Losing a front tooth was never something that crossed my mind. Sure, I’d had nightmares and heard stories, and although I consider myself somewhat of a ‘worrier’ it was just never something I thought would happen me. So, when that fateful day came, I was completely unprepared for an overwhelming wave of emotions. The way it happened was highly preventable and utterly unglamorous. Short story – I fell and instead of logically using my hands or arms to break the fall, I used my face.
The following morning, I made an emergency visit to my Ottawa dentist. Seeing as the tooth was only cracked, I hoped for good news. After a few x-rays and much humming and hawing, my dentist gave me some bad news; a simple crown was out of the question. My only options were either dental implants or a bridge. After some careful consideration, I chose the former, mainly for the reasons listed here.
The first step in the dental implant process was extracting the remainder of my tooth and inserting a bone graft to help strengthen my jaw. During the consultations with my Ottawa dentist, most of my nerve endings had already been removed. So, the process was much less painful than expected. Post-extraction, I wore a removable flipper denture. Luckily my Ottawa dentist had done a great job, and the difference between teeth was hardly discernible. I would go on to wear this flipper while my gums and jaw healed.
After a few months, my mouth was ready for the second part of the process, the dental implants themselves. Although the idea of a metal piece being screwed into my jaw was a little unnerving, the procedure was much less scary and painful than imagined. To be honest, after all this time I was just excited to get process moving along. Luckily, the procedure went very well. Because of this, I was able to have my Ottawa dentist attach a temporary crown to the abutment. I was able to wear this crown, which was made out of plastic, until the area had fully healed. Once the dental implants healed, I was finally able to get my permanent porcelain crown.
Now, friends and family can hardly differentiate my natural teeth from my crown. And although people often ask how it feels, it’s no different than before. Most of the time I forget that I even have a dental implant. I still brush and floss normally and I haven’t had to give up any of my favourite foods. Yes, I can even still gnaw on chicken wings and corn on the cob! Although it was a long process I am so happy I opted for dental implants. It’s comforting knowing this is a permanent solution and that no adjacent healthy teeth were harmed in the process. Losing my front tooth was a nightmare, but with dental implants I was able to get my smile back!
