Dental Implants

I had 2 implants done by Victor Raposo in Lafayette. He was awesome! I'm a wimp, so went for the IV sedation. Here's a link to his website:
http://www.boulderdentalimplantcenter.com/

I would totally recommend him. My implants we also a bit tricky, so not something I would trust to a general dentist.

If you need an orthodontist to go with it, Thomas Melcher in Louisville is also wonderful!

Good luck! Implants are a pain to get done, but totally worth it in the end:).

A.

I dont have an answer for picking someone for a second opinion, but by husband JUST had his last appointment for HIS implant. He actually had it done by a regular dentist, and it came out wonderful! It was a somewhat long process with many appointments in between for drilling and fitting, but the end result came out great! I think it is best to follow your gut! Find someone who has been in the dental field for a while! Good luck!

Implants are a nice looking convenience. I am not sure that they are better, medically, than a bridge. But they will look a lot better. They are also very painful to get put in and take a while to adjust once in. I think they are a lot more expensive...

Your insurance won't cover the bridge either? I would be surprised about that, but for sure they don't cover the implants. I don't think they make a difference which one you get except for looks.

I was in a similar position... I agree with Dori, he needs to see a periodontist. I went ahead with the implant process for one tooth, and I don't regret it at all.

Start with your general care dentist. He will actually do a good portion of the work, along with a periodontist. The dentist I had gave me the names of three perios to talk to and compare prices.

Depending on the location of the teeth to be removed, he may need what is called a "flipper" which is like a retainer with fake teeth on it. They run about $500 in addition to the regular implant process. My general care dentist took care of this, not the perio.

Also, when considering finanances, many of them will finance you. If your husband's job offers a flex spending account, you can use those funds to cover the costs as well. Ask for a quote and get it in writing!! (Even if you don't have implants covered on your insurance (very few companies do), ask for a predetermination of benefits anyway. Some of the procedures involved may be covered under a different code).

I know this isn't one of you questions, but I just wanted to prepare you- this is a long process. I wasn't really made aware of how much time it takes for the surgery, healing, more surgery, the crown, etc... It was a full year from start to finish for me, but I also had to have bone grafting done. Ugh.

Good luck, I hope this goes well for your husband. My tooth looks and feels real, I don't even notice that anything is different. If you have any other questions and want to ask someone who's been there, done that, please feel free to PM me!

Hi...research is always good,
I work(ed) for a dentist in Chicago loop. Not only a great boss but amazing dentist. He's a prosthodontist. He specializes in restorations and we are doing both bridges and implants left and right now a days. A bridge is good as a money saver but implants are best to not turn a one tooth problem into a 2+ teeth problem.
I'm sure they have explained that to you. Dr. sharifi works with 2 great oral surgeons and we restore the tooth(if you go the implant route) otherwise we do the bridge work star to to finish with the help of our amazing lab. That's another good thing to check out is what lab is the dentist using. You need to have a good lad that can make the restoration.

Please give him a call or look him up I believe our site is up again. We have been working on it but it should be up.

His name is Dr. M. Nader Sharifi,DDS, MS.
He is at 30 n Michigan ave
Chicago,il 60602
###-###-####

He too by he way teaches all over the country, and if he doesn't work for you because of where you live, he has greets connections with other dentists he can refer you to.

I hope this all helps.

ask the dentist for a referral - I'm surprised he didn't offer it up. I had an implant - am thrilled with it. My dentist has had implants done on his mouth and he insists all his patients see a periodontist for an implant. this is not a one visit procedure, btw. 3-6 months after the tooth was pulled, the dentist will do the implant and then in another 3-6 months, your regular dentist will fit the crown. in the meantime he'll have to wear a "flipper" which is like a retainer but has a false tooth on it. the flipper is important because it keeps the other teeth from crowding into the space (plus mine was a front tooth so I needed it for appearances). yes, there are places that do the implant and crown in one visit but every dentist in my practice strongly recommended against it. the big advantage to the implant is that the jaw bone will grow back in after the implant. with a bridge, the jaw will keep the "hole" forever. if he does do a bridge, the regular dentist can do it.

If he is also getting teeth pulled, make sure you know all the costs involved. My son just had some major dental work done this summer and in addition to the oral surgeon/dentist fees there were facility fees and anesthesia costs. Before the surgery I was giving a quote of what was going to be the cost (and it was in writing) with the note that there could be additional costs if they had to do more extensive work once they got a good look at the teeth, but after the surgery I was told of the other costs. It ended up costing me more than twice the original quote and they wanted to charge more than 4 times that, but realized they had told me I could pay at an insurance rate when I first talked to them. Over all it was a bad experience!
I did have a bridge put in by my regular dentist and had no problems. I wore a flipper for over 20 years because my parents could not afford a bridge at the time and finally decided it was time to get something permanent. It was a very good decision.

You definitely want to go to a periodontist. Periodontists spend an extra 3 years beyond 4 years of dental school to specialize in gum surgery and dental implants. A general dentist takes a weekend course and off they go! How crazy is that!?

And typically it's not just getting an implant. There may be other issues that need to be addressed so the implant is successful. Those are the intricate issues that a periodontist is trained to spot and advise you of.

A dental implant is far superior to a bridge. The bridge isn't a permanent solution to the problem.

Ask your dentist what periodontist he refers to. If he doesn't refer out, you might want to consider asking your friends what dentist they use and like. A dentist who tries to do everything in house is a pretty scary prospect. They are only trained so much in dental school and that's for general dentistry. Not saying they can't do some special things but they need to know their limits and refer out when appropriate. Ask your friends if they know/have had a good experience with a periodontist.