The $2200 Mandible

Posted on February 17, 2004 in Dentition

Don’t be surprised if you see profuse commentary followed by one to three days of silence. I am having a titanium screw inserted where they removed a molar last year on my lower right. This time I will be conscious and unsedated except for the local and whatever I take in advance to calm my nerves. Later this morning, I shall start a sequence of antibiotics in preparation for the dental invasion. Twenty four hours later, I shall be in the chair, having my jaw turned into a kind of cyborg, a $2200 mandible.

Undergoing the procedure and waiting while the bone grows around the threaded implant beats watching the premolars and the molars on that side take the natural course of collapsing one after the other to fill the broad space left by the extraction.

He prescribed good drugs for the pain. I shall be sure to take three extra strength tylenol as a boost to the xylocaine.

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There’s a lively conversation going on over at Yule’s blog (where else?) about orthodontists who want to break jaws to correct bite problems. You can see my experience and take on that issue there.