I was dreading today - scheduled visit with dentist to get a tooth yanked out - it being cracked beyond repair. Removal also required deciding on how to replace it. Leave a gap, get a bridge, or go for the dental implant. All choices requiring pain and money involvement. No getting around it.
Implant was huge out of pocket cost for me, but I went for it. Doctor and crew did a great job, it's basically minor surgery. Tooth removed, hole drilled into jawbone, titanium screw implanted, bone graft packed, then stitched up and outta the chair in no time. Felt nothing during the process, no pain at all, even with Doc twisting out tooth with expensive pliers, cracking sounds included at no extra charge.
Now a few hours later, numbing drugs long worn off, I still feel great - nothing an Advil can't cover. Amazing. My defective head even feels clearer, gotta wonder how much energy is wasted fighting a busted tooth over the course of weeks - probably months. After some healing time, another trip to the dentist for the artificial tooth, that threads into the titanium post. As mentioned, even with 50% insurance coverage, crazy expensive. That little chunk of titanium now threaded into my jaw, could have been a titanium Moots hanging in the garage. Oh well, gotta have teeth. How else could I chew Clif Bars?
While crashed on the couch for a few hours to recover, finally had time to watch the Paris-Roubaix race I recorded weeks ago on Versus. Paris-Roubaix is one of my favorite races of the year. Road bikes, cobbles, mud and/or dust, much crashing and general two wheeled mayhem and destruction. For the roadie scene, war on wheels. Was fantastic to see non-favorite Johan Van Summeren snatch the win from race favorites, then propose to his girl at the finish line. Great story. Race favorite Fabian Cancellara pulled off a heroic second place finish after a tough race as the marked man. As usual, race commentary provided by the dynamic duo of Paul Sherwin and Phil Liggett. For me, they are the official voice of pro cycling coverage.
Speaking of Paris-Roubaix; caught this cool little film off the Velonews site. Being the former bike mechanic and motorcycle nut, combined with acute bicycle obsession - this pushes all my buttons. Next to racing it, doing moto support for something like Roubaix or the Tour, would be incredible. Where do I sign up?
Finally, the month of May is just around the corner. For the 8th year in a row, I put together a team at work to compete in the Group Health Commute Challenge, put on by the Cascade Bicycle Club. Teams and individuals compete against each other for commuting mileage, most round trips, and other methods of measuring bike commuting goodness. It's a great event and continues to grow every year. I'm coming off my lamest winter in years, so looking forward to getting the commuting miles under my expanding belt once again.
That's all for now bike comrades. Ride on, ride often. Lather, rinse, repeat.
Yes, implants are the best way to go. Yes $pendy. I have four. But they sure beat a bridge and grinding down two good teeth and usually fails somewhere down the road. But, dang, implants sure cut into my bike budget. :-)
ReplyDeleteMan, four implants? You could have bought the Schwinn brand name for that....
ReplyDeleteI have 20 year old bridge that's caused no issues at all. But I agree, screwing up two good teeth to fix the problem seems dumb.
It's been two days since the procedure. Hurts a bit today, assuming it's part of the healing process. The antibiotics they insist I take for days are little gut bombs. It all adds up to mega fun and dough.
It's true that dental implants are more expensive than bridge or even root canal treatment. But it is also more durable. Did the last operation affect your hobby because you needed to rest for a while?
ReplyDeleteNot really - only took a few days off. The implant site healed quick and caused little pain. Only needed a few Advil for a few days. It all went well. The implant is now totally healed and ready for the tooth. I'm waiting until my insurance rolls over in December, so that's covered - because, yes - it's all crazy expensive...
ReplyDelete