I had to have one of my teeth extracted last month. It was the one immediately next to my left front tooth. My dentist works with an oral surgeon to do dental implants, but when we had a consult with him about doing a dental implant for me, he had strong reservations because I have been on Fosamax for a number of years. So I guess a dental implant is out.
That leave me with a bunch of options I am not very happy about. At the moment I am wearing a dental flipper, and it is driving me nuts. I hate the way it feels and it makes my mouth taste really bad. I Googled “dental bridges” and read about an Encore bridge and a Maryland bridge, but am not sure either of those would work, either. The tooth next to the one that was extracted has a dental crown on it. Would that still let me get an Encore bridge?
My dentist isn’t crazy about the idea of doing a standard bridge because he would have to file down my front tooth to do it. Is that a problem, that you know of? He didn’t really explain why he didn’t want to do that.
Any help would be much appreciated. Thanks,
Gabriel in Vermont
Dear Gabriel,
Taking Fosamax does not necessarily mean you can’t get a dental implant. The risk of local bone problems of a serious nature is slightly elevated when you have oral surgery (involving the bone) and take Fosamax. Though it is a small risk, the problem can be very serious, so you need to take it into consideration. You may be able to work with both your primary care physician and your dentist to suspend Fosamax treatment for a while to get the surgery taken care of.
If you decide not to pursue a dental implant, then a dental bridge is your most viable option. The key with this, as with all dental treatments, is to let your dentist suggest the best type of dental bridge. If you try to push your dentist into doing something he is not comfortable with, you may very well be quite unhappy with the results.
Grosse Pointe Woods cosmetic dentist Dr. Hadgis’ office sponsored this blog post.