False Teeth

Don M.

Don M.

SF VIP
Location
central Missouri
I am probably getting close to having to decide on getting false teeth, or a partial, or bridge. At age 76, I've had my fair share of dental work, and now some of the older "fixes"...root canals, etc., are beginning to give out. I have a good dentist I've been going to, but he is not equipped to make bridges or false teeth, and going through him would probably result in some rather high costs and days or weeks of delays, etc. I've been doing some online research, and it looks like the cost of a full set of dentures, at a couple of major providers with on-site labs, is almost cheaper than going with partials or bridges....plus, with a bridge, there is also the real possibility of needing more in the future, which could quickly far exceed the cost of dentures. I have dental insurance, but I doubt it would cover the major share of such procedures.

Sooo....this being a senior forum, I am looking for suggestions and opinions on the best way to go...as there are probably people here who have had to go through this. In this area, the best choice seems to be a company called Aspen Dental...has anyone ever dealt with this group?? I am going to try to reach a decision within the next couple of weeks.
 

I’ve heard terrible things about the Aspen Dental in our town

I have a couple partials
Got ‘em about twenty years ago
Via the local dental school

Pennies on the dollar
I paid less than $3K for approaching $30K worth of work

Many sessions, but so worth it IMO
 
I was sort of where you are Don. I went to a dentist thinking I'd get everything pulled and false teeth but he said I wouldn't be happy with them. I'm guessing he meant he wouldn't be happy with me getting out of there that cheap.

I went to him because he's one of a few dentists licensed to do sedation dentistry in my area. I liked his personality and appreciated that he didn't do any hard selling of what I needed or tell me how bad my teeth were or anything. So I go in Monday and he'll put me to sleep for 3 hours and do all sorts of things. I'll get 2 bridges or partials after the swelling goes down and my husband gets to kiss $5000 goodby before any of the work starts.

The dentist told me he treats patients differently when they are in their 50s and 60s than if they are younger. I think he was just trying to be nice because he could tell by my paperwork I am 70 so I guess he's saying if we are old he doesn't have to figure on us making it through the long haul. Maybe more of a patch up job. ??

If I wake up Monday, and I probably will, I'll be back to tell how it went.
 

Don, I don't have dentures and have actually had very sound teeth all my life. (Knock on wood!) I can say that I would hang onto any viable teeth for as long as possible. My sister got disgusted with dental work and had all her teeth pulled; her dentures have been a nightmare for over 4 years now. They never fit right, and have been reworked several times. She said having her teeth pulled was the biggest mistake she has made.

Linda--good luck with your procedures on Monday.
 
Linda said:
I was sort of where you are Don. I went to a dentist thinking I'd get everything pulled and false teeth but he said I wouldn't be happy with them. I'm guessing he meant he wouldn't be happy with me getting out of there that cheap.

I went to him because he's one of a few dentists licensed to do sedation dentistry in my area. I liked his personality and appreciated that he didn't do any hard selling of what I needed or tell me how bad my teeth were or anything. So I go in Monday and he'll put me to sleep for 3 hours and do all sorts of things. I'll get 2 bridges or partials after the swelling goes down and my husband gets to kiss $5000 goodby before any of the work starts.

The dentist told me he treats patients differently when they are in their 50s and 60s than if they are younger. I think he was just trying to be nice because he could tell by my paperwork I am 70 so I guess he's saying if we are old he doesn't have to figure on us making it through the long haul. Maybe more of a patch up job. ??

If I wake up Monday, and I probably will, I'll be back to tell how it went.
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You’ll do fine, Linda...my daughter does Sedation Dentistry and has for years and so far everyone woke up.
 
Don,
If at all possible, I recommend a consult with a college dental school.
No agenda as far as making more money, very thorough, and half to a third of the price of a private dentist. They also take insurance.

OTOH it's time consuming, but as Gary said well worth it.

I have all my natural teeth, but lots of fillings and crowns.

When possible it's always better to save a tooth vs having it pulled.
 
We went to dental college and they did a good job on our teeth.
Now they won't see us since I peeved off the head honcho there. Wish I'd kept my big mouth shut to the old fools pet student.
Now I need more work and can't find a dentist to fix a couple bottom front worn natural teeth that need fixing.
 
Gary O' said:
Kinda hard when they have half their hands in there
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Or in a bad mood and wanting to hit a nerve with their little pic. All the other students were great though so it good. But money was the top priority wanted to clean our teeth every 6 months and that was just for extra visit and unnessary cleaning charges. But it saves money,half of what a dentist would charge.
We both had a tooth pulled by oral surgians there and they were fantastic.
 
I didn't have good results with partial dentures but I've had excellent results with full dentures.

Lower dentures are usually more of a problem for folks because they don't have much to grip or hold on your lower jaw.

My lower denture attaches to a Hader Bar that holds them in place and works great.

Today I would probably go with an overdenture that attaches to a series of implants.

za-fixed-attachment-ftx-mandible.png
 
MeAgain said:
Or in a bad mood and wanting to hit a nerve with their little pic.
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Yeah, I damn near levitated when the kid got a bit ambitious with the deep cleaning
The next time I let them use the Novocain, just to keep him from grinning when I winced
 
applecruncher said:
Don,

This is my mouth. :grin:

Most of this work was done at college dental school over the past 10 yrs (the rest was private dentists back in 80s - 90s)
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Looks Good! I checked on dental schools, and the closest is at the Univ. of MO....about 2 hrs away....one of the "perks" of living in the boondocks, I guess. After doing a bunch of research on the Internet, the thing I notice is that a Partial or a Bridge seems to be as expensive as an upper or lower denture....on some sites, even more expensive. At my age, I expect that more and more of the old dental work will begin to fail, and I can see spending 10's of thousands of dollars if I have to keep getting bridges, as an old root canal, etc, finally gives out. That is my current problem....I have two old root canals that were done decades ago, that have pretty much deteriorated....one won't even support a tooth anymore. It seems more logical...both financially, and practically...to just spend 5 or 6 thousand for a high quality set of dentures with a long guarantee, and just get the whole mouth done at once. If I were to win Powerball, I would go in for a full set of implants, but $75K, or more, is just a bit out of my league. At any rate, I have an appt. in a few days at Aspen, so I'll see what they say, and go from there. If their web site is anywhere near accurate, I can get a full set of dentures with a 7 year warranty for just about the same money as my dentist wants for a Bridge.
 
Yes, two of my cousins got implants and they ARE expensive.
A close friend who lives in Arizona went to Mexico about 10 yrs ago and got full implants for $11k. She is very satisfied and hasn't had any problems.
 
Linda said:
Thanks CeeCee, that's good to know.
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Its a good way to get a lot of work done in one visit, plus it’s for people who are slightly afraid of going to the dentist.

Not every general dentist is qualified or certified to do it....they have to go to classes etc.

In the Monterey Bay Area my daughter and my son in law are only a handful of dentists who do sedation. My son in Illinois doesn’t do it....nor does my DIL.

Sedation doesn’t add too much extra to your bill either....if I remember correctly my daughter told me a few years ago it was about $200 extra and that’s not much compared to all the other high cost of dental procedures.
 
AppleC: Looking at your teeth and they are all yours is that right?

The first photo I can tell dental fluorosis from fluoride baths or use or whatever.

The second photo, not so.

Just wondering.

I'm so against all the fluoride we're loaded with.
 
jaminhealth said:
AppleC: Looking at your teeth and they are all yours is that right?

The first photo I can tell dental fluorosis from fluoride baths or use or whatever.

The second photo, not so.

Just wondering.

I'm so against all the fluoride we're loaded with.
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Yes, all my natural teeth. The photos were taken at the same time (last year).....selfies...one right after the other.

FWIW I had orthodonture in my early 30s....had 4 extractions and wore braces mainly because of a tooth in roof of my mouth that would not come down, area was too crowded. I only have 24 teeth, wisdom teeth were extracted when I was 24 yrs old.

The town where I was born and lived as a child in the 50s did not treat water with fluoride. That came later in life, and I've always used fluoride toothpaste.
 
jaminhealth said:
OK, but they look so different the photos.
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So what?
If that bothers you it will have to be your little problem.
I realize you like to go to various threads and critique various medical issues and insert your theories, but I'm not particularly interested. I'm quite happy with my teeth.

This thread is about Don's dental issues, not your perception/analysis/diagnosis of my pictures/teeth.
 
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