the office and had to scrape it down in the back because his lower tooth kept hitting it. They kept whittling down at it until they broke through the tooth! The dentist told DH that it should be an easy fix and they would send it back to the dental lab and have it back in a day or two. He was also told that they might end up having to file down a little of his bottom tooth to prevent it from hitting the implant. Well, DH got a call the next day saying it was going to take longer than they initially thought so an appointment was made for Wednesday, February 9th.

They then called back and asked if they could push it back another day, which DH couldn't because he was attending a conference in Salt Lake and had to present at it on Friday. DH was hoping to get the new tooth before the conference, but it didn't happen.

So the appointment was made for Monday (yesterday). DH went in and it turns out that they had to make a whole new tooth (which didn't make the dental lab guy too happy). They tried it on to make sure the fit was right before they cemented it on and luckily they didn't have to file down his bottom tooth at all. I think the tooth looks great and now DH is just trying to get used to it since it's been 8 months since he's had a tooth there!!