mwsilvers Loc: Central New Jersey

I love mine, but they are not cheap! That's for sure.

mwsilvers Loc: Central New Jersey

First, 9 x $3000 is $27,000 not $36,000. Second, it would be even cheaper not to replace them at all and gum your food instead. For quality of life there is no comparison between implants and dentures. And if the OP's 9 teeth are in several different locations in his mouth, including top and bottom, what then? My three cost me a total of $12,000. Very expensive and took a whole year to complete, but worth every penny.

trainspotter Loc: Oregon

Dilly...Dilly! I have dentures...When Pollygrip is on sale, I buy extra. Man, you could buy a lotta steaks and (knives to cut it for that amount of money).

mwsilvers Loc: Central New Jersey

Each to their own. My implants stay in my mouth and look, feel and work just like my permanent teeth did. And since one is on the bottom, and the other two are on different sides of my mouth on the top, dentures would have been problematic.

PhotogHobbyist Loc: Bradford, PA

My bad I made a mathmatical error, I meant $96,000. Since a complete set of teeth in a human mouth is 32, that would be $96,000 for the full mouth. Also since dentition can fail more rapidly with the aging process and with even temporarily lost teeth, depending on one’s age, an entire 32 teeth set may be necessary in the future.

tommy2 Loc: Fort Worth, Texas

Since receiving several different viewpoints on my post thought I'd send this photo of the whole 12 year project. Believe me it has been a very time consuming and costly undertaking with three Prosthodontists, three Oral Surgeons, and a handful of General Dentists being on board.
The results have been outstanding!
I could have gone back out to the V.A. hospital but most likely would have stopped early in the process. The work there was pretty good but almost each time I went there I had a different person looking into my mouth. And each time heard a different opinion and suggestion on how to proceed.
My priorities have changed over the years and after passing age 75 decided I really didn't need a new motorcycle every couple years, bought a nice 4-door sedan instead of powerful/fast cars and moved into this retirement home. And you know what - I wouldn't change anything from back in the past much less to where I'm at now!

tommy2 Loc: Fort Worth, Texas

This is a $160,000 photo - me (on the left) enjoying a meal with good friends that bad teeth would have prevented. (Worth every cent!)

mwsilvers Loc: Central New Jersey

I'm 72, and have gum disease, but I go to my periodontist 4 times a year and have only lost 3 teeth. Clearly people that only go to a dentist every few years, or when something starts to hurt, or going to have far more issues.

mwsilvers Loc: Central New Jersey

I completely agree. Unfortunately many people simply cannot afford or for some reason do not see the value in it.

tommy2 Loc: Fort Worth, Texas

Yep, been going to have mine cleaned and checked twice a year for as long as I can remember.
Unfortunately this last dozen or more years they have become brittle and break off. Glad something can be done about that though.
The friend on the right in the photo would pay many times what I pay to get my bite repaired to rid his physical being of Parkinson’s. I’m the very lucky one here!

Vietnam Vet

I appreciate the VA paying for all of my dental work

tommy2 Loc: Fort Worth, Texas

And you deserve it - thank you for your service.
Most of us from the Vietnam era did not have a choice about going into the military. My "greetings" arrived at the beginning if the sixties and I was on my way soon thereafter.
Do have hearing aids from the V.A. for my 95% hearing loss, they are a godsend. Went out there to check on getting my teeth worked on and came away a little disappointed with what I heard and saw. Mostly the 90 mile trip there and back multiple times a year. With the hearing aids one trip a year or less is what I have found to be the norm.
Since I have Tri-Care for Life and a disability check for the hearing loss I figure I can pay for dental work - it works out just fine.
What did you do in Vietnam? I was as Cryptanalyst snooping around in the radio frequency spectrum which caused the damage to my eardrums.

trainspotter Loc: Oregon

I do too brother. (non Vietnam vet)...Thank you for your service.. U.S.N Uss KittyHawk 75-81

buddah17 Loc: The Bahamas

Similar to the old saying...

"A cheap tattoo ain't great, and a great tattoo ain't cheap."
When investing in life long choices, it's sometimes best to check out the average costs... The supplies, lab work, materials and office costs for an implant is just around $600 in a small town setting. More in bigger cities. So unless it's your family member that is a dentist, l would be VERY carefully. Now if it's a regular dentist who took a weekend implant seminar and wants to practice on a few ppatients before going full bore, and you are lucky enough to get a natural implant "artist" or it's a new dentist trying to build clientele, or one that's bad in working out true ROI, it's best you get as MANY teeth done ASAP...


quote=mwsilvers]No because I don't screw a


round with crappy dentistry.[/quote]

mwsilvers Loc: Central New Jersey

[/quote]
There are a number of different ways of performing a dental implant and they are not all equal in quality. For starters there is the bone implant to fill the hole where the tooth was.. it takes 4-6 months for complete healing. Not something most regular dentists do. That is followed by the implant itself which can take another 4-6 months to heal and completely fuse with the jaw bone. This is followed by the creation of a false tooth which is attached to the titanium rod in the jaw bone. There are also quick and dirty ways to perform implants. Some dentists even do it all in one day, which is a very risky way of doing it. But even then nobody reputable does a quality job for $600 a tooth. Then there are those implants which are sort of like a bridge but permanently attached to your jaw bone with a few screws. That is something very different and not the same quality or in the same ball pack. People can do whatever they want and spend whatever they think they can afford, but there are too many horror stories out there about people who have had cheap quick-and-dirty implants. I personally know some of them who regretted their choice of going cheap. As I said earlier it's all about quality of life. I have had mine for almost 8 years without a single issue.