Crowns are on!

So I sat in Dr. Sholosberg's (my prosthedontist) chair for almost 3 hours yesterday morning. I was not a happy camper. For one thing, my gums are hyper-sensitive even just to brush. And there was a lot of pressing going on. So Dr. Shlosberg gave me novocain on both sides but it hardly worked. All it really did was make me anxious. Dr. Shlosberg did offer me a valium so I ended up telling him (an abbreviated version) of my benzo story. So no valium for me.

After fitting the crowns into place and then taking them off again, Dr. S put some sort of strings around the abutments to expose the abutments more (I'm assuming that since he placed them on five weeks ago, the gums may have closed around them. The strings really bured.

The crowns looked really beautiful but he had to really drill them down since my top teeth have come down so far. (That will be fixed when we do the upper next year). Two on one side, three on the other. And they are linked together. With spaces for me to clean between. So I was pretty upset that they didn't look quite the same after he had to whittle them down to fit my bite. That's what took the longest. He kept placing them on, asking me to bite down on the blue paper stuff, and then taking them off and adjusting. My gums really hurt and my bottom lip started to burn. I felt completely beat up by the time we were done.

I do have to say Dr. Shlosberg did a fabulous job. My bite is perfect. Its so strange having teeth back there and being able to really chew, after 32 years. Now I realize how inefficient the partial really was. I can't even imagine what its like have full dentures. Learning to chew is a challenge. I keep biting on my tongue on the left side.

I'm so glad I went ahead with the implants!!