My teeth are not horribly bad, but could be way better. I was foolish, oh I mean really foolish in my tooth care and dental care choices for many years.

I had bridges put on both sides of my lower molar region -- one in the 70s and one in 1988. The latter one failed about 4 or 5 years later, taking both teeth that supported it with it. So instead of having a molar on either side of a blank space, I had no molars on that side. Beware of bridges...be very ware.

The bridge on the other side, the first one, worked much better but the forward tooth supporting it finally gave up the ghost after 2 root canals and a total of 3 bridges. (about $6 to $7 thousand of questionable investment)

So: I want to put two implants on the good side, the one with a rear molar still and unresorbed bone to support two implants. If that works, I want to do a bone transplant to the other side, which cannot now support two implants because of 12 years of calcium resorption, followed by two implants and a bridge.

I tried two implants on that side in '98 from a dentist who thought he could make it work w/o explaining the drawbacks of too little bone to me. They didn't work. Getting implants is an ordeal, oh man, it is the biggie in my experience as far as dental construction goes, and I'm no virgin in that dept.

Hope this isn't too personal and bloody. Maybe someone will have just the info I want, and maybe some of you younger guys will have pause to consider whether to get a bridge or an implant based on my sad tale.

When I got my bridges, implants had a lot of bugs still to be worked out. Were I facing the same choices now, I would have an implant put into the blank space (next to last molar, both sides), and eschew bridges all together. Two good teeth need to be ground down to support a bridge. Kinda screwy, in a way.

One fellow at the clinic said that a lot of dentists are now thinking that root canals are a waste of time and money -- better to go with an implant and avoid the hassle of the temporary fix of a root canal. Two of my root canals have failed, both with a costly crown or bridge on top of it.

I understand implants are not automatically successful now, but have a high chance of success, as bone seems to agree with the molecular structure of titanium and bonds with it. I have heard of some rejection. This is what concerns me.

Luckily, there is a good teaching clinic in Oakland with bright, young dentist interns supervised by teachers armed with the latest info. Otherwise, the care I've described could easily cost $10 thou plus. At the clinic, I think I can get by for about 30% of that.

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Te futueo et caballum tuum

1986 300SDL, 362K
1984 300D, 138K