Oh, not another gross dental post...

Yeah, more invasive oral surgery for me! Woot!

I had a dental implant put in, to replace the rear lower left molar that was extracted about two months ago. The bone has filled in nicely, so it was ready for drilling and further abuse. I was actually genuinely nervous about this procedure--not due to the pain, but because in a previous exam, the dentist pointed out that my inferior alveolar nerve canal ran pretty high up in my jaw--it's the nerve that transmits sensation to the tongue, lip, and jaw. Loss of sensation (temporary or permanant) from damage to the nerve is known as paresthesia. (Incidentally, Sylvester Stallone's expression and speech are a result of similar nerve damage from a birth complication. I really don't want to look or sound like Stallone).

Based on a previous panoramic x-ray, the dentist figured out what size implant would give a safe margin. Also, I printed a PDF of a dental journal article on nerve damage due to implants, so the dentist and I talked through the procedure: he has figured out that I'm a total geek on any subject that grabs my interest, so he didn't mind the discussion.

The implant technology is pretty damn cool--you drill a hole and thread in a specialized titanium pin with a surface made specifically for osseointegration. In order to so this, you need to cut through the gum and stitch it up at completion. It ended up going very smoothly. The result is a temporary cover (the round black dot, below), until the jawbone heals (a few months). Then, a crown will be attached to the implant. Neat stuff. Right now, it's a bit sore (treating with Advil), and I need to keep the stitched up area cleaned out, but the pain is not as bad as I was expecting, considering somebody just drilled a friggin hole in my jaw and drove a goddamn screw into it.

Implant