Back at Easter I was splurging on a solid chocolate bunny when I had that feeling of what I thought was a crown coming off.
Nope, not that lucky.
From my journal that I was keeping at the time (Kaos is one of my German Shepherds, that's her as a little pup in my Avatar):
04/08/12
It looks like the tooth actually broke at or below the gum line
The good news is that this tooth must have had a root canal because it doesn't hurt.
The bad news is that it's the canine (fitting perhaps given the fact I've found so many of Kaos's baby teeth) and so I look horrible and with some word have a lisp.
I put the tooth (crown) in a little plastic bag and threw it in the basket where I keep my keys so I wouldn't be looking for it later
This morning somehow it came out of the basket (probably when I grabbed my keys) and I see Kaos running around the living room with the bag in her mouth!!
I get her to trade for a toy but to my dismay there is a hole in the bag and no tooth
I had visions of looking in poop when I looked down and there it was on the floor!! *Whew* poop searching is very high on my ewwwwww list!
So now tomorrow I'll call the dentist and *sigh* start another round of work. I'm guessing I have another bridge in my near future (can't afford an implant)
This is the third tooth to do this, have one implant and one bridge
My family has worst teeth genes, can't imagine what it would be like if I didn't brush/floss faithfully
04/09/12 (RA is Rheumatoid Arthritis)
Well it seems I have some decisions to make with consultation(s)
My dentist (who I love) believes that the issue with my front teeth breaking (this is the 3rd in the last 20ish years) is my very deep overbite that is putting pressure in an unnatural manner on my teeth. Usually a person’s bottom teeth slide off just the tips of the top teeth, mine do it for almost the entire length of the top teeth.
The first was fixed with an implant in 1994, the second with a bridge a few years ago (don’t remember now exactly what year it was) and now this one, so this one happened in a shorter time frame than the 1st two.
As was the case with the others, the tooth is broken off at the gum line.
There are a few options for this
1) Implant – though there is some concern if it will take well with my now slow healing from the RA. This would require a consult with an Oral Surgeon and my dentist would not do the work even though he does implants. Would require tooth extraction
2) Bridge – there is some concern with this as one of the anchors is the implant tooth and sometimes this causes issues since that tooth does not have the tiny bit of flexibility that normal teeth have. This could cause damage to the implant, could cause damage to the other anchor tooth, and could cause the bridge to fail much earlier than it should or it could have no problems at all. Would require tooth extraction
3) Braces – The dentist feels I should talk to an Orthodontist regarding my bite and the possibility of using braces to draw the tooth down enough that it could be restored and saved, the tooth (well what is left) is completely healthy at this point. There is concern that we could do this and then in restoration of the tooth it could break and then it would be for naught and I'd have to go with another option, though perhaps my bite would be corrected and no more teeth would break.
Option 1 would mean that I’d have the gap in my smile for months if not a year; option 2 would be a few weeks. He did offer to make a “Flipper” which is a false tooth that is held in place with a piece of acrylic similar to a retainer. Option 3 would mean two gaps in my smile (perhaps 3, not sure if they would remove the false tooth from the implant or not) but I'd be too busy looking at the braces to notice a gap when there are braces.
Add to all of this that my insurance is changing at the first of May so we can’t at this point get any estimates on what is/isn’t covered by insurance.
I am going to go see the Orthodontist and get his opinion and then go from there.
It’s tough ‘cause we don’t know for sure that any more teeth will break, but if they do then I’ll be in the same boat yet again.
The decision might be much easier if I’d won the Mega Millions Lottery or if I could just let go of my "anal retentive" self about what my smile looks like!!!
05/15/12
To correct the bite and fix the tooth:
Orthodontics $7300.00 (Orthodontic insurance would pay $2500.00)
2 1/2-3 years in braces
Will need root canal before
Will need 3 crowns after
Here's the real kicker though...would have to have my implant removed. Not just the fake tooth...the actual implant in my jaw bone.
That freaks me out a bunch and I'm not sure if this would be covered by any insurance
To only extrude the tooth:
Orthodontics only $1740 (Orthodontic insurance would pay $870.00)
6-8 months in partial braces
Will need root canal before
Will need 1 crown after
Will not correct my bite which could mean further tooth damage down the road
06/04/12
I have an appointment this afternoon with an oral surgeon to find out how much it will cost (and if they can do it) to have the implant removed.
This would be 100% out of pocket.
If it's not too much then I can have that done this year and then wait to next year to do the rest of it, that would all be paid off over 3+ years, the implant removal would need to be paid off right away (well I could use my Visa but I hate paying interest!
06/04/12 part II
$1800 if I want to sleep through it and $1250 if I don't mind
being awake06/18/12
I'd made the decision to move forward with this and *BLAM* RA Flare hits
How rude is that?
So it's now all on hold until we get this flare straightened out!
08/09/12
I can't believe it's been 4 months since this started!!
I'm slowly weaning off the Prednisone and so far so good.
Talked the the Rheumatologist about the upcoming procedures and got some bad news. To do the implant removal I have to be off the RA meds for 2 weeks!
But that makes total sense since they slow healing and open my up more to infection.
The Oral Surgeon's office sent in a pre-auth to my insurance and though I was told it wouldn't be covered at all, seems a very small portion will be covered so that is good news.
So I'll call my dentist next week (take the last of the Pred next Wednesday) and try to figure out the schedule for the crown removal and implant removal and go from there!!
