Ta-Da!

Ok- so it's all all done! I was back at Dr. Mazur's office on Monday to put the final touches on! Woo hoo! we trimmed a bit to make my bite better and did a little contouring to make it look symmetrical to the other side! And I love it!

I still haven't had a chance to total up all the costs and number of impressions, etc, but I think that will take a while to be honest!As an estimate- 6 sets of impressions, 2 flippers, 2 implants ;-), 1 horrible removal of an implant (please never let me have to do it again!), and at least $5000. But in the end.. I still think it was worth it.

So what next? Well... I start my total body makeover at Miracles! ;-) And I am thinking about starting an ordinary blog. You know, one where you write about normal things- but we all know, nothing that happens to me is normal. :-) So we will see.. but for now, I am enjoying gum. Haven't tried the apples or corn on the cob or anything like that yet... just gum!!! And I love it!

So with that, the Freaky Tooth Blog comes to an end. Thanks for the support from all my friends and family during this saga and thanks for reading!

It may be done, but it's not over ;-)

Ok- so today was the big day!!!! Woo hoo! My appointment was at 9 am this morning! It was scheduled to be 1-1.5 hours- anyone want to guess how long I was actually there????? Three. Yes, 3 hours. :) Why? You all know the answer... I can't do things the easy way.

The model
So I got in there and they had my brand new teeth sitting on the model and I have to say they looked pretty darn good. Not freakishly wide or anything! And I start to think this might actually happen. The porcelain abutment is awesome! Definitely the right way to go and worth waiting for.

The action
So we have to start by taking the temporary thing off. Jenny asks where he would like her to cut it and he says we may not have to. I agree and tell them that im pretty sure if they give it one good yank, it will come right off. Sure enough! That worked!

So the next thing to do is get the healing cap off the implant area. We had a bit of a problem finding the right screwdriver to do the job since the implants they use are different than this brand. But nevertheless, mission accomplished. :)

So the custom abutment goes in. Can I just say that 'torque' it not a term that you like to hear in reference to your teeth. No worries though- it didn't hurt- just felt the pressure. Much better than the last time 'torque' was used with that tooth- during the removal of the improperly placed implant. The good news is that by feeling the pressure, that means it's attached to something in there! :)

We then decide that we should go ahead and put the verneer on the canine and get that done and then we can work with the freaky tooth. YAY.

Canine on, here we come! So... the abutment is in, the canine verneer on... and we are ready to go. Sort of.

the Freaky tooth
So it looked really good on the model. And then we tried to put it in the space that was provided and it didn't work so swell. :) They made it right for the model, but there was too much material on one side and not enough on the other side. So we start the trimming process. Dr. Mazur takes a bit off of the side and then tries it to see if it fits. And repeats that process multiple times until the side that has too much doesn't anymore. But what do we do about the side that doesn't have enough?????

Shake 'n Bake
Turns out that they had purchased an oven to help cure porcelain- so Dr. Mazur takes it back, adds a little porcelain on and throws it in the oven. And we wait.... and wait.... And then it's ready! So he comes back, has to do a bit more trimming because he added more than he needed which is what he wanted to do! And then its ready to go. So after some nasty smelling stuff to cure it, the implant is on. And I am done. The tooth is done. Voila!

But it's not over... I still need to get a refund from Dr. Gomes for the abutment he charged me for from the previous procedures. :) And I have to go back to Mazur on Monday to make sure everything is doing well.. there's some seriously irritated tissue around the area, so we need to check it all out when thats not irritated and check my bite when I'm not numb.

So its finally drawing to a close. I am excited for apples and corn on the cob and go lean crunch and huge sandwiches and gum.. lots of gum!!!

So its done, but not quite over. The blog lives on, for now... a few more dwindling entries and we will come to a close! I'll take some pictures when my mouth is adjusted and let you all see what we have been working on since March of 2006. :)

until then.. keep smiln :)

This may be the best blog entry yet!!!!!!

Ok- so some of you know that I am in the middle of computer science summer camp and are probably wondering how I could possibly have time to blog or even a story to tell during camp week! Well... never fear, the tooth does not let us down. ;-) So i had to take time to blog this one!

So, so much for the 2 weeks and we were done with everything as I mentioned in the last blog. I had an appointment scheduled a couple weeks after that last appointment to get the final restoration done. Welll... that didn't happen. :) The lab decided it was going to take an additional 3 weeks to get everything done. YIKES! Well, that would put us right in the middle of camp week- yeah right. So i have an appointment scheduled for July 2nd.

Well, last week, the temporary started feeling a bit loose. It wasn't off all the way or anything, just loose... so I knew if I didn't go in to the dentist and have them glue it back on, it would come off during camp week for sure. (My life is a comedy of errors. :) ) So I ran in last week, told Mazur we should put a little dab of superglue on that, shove it back into place, and I'd be on my merry little way! After a bit of a discussion of if he could do that or not, he decided he could. I told him it only had to last for about a week anyway.

And last for exactly one week it did. :)

So yesterday at camp, I had to send some emails off to our conference coordinator. The lab the students were working in was full, so I decided to step into the lab next door to use the computer. Well, we have had some heavy allergens in the air here lately, and I have been quite sneezy. So while in the lab, I had a sneezing fit. And on the last "aaachhhooo" I felt something fly out of my mouth. Sure enough, the force of the sneeze dislodged my temporary and it went flying! Panic spread across my face I am sure! I knew I couldn't roll my chair to look for it for fear of rolling right over it. So I am sure I looked like a ninja making very calculated moves to search for the missing tooth! I can only imagine the slo-mo instant reply of the whole event! ;-) The camera focuses on the tooth as a projectile and then comes back to record the shock and awe on my face! Awesome I'm sure! So anyway, I find it on the floor, shove it back in- sort of, and then run to the lab next door to tell the instructor I need to go to the dentist and I'll be back.

The good news was that this time they did just throw a little bondo back on there, shove it on and I was back to camp! Woo hoo!

But how crazy is that???? ;-)

I am just hoping it will stay til we are done with camp Saturday afternoon- I can deal with it over the weekend if it comes out. Wish me luck!

It should be a quick hour and a half on Monday and hopefully we will draw this blog to a close.. but you just never know. :)

Stay tuned.....

No Foolin'- No Flipper!!

Ok- Yes, I know... it's been a month since the last blog and you are probably wondering what is going on! Well, I had to reschedule the cleaning because of a work committment, so I didn't get in the first part of May afterall for that appointment. Instead we rescheduled to do everything today. What is everything you ask? Well, the way it was scheduled (yes a bit of foreshadowing in there for what is yet to come) they would do impresssions of the implant so they could send it off to the lab and get the final restoration made and then I would have my regular 6 month check up and cleaning. So here's what really happened....

My appt was at 8 am and I should have been done by 10 am with everything. They had me scheduled for an hour for each stage. It will not surprise any of you to find out that I was actually there until 11 am. :-) Here's why...

The Impressions- Mine and My Teeth
So I thought I was simply going in for a round of impressions where they would take the healing cap off the implant, stick something in the implant post to create the model for the abutment for the impressions and then be on my merry little way. Apparently I was under the wrong impression... Turns out today we were doing prep work for the veneer and all the other stuff I mentioned above. Well.... of course, the healing cap had some tissue that had grown over it, so we had to get out the laser again and trim away tissue. UGGGH. Two things that were not meant to come in contact are burning and flesh. I'll just leave it at that. Then, to prep the adjacent tooth for the veneer, we had to shave it down a little so the veneer will fit smoothly over it. To be honest, I wasn't quite ready for that since I was thinking we were just doing impressions today. BUT, I got over it pretty quickly and I'll tell you why in the next section. So anyway, Mazur went to try to use the parts that Gomes told Jenny to order for my specific implant, and guess what.... they didn't work. *Sigh* Yet again, no one should be surprised by that. :-) So we take a bit of a break to get the implant rep on the phone to make sure everything is right (or wrong). So... never fear- turns out that even though Gomes told them the wrong parts, Mazur had a spare set of the right stuff, so we were good to go! Woo hoo!

Getting Over It
So I am not quite sure when I finally realized that based on the agenda for my appointment, I would be leaving the office today without the flipper. That's right... no more flipper! But it's not a hole either! To get the adjacent tooth to look right once some of it was shaved off, we created a temporary crown to go over it and in addition to the crown, it has a fake tooth attached to it in the hole!!!! And it looks pretty presentable. (Does the word cantilever mean anything to anyone? ) They had created a mold of those teeth from the wax up as part of the prep for today, so they were able to fill the mold with resin and pop a temporary setting right on in there. Woo hoo!!!!! Hooray!!!

The Finale
So it turns out that even though I was technically an hour late for my cleaning appointment today, they were able to fit in after all this was done because of a lot of cancellations! YAY!

It will take the lab 2-3 weeks to get the final restoration done- they will have to create the abutment as well as create the crown to go over the abutment and then also to create the veneer to go over the crown and the tooth next to it. :-) But in a few weeks we should be ready to rock and roll!!! It's quite an odd feeling today without the flipper- not having a wad of acrylic in the roof of my mouth makes me almost panic at times thinking the flipper (and the tooth) is not in there. It's still a bit tender from the trimming and the shot to numb it too... so I won't be able to fully assess how it looks and feels for another day or 2. So as we are just a couple weeks away from the year anniversary of the first placement of the implant, I am hoping this will be wrapped up soon and I'll be back on my way to eating apples and corn on the cob and all kinds of good stuff like that!

So that's all there is for now.... hopefully I'll be able to keep you posted with the final posting of the freaky tooth blog before we all know it!

For now... keep smilin... i'll try to remember to take some pictures and post them soon too so you can all see how it temporary setting looks!

Ready to Launch

X-Ray Vision
Ok- So Mazur sent the x-rays to Gomes and we were waiting to hear back from him. In the mean time, I received another bill from Gomes asking me to pay the additional $500 I still owed. And it turns out I wasn't going to be able to make my originally scheduled appointment on the 24th, so I decided to give them a call.

Well, this time Sharon answered the phone. I didn't remember a Sharon before. I like Sharon. I told her I was calling to ask about needing to reschedule my appt- but I wasn't sure if I needed to reschedule or just cancel since they had sent the x-rays to Gomes. Her reply was "well, I can just make your appointment go away." I was hoping she'd have the same response about my bill. :-) So we made my appt go away and she said she'd have Dr. Gomes call me if I needed to reschedule. So then she transferred me to Charlotte to deal with the billing though. Charlotte looked at my chart and said it said I would pay $200. Nope. Not the case. So she checked with Gomes and he said it was fine and they sent me a bill with a zero balance and we are good now! YAY!

Oh, Vanity
Ok- so I was back at Mazur's office on Tuesday because they called to say that bleaching trays were ready and I needed to come in so they could make sure they fit and tell me how to use them. I have never felt so vain in my entire life. ;-) But anyway, I had my last coke on Monday at lunch to say goodbye to any dark liquids for a bit. I am trying to make sure I don't get too addicted to doing this and end up with teeth like Ross's on that episode of Friends. ;-)

While I was there Dr. Mazur came in to visit me. :-) He said he talked to Gomes about the x-rasy and that Gomes wanted to see me again. He also asked Gomes about the abutment. Gomes told him he didn't think I had paid for it before so Mazur could just do it. Well.. Mazur happens to have a copy of my bill from the perio place, and sure enough the abutment is on there. :) So anyway, they got into a conversation where Mazur told him that he thought I wasn't too happy about this whole situation and what's been going on. Gomes replied that he had no indication that I wasn't happy. So Mazur says to him, 'dude, she even has a blog about this tooth. And I've only read it once, but she didn't seem too happy about any of it. ' :) So now, Dr. Gomes knows about the blog too. That should make for an interesting visit.

The Interesting Visit
So I go back and schedule my return visit to Gomes. And that visit was yesterday. So I take a half day off, drive down an hour for a 15 minute appointment. So anyway, Dr. Gomes doesn't let on that he's had this conversation with Dr. Mazur. But he pokes and prods a bit and says it looks really good. Its sturdy in there. The x-rays look good. There's bone around there- it can take a full year for bone graft to fully integrate, but it looks good. But then he tells me that he wants to make sure I know he's not God, nor does he want to be God. But he did the best he could with the space and bone he had and that my root was like two banana's stuck together. ( Might I mention all the while the song "If This Is It, Please Let Me Know" by Huey Lewis is playing in the background. I love it when life provides the soundtrack for events like that! I thought that was kind of ironic. ;-) ) I say, yes I know, we all just want this to turn out for the best and the best it can be. So then he sends me on my way... says I do still have to come back to see him when all is said and done just so he can see how it turned out. He says we might want to wait a month before we put anything on there, but its looking good. YAY! YAY! YAY! Translate- we have permission to think about finally getting this done!!!!! Woo hoo!

And I have to say that maybe in the past I have unfairly represented the new location and people. This time, everything just seemed so much brighter. I don't know if it was new lights, a much more friendly Tiana, or just a brighter outlook on my part, but the modest accommodations seemed much more tolerable this time around. So I guess maybe I shouldn't have been so judgemental before.

Ready to Launch
So basically I guess we are ready to launch. I need to get in touch with Mazur (they are unfortunately out of the office until Monday) and get some things setup with them. I am supposed to bleach for 2 weeks. I have my regular 6 month check up the beginning of May- so hopefully while I am there for that, we can get this game plan rolling and plan the rest of it out. I am getting so excited! I just want this to be done! However, this IS me we are talking about. I am cautiously optimistic because we know I can't do anything the easy way! :-) I am sure while there are just a few more steps to take, life will continue to have it's way with me and God will continue to use it as a lesson for me to rely on Him.

I'll call Mazur on Monday and see what's next. Hopefully by mid May we can have this rolling and I"ll have lots more to report!

Until then... Keep smilin :)

Mindy

The Blog is Back in Action, Baby!

I know, I know..it's been a while. I am sure many of you had to endure the cold days of February and March just wondering what was going on with the freaky tooth- but think of it like a TV show- had the big cliffhanger and now we will be back in action for sweeps week in April and May.

Gomester Update
Ok- so something has happened between the last post and now, but at the time I did not think it to be blog-worthy, so I spared you. Well, turns out its worth sharing now to give you some setup for the rest of the posting. So A few weeks back, I received a bill in the mail from Gomes for almost $600! Obvious mistake, right? :) So I call and alert Charlotte to the billing error. She looks in my chart and can't see anything that would indicate it would be otherwise and those are their 'standard charges.' Ok- well, I explained to her that Dr. Gomes and I decided on a much less amount ($100) since he did not have to pay for the stent and there would be charges for some consumables. She decided she would have Dr. Gomes call me. Good idea. So the Gomester calls me and says, oh, yes, that is a mistake, they sent it in to insurance to see if they would cover any of it and they didn't, so it came back and got billed to you. So, why don't you just pay me $300. Um, no, we agreed on $100. Well, Gomes says he had to do more than what the thought he would (um... I don't remember him doing anything more than what he had to do- put the implant in and give me some bone graft) so there were more costs. But I stuck my ground!!!! No, we agreed on $100. So he says well, I am not going to argue with you since you have been through so much, so just pay me what you are going to pay me. OK. Will do. So I am expecting my next office visit with him might cost $200 :-) Anyway... not a big deal... we settled and it was fine.

Pearly Whites
So it was back to Mazur today to get my impressions for the bleaching trays. The good news is that it was cheaper than the estimate. Yay for me! These were not the user friendly impressions of the past though. These were the full arch, make you gag, tears streaming down your cheeks kind of impressions. My favorite. And I had a sadistic dental assistant doing them. She first started with trays and decided they were not going to be big enough, so she went for bigger ones. That's never a good thing. So anyway... these are the big metal trays too... and when she put the bottom one in, apparently she did not center them so well. There is now a nice layer of gum tissue attached to those impressions because the metal plate scraped the whole inner area of my gums while she was putting them in. She of course thought the tears were from the gag reflex and I had to wait 3 minutes before I could explain it to her. No amount of hand gestures and head shaking were going to explain that one. Then we did the top one. WORD TO THE WISE: Don't do full arch, upper impressions during allergy season while your nose is stuffed up or during sinus problems. It's not a good combo. I did good for about 2 minutes, and then I just couldn't breathe. So here comes gagging and tears. But we made it! She kept telling me to sniff through my nose- and I would have loved to do that.... but all that did was allow snot to block my airway a bit more. :-) Ahh... the fun times at the dentist. And then we were done...or were we???????

Jen-ney
So right as I was finishing my gagging and tears, my favorite assistant Jenny came by for a visit and asked me if these girls were being mean to me. I answered "yes" without hesitation. :-) So she asked how things were going with the implant. And she always enjoys a good story from Gomes, so I told her the billing story above. Incredulous as we all were, she decided that she needed to talk to Mazur and tell him about that. So we get Mazur fired up, and he decides that I should have some x-rays while I am there and he can see how things are looking. I ask if I do indeed need to go back to Gomes or if we can be done with him. So...Mazur stops by, says he is going to go get another patient numb, and then he will be back to show me something awesome that will make me sick- really sick. (Side note: you know, with Mazur, he's hip, so you don't know if sick is a good thing or back thing. :) )

Unscheduled Appointment
So my appt for the impressions was supposed to take 15 minutes tops. Is this a good time to tell you what you all should expect- my appointment ended up being one hour long. :-) So Mazur comes back and decides to show me what he has learned at his special training sessions in Las Vegas. It really was coool... basically there is a program that takes a 3-D CAT scan of your head and allows you then to create treatment plans and model them on the computer before drilling, waiting 4 months for bone to grow, and then deciding there's a problem. We would have been able to see the lack of bone, etc and all those problems we ran into before anyone did anything if we had waited a year. So that was what Mazur thought would make me sick...that one year down the road, we now have a different/better option that would have probably worked out better. Oh well. Too late now. I hope. :-) There is a potential for me to go have one of these 3-d scans done (in indy) if we have trouble coming up with a good idea of how the implant is working out though. We still can't tell if its going to be good enough or not though. I am going with, yes, it will be good enough. :-) At this point, I must apologize to the patient who was getting numb- because I am pretty sure by the time that Mazur was done with me, that patient might have had to get re-numbed. :-) And if any of you have an appointment with him today- I am the cause for him to be more than 30 minutes behind schedule. :) But he was cool with that. :-)

Final Verdict
So the real question is.. .do I have to go back to Gomes on the 24th? Well... they are going to send the x-rays to him and see what he thinks. Mazur says that he, not Gomes should place the abutment (the post that the crown eventually has to go on) because he has to do all the restoration on it too. So hopefully Gomester will agree and we will be done with all that.

So we are just getting things rolling again... Theresa will call me once she can get ahold of Gomes (it's Wednesday and apparently it's just he and Tiana in the office again and no one answers the phone. ) And hopefully we can get this done! I am sure the next couple months will provide frequent updates to the blog! So hang in there... and I'll keep you posted!

Million Dollar Baby

So I learned about a new weather phenomena yesterday- it's called Freezing Fog. It's really thick fog, that is so cold, it freezes on stuff too- but heavier than a frost. It was really quite interesting. And I got to drive all the way to Indianapolis in it- joy of all joys! :) That's right, I was back to the Gomester yesterday to get my stitches out.

The Modest Accomodations
When I arrived at my appointment yesterday I was a bit surprised when I walked in and there was no one around. No one- no other patients, no office staff to welcome you. I am pretty sure I have seen a horror movie or 2 that began that way- it's amazing how many different thoughts of what is going to happen can go through your head in a split second. But finally, dental assitant Tiana appears. She tells me to have a seat and they will be with me. OK. Finally she comes out and says they are ready for me. There's no one else in the whole place- did I mention my appt was at 10 am? Well anyway, turns out that the other perio in the office doesn't work on Wednesdays, so its just Gomester and Tiana. So, I am literally in the chair for 2 minutes- long enough for him to snip two strings and pull the stitches out and then its time to go! Gomes says he'd like to get a x-ray in a couple months to see how its doing. I naively ask if that means I'm done with him (thinking Mazur can take an x-ray and send it). But no. He wants me to drive down there for him to look at it and take the x-ray so we know if its good to go to hold a permanent tooth or not. OK. Fine. So I will go back at the end of April. Fine. He did mention that it is looking good- actually better than he thought it would. ( I think that's supposed to make me feel good??) Tiana schedules my appointment with her very helpful demeanor ( i think her statement was something of " you just need to pick a time and I'll see if its open" but not in a friendly way. :) )

The Real Verdict
So today I went back to Mazur so they could see how far off it was from the suggested stent placment. Mazur was actually pleasantly surprised too! Says it looks pretty good. So he went ahead and took an x-ray to see how it looked with bone around it, etc. Well... turns out we have a bit of an angle going again. No kidding. BUT- it doesn't look as bad as it was before- so that's good. We even pulled out the old x-ray to see how it compared. So Mazur thinks we will get this looking pretty good. All for a cost though. :) But I knew that before, so here's what we will do. So basically, to make this all work right and have the most natural looking tooth, here is what's to come: We will have to bleach my teeth to get them to the best looking quality to match the crown and veneer and make it look real. (And to do this, we will have to do more impressions- I should have known. :) ) Then of course, there is the crown itself. We are in the aesthetic region- so we want it to look good and not have any shadowy gray. So, there's an option of something called a P2Z. Which is Porcelain to Zirconia. Isn't that similar to diamonds? :) it just sounds expensive- but it's supposed to look really good. Then we will create the veneer to even out the space between the teeth and then we will do a bit of tissue trimming to make sure its all even and viola! All done. :) I really am going to add up the amount this tooth has cost me when we are all done. It still seems like a long haul to get this all finished- so in the end I might be feeling like the million dollar baby and wanting you all to kill me too. :)

For now, still taking it all in stride. I'll go back to Mazur the beginning of April for the bleaching impressions and we will figure out what to do from there. :) It sounds like once we get that going, we will be rolling! So wish me luck! Check back in a month for details!

until then... keep smilin :)

A Walk in the Park

So I went in for oral surgery #3 yesterday. YAY! I had seriously been waiting for it for months. I just wanted to go in and get it done and get this ball rolling.

Good News
Well the good news was that I had my drugs in hand, the stent in hand (yes, it came with me :) ) and was ready to go!!! The stent was way cool! It was kind of like an invisalign braces tray- clear plastic with clear tooth with a hole in it to tell him where to drill!

Modest Office
So we get to the office- and I do have to admit I was a bit afraid of what the inside would be like. The promise of "modest" arrangements did have my imagination in a bit of a spin. I am glad to report it was a full functioning dental office. :) By modest I believe he meant it was a bit smaller and not quite as done up as the previous office. (Some lovely 80's wallpaper plastered all over the office too. ) But no Craftsman tool box on the counter, so we were good to go!

In the room where they took me, there were a series of those kitchy Successories poster with Teamwork, Dedication, etc. on them. So when Dr. Gomes walked in, I asked him which of those 5 we were going for today. I suggested Perserverence, but he thought it might be more like Determination. :) We exchanged plesantries, I told him that Dr. Mazur was going to pay for my stent, we were good to go! Game on!

Go Time
So we get going... the stent is a nice stent he says. Problems that arise with the stent is that they don't let successively larger drill bits go through them though. Hmm. I guess it's more like a pilot hole? Well, so things are coming along nicely, or so I think. My appointment did start at 10:30. :) And it's about 11 now. That's when Dr. Gomes announces that he doesn't think we are going to be able to get an implant in there because there's no bone to implant into. Excuse me? So he frantically starts searching around the room for something- I believe a smaller implant or something with a narrow head on it. A dental assistant comes in and announces that there is another patient ready to see him now too. So he shoves some gauze in my mouth, keeps saying that he's not sure this is going to work, but he's going to go check on the other patient and will be back and we can figure this out.

A Little Chat with God
OK- so he leaves and the assistant Tiana, says, well, that doesn't sound like good news, does it? Genius. Pure Genius. I'm pretty sure that's not the kind of stuff you're supposed to say to a patient in that moment. :) So anyway, she leaves too. And so I decide to have a little chat with God that goes a little something like this- "you have got to be kidding me. :)" I'm sure that's what God likes to hear. ;-) So anyway, I say a little prayer for Dr. Gomes and then sit back to listen to the Muzak being piped in the room. It's a soft rock station out of Indy and they are playing some song about how it will all be worth the pain. :) HA! The irony wasn't lost on me. :) I am pretty sure my life is all about irony anyway. :)

Triumphant Return
Ok- Dr. Gomes comes back in and is still saying how he's not sure this is going to work. He then throws in a 'we should have just left that other implant in there and Mazur could have restored it.' Um, No. And it's not there now, so what are we going to do? So with my mouth packed full of gauze, I say, can't you just get it in there and then pack it in tight with some bone grafting all around it and stitch it up real good and hope it doesn't move? He explains that we need to find at least some bone for it to go into and then we can pack around it even if it's not connected to bone on a couple sides. So he takes on the challenge and decides to take a look and see what we have to deal with here. Still repeating about how we should have just left the other one in there, but when he talked to Chriiisss he just asked him what he wanted to do and he wanted to redo it, so we redo it. So miracles happen- he finds some bone! Yay!!! So it is slightly over from where the stent has him drilling, but should still be ok. And sure enough, when he goes to put the implant in, I can definitely feel it is going into bone!!! So he gets it in, packs bone grafting around it, stitches me up and asks for the flipper. He tries the flipper in there to make sure it's not going to press too much on the incision and says it looks good and I am done.

That's right, no mouth full of gauze to walk out of there with- flipper in- I'm talking pretty normally. So I am still a bit sore-I always forget how it does hurt to do things like wash my face and blow my nose though too. So it's a little tender still today. I have been resting quite a bit though too, but of the 3 operations, this one has left me feeling the best. I get occasional twinges of bone pain, but its not too bad. (Of course, the 800 mg Ibuprofen might have something to do with that? ) It's like when you have braces and they have tightened them really good one time and you have a bit of pain... that's about all though.

So we leave the stitches in for 3 weeks now- per my request to try to keep bone grafting in there. He thinks the implant is still close to the same place it was before, but it's not in at an angle so that should be good. I guess we will know in about 3 months. :)

So it's in. It was just like a walk in the park- or the equivalent for me in the dental world at least! :) I'll report back in a few weeks after the stitches come out and maybe have some better idea of where it really is. :) So, I'll keep you posted!

A Phone Call with Gomes

Well, I know the blog has been silent for months, and now- 2 blogs in one week! Amazing! But this is good stuff!

So I decided to put a call into Gomes today with a few questions for him before showing up Tuesday. The questions were:

1) I will be in Indy tomorrow, do you need me to stop by your office for anything- x-rays, paperwork, etc?

2) What time do you need me there on Tues?

3) Can You call my prescriptions in ahead of time?

Ok- so simple questions. Just collecting a bit of information and touching base. I like communication.

Question 1 & 2
So, he says no, you do not need to stop by - we will just do some x-rays when you are here. I have you scheduled for 10:30 (**LIGHT BULB** I have me scheduled for 10). So I tell him I have it scheduled for 10- oh, yes, show up at 10 for some pre-op stuff that will be fine. Get here sometime between 10 and 10:30.. that's fine too. Flexible. :) That's typically a good quality.


Sidebar- The Stent
He then goes on to say he has talked to Chriiiisss (that's the best way I can emulate his accent via a blog. ) And Chriiiisss is going to send the stent to him. (**LIGHT BULB**- no the stent is coming with me.) So I say, no, I am bringing the stent with me. He says, well I talked to Chriisss and he is having it mailed to me. (After a couple rounds of this, it's clear I'm not going to win this battle. :) ) So, I say, ok... I will check with them Monday afternoon and if they have it, I will bring it with me. He says, yes, it probably is better for you to do that, but I didn't want to put you in the Middle of it. (WHAT??!!!??? It's my tooth!) Right, right, it's no problem for me to pick it up.

Question 3
Can you call in my prescriptions ahead of time so I have them in hand and do not have to inconvenience the person taking me? And then I can pop a pain pill as soon as we are done for the ride home? Yes, of course, when would you like to pick them up? Oh, sometime before Tuesday? :) Ok, I will call them in tomorrow. Ok. He then needs a phone number of a pharmacy. I will look it up- silly CVS bought out Osco- so I will look them both up. Not sure which number is right!

Sidebar- Modesty
So while I am flipping through the phone book, I decide to continue with the conversation and ask how he is liking the new place and how it's working out. He proceeds to tell me he loves it and it is great , but it's a little more modest than the previous place. (**LIGHT BULB** what the heck does that mean????? I am wishing it meant the girls in the office wore their scrubs a bit looser, but I am thinking more along the lines of using an awl and hammer to make the hole for the implant! :) )

So back to the pharmacy- one of the guys I used to coach softball with used to say my job was to slip him a couple qualludes midway though the 4th inning if things weren't going well to keep him from killing the girls. :) Where is he when I need him to return the favor??? :) Do you think I could get a prescription for those too? :)

Grand Finale
So I ask, is there anything else I need to do or know before coming on Tuesday? Oh yes, there will probably be some cost for some consumables that we have to use and for the stent too.(I assume I am paying for a new dead guy to integrate with the implant. That was a previous statement that had been made. I am ok with that. I think I'll call this dead guy Monty. :) ) So the stent is about $130 and probably another $100 or so in supplies and stuff, so probably be about $200-300. Um, Dr. Gomes, so you want me to absorb the cost of the stent??? Yes. (Un Uh. :) ) Hmm. Ok.

Dr. Mazur, this is Mindy Hart calling.... :)

Bottom Line- Mazur is going to pick up the cost, but he's not going to let Gomes forget it. I really think there might be a meeting on the playground after school for this one. ;-) The stent should be in Monday morning's delivery and it will remain on Mazur's lab bill, and I will pick it up and take it with me. No cost to Gomes, no cost to me. I love Dr. Mazur. Please switch to him if you do not already use him as your dentist. :) (small commercial)

So here we go... if I see the Craftsman tool box out on the counter when I get to the chair, I am running. :) Other than that, I am sure it will be an adventure! I can't wait to get this rolling! Stay tuned next week and I'll keep you posted!

The Freaky Tooth Blog is Back!

Ok- so it's been a couple months since the last post. I hope you all enjoyed your holidays. Unfortunately Santa did not bring me a tooth for Christmas. But, maybe he will for Christmas in July! That's right, I said July. I will get to why it might be July in a few paragraphs, but first here is what has been happening.

The Stent
Ok- so remember there were a lot of things that were supposed to happen at the first of the year? One of which was that Gomes would call Mazur and make sure we got the stent ordered. Well, I did talk to Mazur sometime between the last posting and the Christmas break to tell him what was said, and he put it on his calendar to contact Gomes if he had not heard from him by about January 3rd. Well- it's January 22nd, the implant goes in on January 30th, and the stent is still not ordered. Mazur has put in a couple calls to Gomes with no return. He finally called him back on Friday and wondered if Mazur had ordered the stent yet. AAAAGGGGGHHHH!!!

The Flipper
Well, it just so happens that I think there actually might be some bone graft growth going on! YAY! My flipper started hitting something in the hole about a month ago and was continuing to do so. So I went in to Mazur this morning for a flipper adjustment thinking that would be good timing before the surgery next week. We got it all fixed up! Woo hoo!

Odds and Ends
So Dr. Mazur and I decided we would go ahead and order the stent today- we should be able to get it in by Monday next week. There was a debate as to if we should send it directly to Gomes or not... I decided I'd rather take it with me. It should come in their morning delivery on Monday and then I can pick it up Monday afternoon and have it for Tuesday. If Gomes doesn't pay for it, then Dr. Mazur will. I told him at this point I'd pay for it because I just want it done right- but he said I shouldn't have to and he would if Gomes doesn't. But guess what- that required more impressions. No joke. :) Dr. Mazur thought it would be best for them to have a current model to design the stent from, instead of the previous wax up- especially since I think there is bone growth going on there. I really really wonder what they do with those molds when they are done. Time for a Dateline investigation with Chris Hansen. :)

I also asked Dr. Mazur what kind of timeline we are looking at for getting this done. He suggested 3-4 months of bone growth and integration (i'm hoping for 3 months- I integrated very well last time!! ) Then we will start the prep work for the crown and the veneer. I agreed with Dr. Mazur that we would try to even out the space with a veneer on top of it and the adjacent I-tooth. Dr. Mazur also said he would be able to put the abutment in too- so then I don't have to go down to Indy to try to get it done and get back up here for an appointment to fit something on it. The crown and veneer and stuff will all take a few weeks too. So add on another Month. So... thats 5 months total... so July. Yay.

So I go to Gomes in a week. I have done a drive-by of his new place, but it was a weekend so it was not open. It is in a hispanic neighborhood- which I guess is a good population for him being from Venezuela and all. :) I will be giving him a call later on this week to make sure everything is in order and to see if he will call in my prescriptions ahead of time, so I can have some drugs with me to pop in before the hour long ride home. Pretty much the pattern has been that I get home, I take some drugs, I ice my face, and I take a nap. Then I am good to go by that evening. :) So hopefully I can try to continue that pattern in the car on the way home and will be no worse for the wear.

All I know is that I am ready to get this party started! Pack me with cadaver bone and ship me on my way! So wish me luck- or better yet, wish Dr. Gomes luck. :) The good news is that if he messes it up this time, Dr. Mazur is getting trained to do implants using some hi-tech equipment and I can go to him. :) I can't wait to report in next week and let you all know how it goes! Until then....

Let's get this show on the Road!

Ok- so, it's been a while. I am happy to report that not much has happened since the last posting. But here is an update on a few issues...

The Gomester had said he would call me somewhere near the beginning of November to start getting appointments set up. So last week, when it was the middle of November and I still had yet to hear from him, I took measures into my own hands. And needless to say, let the phone tag begin!!!! So I have now been introduced to Charlotte and Sue via phone. They must be the main office workers in the new office. And while I will try to reserve judgement until I actually meet them, they don't seem to hold a candle to Theresa or Christy at the places up here!!!! Anyway, I explained the situation (being a patient of Gomes from Lafayette with him continuing my service down there) and wanting to get appointments set up. They are not familiar with my case, of course, so they will need to talk to Gomes and see what they need to set up. I also mentioned that he had said he might be able to come up here and do the implant and to check and see if that is still an option. Finally, I got a phone call on Friday to set up my appointment. Unfortunately, it is NOT going to be up here in Lafayette. (On a side note, I don't think he ended on such good terms up here, so I am not surprised and had expected that to happen. ) So, Charlotte and I schedule my appointment for February 9th. Gomes wants to make sure there is a good 4 months of bone growth. That would be 4 1/2 months. And it is scheduled during a conference I am supposed to attend for work. I was in a hurry as they were calling me on my way out the door, so i just went with it.

Well, my creative side hit me this weekend- why not call back and reschedule? :) See if they will do it the week before that- and then for my mental health, they will actually be doing it in January too! February seems so far away. And then just postpones the final product that much longer. Sooo... I called today and talked to Sue. And we were able to schedule it for January 30th. That just seems so much better to me!

Previously I had estimated that it might be done in April- or so I hoped. Well, I am not a math whiz, but using the information they had given me when we originally did the implant to say that it would take about 4 months from start to finish, I now can estimate it will most likely be June before it's done. And that is if all goes well. And they don't want another 4 months for bone growth. I will continue to push it along of course...but i think we will make sure we leave the stitches in a few extra days so nothing has the opportunity to move again. :)

I had a few other questions for Gomes, and poor Charlotte had to be the go between because he was in a procedure during that time. But I also found out he has not order the stent yet. GRRR. he said he would contact Mazur at the beginning of the year and get that ordered. Nuh Uh. :) I will be calling Dr. Mazur on Monday and asking him to meet Gomes out in the parking lot after school and put the smackdown on him. :) Or to at least give him a call and tell him they need to go ahead and order that now.

Also, I asked about the potential of wanting to see me before then to make sure some of the bone graft had stayed put and we were actually growing bone before I show up and we just start drilling for oil. He said he will just have Mazur take a few x-rays before I come and send them down there to him. And that will, of course, happen at the first of the year. :)

So, we play the hurry up and wait game. I never did ask about the tissue graft yet, I figure I will wait til I see him to ask about that. I think he thinks it will be fine once we put the implant back in... that will stretch out the tissue or he can do some sculpting with bone grafting. We will see.

So that's about all for this month... I'll try to include a Christmas update and let you know if Santa brings me my front tooth for christmas- I'm just asking for one, not 2! :) Until then, hope you all have a great holiday and I'll keep you posted!

Time Flies When You're Having Fun!

So I was back to Dr. Mazur today. Luckily it was just for my 6-month check-up. Do you all realize I have only been going to him for a year and a half? It seems like it has been at least twice that long! Granted, the number of visits I have had to him would equal that of 6 years of "regular" visits- but boy it seems like we have known each other all our lives! :)

So here's a recap of what happened today though:

1) He fixed the flipper!!! Woo hoo! It was still bothering me quite a bit and not fitting too well! So we did some more adjustments on it and so far so good! woo hoo! Now I am sure it will be great to have for another 6 months! :) That's right- 6 months. My best estimate is that we won't be done with this until April. YAY. But yay for the flipper to be better- I will give it a full test when I head to Chipotle for lunch in a few minutes!

2) Dr. Gomes still has not called him to order the stent they will need when we go to put the implant back in. It is the guide that tells him exactly where to put the implant this time. We want that. :) So... I'll be making a call to Gomes to see if he can get on that right away. :) And did I mention he leaves town tomorrow?

3) Here's where it gets a little gross- So, it has become evident to me that even if we just go with what we have and put the implant back in , when we go to put the tooth on, there is going to be a large gap where there should be tissue, but there's not enough there right now. Hmmm. Thanks to my dear friend Erin who has also had to endure this same series of unfortunate events :-) , I understand that what they typically do in that case is a tissue graft from the roof of your mouth. So I asked Mazur about that today. He said that is a concern for sure... and that Gomes should take care of that for me- that's what he does most of the time afterall. :) And so I should talk to him about building up the tissue around there when I see him next. And yes, often it does require a tissue graft from the roof of your mouth. I've done pretty well with everything else..but that doesn't sound so cool to me. :)

4) And finally.. quite the humbling experience... So you know I am in Mazur's office an average of 1-2 times per month. And it often seemed that I had my own little Cheer's bar going on there where I could walk in and everyone knows my name. They all knew the stories of what was going on every step of the way. Well today, I entered hygienest land. They know nothing of anything except scraping teeth and offering you the option of mint, cinnamon, bubble gum, or cookie dough(?!?) flavored cleanings. It seemed like I was in a twilight zone... this poor girl had no idea of all the drama and fun we have been having. She wasn't there to share our 4 hour visit that fateful night. She was asking crazy questions like "were you just born without a tooth there?" or "did your tooth get knocked out? " WOW! So to her I was just another mouth to clean. No longer was I this legendary figure I imagined myself to be! I thought to myself- I even have a blog about this!!! How could she not know??? So my illusions of granduer are fading- no more visions of appearing on the Today Show to share the story and my blog with Matt Lauer- no more visions of becoming a motivational speaker and influencing the lives of so many youngsters across the country with my story of The Freaky Tooth! So how humbled am I. I am just a girl- with a freaky tooth- and her own blog. :) And a great sense of literary exaggeration. :) LOL!

Keep smilin :) and I'll keep you posted!

this just in....

So this is actually a picture of Dr. Mazur! He's the one on the left. Do you seem some of the similarities to Rob Flynn??? Now you've got real pictures of the whole team!!!

Freaky Tooth Blog Entry #9

So I had my stitches out 10 days ago. It went well...Dr. Gomes said it looked great I was doing a good job keeping it clean. YAY for me! And yay for no stitches for my sister's wedding! I am sure she was glad to not have white strings hanging out of my mouth in her pictures! It was pretty cool though-Since there is no wound to heal over that site, I could see the bone in the hole. Pretty cool.

But after the stitches came out, so did the bone grafting. Well... not all of it. But starting that night, I would occasionally have a granule or 2 of bone pop up in my mouth somewhere. And this went on for quite a few days. A couple granules a day. For those of you wondering what a granule of bone grafting looks like... I have been trying to decide how to describe it...I think it would best be equated to the size of decorating sugar. So not regular sugar crystals or salt or sand- a bit bigger than all those... but sometimes you have that decorating sugar that is a bit bigger- I'd say it's pretty equivalent in size. So anyway... as the granules of bone started to appear, so did a divet in my gums where the grafting had been supporting the structure. And since I was traveling most of last week, I just continued to tell myself it was no big deal. Couldn't really do anything about it from Columbus, OH anyway. Well... since this kept happening over the weekend, and I could no longer see bone in the hole, just a black hole, and doing a bit of math in my head, I realized that hole isn't so big... and a couple granules a day for a week or so amounts to a quite a bit of bone in that tiny hole, I figured I should probably call Gomes for a normalcy reading.

MAYBE I'LL GO AS A VAMPIRE FOR HALLOWEEN
So I called Dr. Gomes this morning and asked him about the situation. He said some of it is normal, but that I was right and I should probably come in and have him take a look. So the good news is that I am not a hypochondriac. :) Sure enough.. quite a bit of bone grafting had come out. However, the better news is that while it is a bit more than what he would have liked to see, he didn't think we needed to redo it. Instead, he scraped and scratched around in the hole to create a blood clot. It's a good thing I don't mind blood- nor the taste of it. There was plenty of it to clot. YUM. So anyway, the blood clot will apparently heal over the remaining bone so it will stay in there. But I am not supposed to eat, drink, or talk much for a few hours and then I can't brush the area for a couple days either. (You know, as a teacher, I could go from 7 am to 7 pm without drinking a single glass of water and not think anything of it- right now, I am so thirsty I would drink the rainwater in the puddle outside my office window if I could. Guess you don't know what you got til it's gone!!!! ;-) ) Another good thing is that the new flipper covers the hole pretty well though ...so that should help with the clotting. After that, Dr. Gomes was all excited to give me his new business card and map to the new location! And sent me off with the promise to call me the first part of November to get some stuff set up. YAY! I can hardly wait. I go to Mazur next week to my regular 6 month check up- I am sure he will have a few thoughts to share on this whole process...so stay tuned.. I'll keep you posted!!!

Top 10 Things You Never Want to Hear the Periodontist Say

1. Hmmmm....let's figure out what to do.
2. I've never had to take out one of these that I put in.
3. I thought this would be much easier to do.
4. I think we need to leave the implant in.
5. I at least got the implant to move a bit.
6. I am going to call Dr. Mazur.
7. Oh, did that hurt?
8. This is going to take a while to heal.
9. Hmmmm...that's interesting.
10. If anyone ever had any doubt that bone integrates to the implant, here's proof.

Ok- so I had my appointment to have the implant removed yesterday. The suggested procedure was that they would go in, screw it out, fill it with bone graft, and stitch me up and send me on my merry little way. It sounded good to me...

So, I get in there... they get me numb (that's always fun). While I am waiting to be numb, Dr. Gomes says that he has never had to take an implant out before, or at least one that he has put in while he's been here. Says he has taken ones out before, but they were not well done. That's a great way to start the day. So anyway, he starts trying to unscrew the implant out, and it's not going anywhere. All I feel is intense pulling on my jawbone, all the way from my ear. So he stops for a bit, tries something else for a while and its still not coming out.

He tells me that he was at least able to get the implant to move a bit, so maybe the best thing is to leave it in, and pack some bone around it and then have Dr. Mazur use the angle abutment. He's afraid to do the other option for taking it out because that means drilling out the bone around the implant and then losing bone where there isn't much anyway. So, he says he's going to go call Dr. Mazur and see what he thinks. Now by this time, I am in pain from all the pulling, prodding, retracting, etc of course. Yeah, I'm numb, but nothing really numbs bone I don't think. And while I am waiting for him to come back from talking to Mazur, the song "Let It Be" comes on over the radio... and at that point, I am thinking that's pretty good advice! So, Gomes comes back in and says that Mazur wants him to take it out. So we will try to take it out. yay.

So at that point, he renumbs me and starts drilling around the implant but decides he's not going to go all the way up so he can try to save some bone. So after he drilled out enough to get a better grasp on the implant, he decided he was going to just try to loosen it up by wiggling it back and forth and right and left. And it actually works! It loosened up enough he could get it to screw out and then the implant was out. YAY. It's always interesting when your dentist is amazed by what he is seeing... there were still pieces of bone on the implant when he got it out and he was impressed by how the bone actually integrates with the implant. Fun times I tell you. But it was kind of cool to see. So the good news is that my body seems to integrate that cadaver bone pretty well! YAY!

So he packed me full of more bone grafting and stitched me up and sent me on my way. And then the fun began.

I did not have a good afternoon... it was worse than the first round when comparing initial pain. I think all the pounding, drilling, etc with the bone is a bit more traumatic to your body than just removing a tooth like they did the last time. Last time, they didn't mess with the initial structure much so it was not too bad. I think if you have ever had a broken bone, that's probably comparable to the pain from yesterday. But I am much better today. Still swollen a bit, and still tender, but not really in pain. A bit tired again today...but I took today off too, so I think I'll be good. I have been flipper free for 2 days- decided that was not a good idea to put it in after the surgery yesterday. I'll go back in a couple weeks for stitch removal (right before my sister's wedding! I thought she'd appreciate that. No stitches hanging out of my mouth for the wedding pics. :-) ) It will probably be a couple months before we go put the implant back in- got to give the bone enough time to heal. And at that time, Gomes will probably be in Indy... so we will have to wait and see how that plays out! Hopefully he will come back up here to do it for me!

I should know more in a couple weeks... try to pin him down to some dates when he takes the stitches out. I'll keep you posted...

Flipper #2

So today was the big day! Time to get the new flipper!!! Woo hoo! So I was anticipating going in for my 15 minute appointment, having them pop the new flipper in, and me being on my merry little way. How many of you actually think that happened? :) If you're the one optimist out there that thought "I do", then get real and read the former blog postings! Once again, I was there 4x's as long as my appointment was scheduled. (So just an hour.) Here's the story...

So they pull out the new flipper and I have to say it looked mighty impressive! They paid attention to detail on how it looked and some of the requests we made. So the part that fits in the roof of my mouth was a lot thinner and they did some extra molding to try to fill in the dark chasm with some pink filler so it looks like it blends right in. The tooth had some more shaping to it too and wasnt quite as flat as the previous one. However, the one detail they must not have paid attention to was how it fit in my mouth. "Comfortable" was the word that was the least descriptive of how it felt. I am not sure which set of my impressions they used to make this, but I think they found some from when I was 5 years old or something. But don't fret- Dr. Mazur is a stylistic genius!!!! He takes it back to the mystery room and starts making some corrections and shaving some stuff off of it... and after about 30 minutes of that.. I have something that I can live with. The good thing about teeth is that they move a bit. :) So in a day or 2 this should be feeling just fine. I have also found out that a nail file works pretty well to shave away some of the acrylic too- so don't tell Dr. Mazur, but I have already made a few corrections myself and I think we are almost there! I'm practically a dentist anyway- I have probably spent more time with them than they spent with patients in dental school! ;-)

On other notes... I got to see the wax up today. It was different than how I thought it would be. I envisioned it in living color, and it's just plain white. But it looks good. I will have a very wide looking I-tooth, but the freaky tooth will look like a normal tooth for the first time in my entire life!!! Woo hoo! The canine will not affect the aesthetic look of the overall smile, but it will just be a bit wider than it currently is.

So that's all for today... I leave for New Hampshire tomorrow morning and come back in time to have the implant yanked out and cadaver bone put in on Monday morning. I think will take my "spare flipper" with me on vacation, just in case flipper #2 doesn't behave itself. I just haven't decided how to explain to the security agents what's in the blue box if it sets off the security alarm. And for those of you who know me, I always get stopped going through security- I must be suspicious looking! That's a whole other blog though! :-)

Thanks for reading and I'll keep you posted....

Pictures

Ok... so this first picture is me with the first flipper. When looking at the pictures, it is the tooth that is on the right side of my mouth. You should notice some darkness around that tooth.

















Ok- so this is me before the flipper.. the tooth doesn't actually look that freaky here.. but trust me it was!
















Ok- this is Dr. Gomes. He's a cutie especially with his accent! He has a much better haircut now too and none of that facial hair!















And this isn't really a picture of Dr. Mazur, it's Rob Flynn, one of our college kids. But they look and act a lot alike.. so I thought i'd just try to put something up there for you! :)

Freaky Tooth Blog Entry #5

Ok- so I had joked about actually creating a blog for this tooth...and now it is a reality!! It just seemed a lot easier to have all the information in one location for others to catch up on all the happenings and adventures of one little tooth! So without further ado, I present the Freaky Tooth Blog! Send it to your friends and family if you wish- it's hours of entertainment!!!

Flipper Fact of the Day- did you know they actually make the flipper using a real denture tooth? :)

The Update: Ok- so the good news- remember Dr. Hart? The Endodontist? Well, he is the one who referred me to Dr. Gomes. The good news is that I got a refund check in the mail from him last week to refund me some for a procedure that he did that ended up doing nothing for me in this whole process! YAY!

So last week, I began to realize that I had a check-up appt. coming up with Dr. Gomes and I wondered what the status was with the wax-up and if Mazur and Gomes were on the same page as to what was going to happen. So I called Mazur's office, and thus began the phone tag to the lab to find out what was going on. Also, I had wondered about getting the new flipper before my sister's wedding. So after a bit more phone tag, we got a time for me to come in and see Dr. Mazur. So I went to see him yesterday. I had to go for yet another set of impressions! You know, Halloween is approaching- so perhaps they needed more molds to make those funny teeth with for halloween costumes! But they said it was for a set of impressions so we can get my new flipper! YAY! And it should be here in a week! Woo hoo! I'll be looking spiffy for my vacation to New Hampshire next week! Now remember that wax-up they were doing the last time? So turns out it is about done... museum quality I am sure! I did find out they are not the same lab geniuses that made the flipper last time- this is a totally different lab somewhere on the west coast with a 3 hour time difference- so maybe they are geniuses! (the local lab is making the new flipper- keep your fingers crossed it turns out ok! ) So Mazur tells me he has tried calling Dr. Gomes to tell him that he's having this waxup done and that we should redo the implant, etc. However, Gomes has not called him back yet. Hmmm. That's a bit problematic because I have an appointment with him the very next day! So Mazur says that he will try calling Gomes again. Mazur suggests that we get a stent made with the waxup that will show him exactly where to put the implant when we redo it, but that it's Gomes's call on getting that make and cost to him too. So Mazur says I should just go in and say "we are getting the stent, right? " to Gomes and go from there. :) All I know is that we want it to look the best it can and I'm willing to do whatever it takes to get that done! So... I leave Mazur's office, with an appointment to get my flipper next Wednesday and knowing I have an appointment with Gomes today.

So... I go see Dr. Gomes today. He asks me what's the latest with Dr. Mazur. So I say, have you talked to him lately? He says a couple weeks ago. I say, but not this week? No, not yet. So he says he's going to call him, and then, one of the girls from the front desk comes in and says that Dr. Mazur is on the phone for him. :) It reminded me of that scene from Ferris Bueller's Day Off where the principal is trying to get in touch with Sloan's dad and then the friend calls in pretending to be the dad- it was just as if it was cued that way! So... I waited in the chair for about 10 minutes while they talked. Then Dr. Gomes comes back. He says that Mazur thinks we should redo the implant and he agrees! Woo hoo? Wants to do what's best for me, etc. I agree! He thinks Mazur thought he would be mad about it but he's not. (AND it's all for free!!!!!) Then he says, well, I'm glad your sitting down though. My only thought was 'um.. ok." And he says, because I need to tell you that I am leaving in a couple months! OH!!!! And he hasn't told any of his referring dentists yet, so Mazur doesn't know. Lovely. I am pretty sure this kind of stuff could only happen to me. But anyway... He's going to work in Indy since that is where he lives. But, he's committed to getting my case done. So he thinks he can even come up a time or 2 to finish things up if we need to. I told him I'd hunt him down if he didn't! ;-) So... I am scheduled to have the implant removed and more bone graft put in on Sept 25th. He wanted to do it this coming Wednesday, but I said I didn't really want to leave for vacation that next day not knowing what kind of state I was going to be in. So he was ok with that! So... now basically we do that, I wait 6 weeks for bone to graft, then we drill it up again and put the implant back in and hope for the best!

So do you see now why I am creating the blog? I think this tooth will have so many more adventures before this is all over! Fun times for sure!!! I'll keep you posted!!!

On a Side Note...

ok- so i don't really know what happened to entry #2... I couldn't seem to find it in my sent messages.. if i do, i'll repost it.

Freaky Tooth Blog Entry #4

Since entry #3, I have been back to visit Dr. Gomes. He concurred that the implant isn’t quite where it needs to be! BUT- good news.. they make something called an "angle abutment". Instead of hanging straight down, it hangs at an angle. Wow.. sounds like a great idea! Let's see what Mazur says.
So... Mazur calls... he doesn't like the angle abutment... it's all about physics and geometry, right. The force when biting on something needs to be centered over the tooth, not at an angle- especially when we had to grow bone for the implant to hook into. Sooo... Mazur says come on in.. I have an idea...
So I went back to Dr. Mazur today. He's the regular dentist. I am happy to report that this appointment was 3.25 hours less than my previous one with him! Woo hoo!
Today I went for impressions for what is called a 'wax up.' What that means is that with all the different things I have had done to me, I could start an awesome museum of dental oddities! Mind you, I have had plenty of impressions along the way during this whole procedure... not sure what really happens to the latex molds they make, but I'm pretty sure you're going to start seeing people in remote countries with false teeth that match my smile. Or maybe, they will start selling them as jello jiggler molds. How cool would that be? :) This is no less than the 5th set of impressions I have had during this whole ordeal. Where did the others go?????? Ok- so nevermind any of that- back to the wax-up.
So here is what is supposed to happen. The geniuses at the lab will create a wax model of my mouth. (yes, I do believe these to be the same geniuses that couldn’t even get my flipper to the right place the first time though). Then they will create a model of what Dr. Mazur thinks needs to be done. Dr. Mazur thinks we should put a veneer on the freaky tooth and the canine next to it and help even out the gap so the tooth isn’t so wide looking. We will take that model to Dr. Gomes and say this is what we are doing...look how pretty it can be- forgot that angle abutment! He will then say, how could I not have seen this option before and boy it sure does look good and I will redo the implant! And then when we are all one happy family and have the plan figured out, I will get a new flipper that looks better too! And the best part is, it's free! FREE FLIPPER!!!! I don't think dentistry gets much better than that! How many of you have ever gotten a free flipper? (it’s a $120 value! ) And then... I'll have one more thing to display in my museum.