“new crowns & four implants was around $40,000..With all the “other stuff”..multiple bone grafts, night guard, fluoride trays, sedation during dentist visits..probably over $47,000.”
Multiple bone grafts? It sounds like the work you had done might have been due to damage to your mouth rather than deterioration due to age.
My dentist is two street lights from my house and the lights are close together. That’s why I went to him when I moved here in 2003. I needed to be able to get myself home by myself. That’s a dumb reason to pick a dentist - how far is he from my house?
However, he is the best dentist I’ve ever had. I had to have a tooth out, and he stitches the wound closed and no other dentist ever did that. Due to his doing that, there is almost no bleeding at all. No pads stuck in your mouth for hours afterward. It heals really fast. And, after the initial stick for the deadening and some gas along the way, there is no pain when he does it.
I complained to the dental assistant for having to have a tooth out. She said to be glad I had teeth at my age.
They do bone grafts quite a bit when they do implants..they put the goopified bone into the socket where your old tooth was if you've had any bone loss..
I'm a tooth grinder & a smoker..both cause bone loss..oh, and getting old causes bone loss, and, I'm that, too.
That’s the difference between city and country living. Mine is about an hour’s drive away. It’s still too crowded here for me. I don’t want to see or hear anyone from my front door. Last night, a house alarm went off and the commotion kept us up half the night. Chances are it was just happenstance or a four legged creature rather than the two legged type.