gradually over time I am missing a substantial amount of teeth. I know nothing of the possible solutions so I went to an orthodontist who proposed several implants. As I do not want to take out a mortgage on my house!.. I am considering other options - perhaps dentures. I don’t know because I have no experience in that field. Anyone any pointers they can share would be welcome.
No knowledge either but my BIL lives in France and also had eye watering prices for implants. He got his done in India whilst on holiday and its a great job in his case. I asked if he was scared going to India for dentistry? He said the surgery was an immaculate clean building, the dentist spoke perfect English having trained in the UK and the cost was very reasonable. Also another friend who went to Prague for their teeth after a recommendation by another friend from the Czech republic.
Prague’s a very popular place for otherwise expensive dental treatment and it’s a lovely place to spend some time. Have taken many opportunities to be a visitor at the Charles University. Also because Hungarian is so difficult for foreigners, English is spoken by most professionals. In general, I think the standard of Eastern European dentistry is pretty good; incidentally, both our dentists in Figeac are Rumanian.
Don’t know a lot about it, but believe you can temporarily upgrade your health insurance in anticipation of expensive dentistry. I’m sure there’ll be many SFers who know more about this…
The first question is why you have lost teeth. As if you have problems with your jaw then may need extra preparation for implants so would need multiple trips to visit orthodontist.
My mother was a dentist and watching TV or films with her involved constant commentary on people’s dentition, dentures and implants. She had a horror of poorly fitting dentures, and unnatural implants.
Good dentures would be better than bad implants. But good dentures aren’t insignificant in price either, and need replacing every few years. And take some getting used to apparently. But are a perfectly serviceable option.
I had an accident as a teenager and damaged my top row when hitting the road Over the past few years the teeth began to wobble and the dentist in my old region did not do anything .Coming down here, my son got me straight in with his dentist who is a specialist in dentures,implants etc and he confirmed that I had no roots whatsoever in my upper gum, they were all dead. I had 9 teeth pulled last year and now wear a denture that stays in 24/7 via suction against the top of my mouth. Obviously I take it out to clean it morning and night with a soft brush and every so often a bit of toothpaste but being resin it dosn’t need a lot of brushing. I wear it all night and it is very comfortable and I can chew meat again after a few years of avoiding hard stuff. I could not have implants because of bone loss and as he said, a waste of time trying. What scared me more than anything was that he said if I did not have the loose teeth removed when I did, I could have suffered a heart attack as bacteria enters the bloodstream via loose teeth and is the cause of many serious problems elsewhere in the body like sepsis, that was enough for me to wave them goodbye. Now I slip it out and wave it at my grandson who laughs his head off. I also looke like I have film star top row choppers too as they are so perfectly even and toned down so as not to dazzle with their cleanliness. Don’t be afraid of dentures, its not like 25 years ago when you put them in a glass overnight and glued them down these days. I’m afraid I can’t tell you what it cost as I am CSS covered but it was not as expensive as a porcelain set of dentures that I know friends have had to fork out a few thousand euros for previously. A good dentist will give you an estimate and some choices.
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I would like to thank you all for the generous time spent on your well though out responses.
At this early stage (I only saw my orthodontist yesterday) I must say that I am leaning towards the Prague option, but we will see.
DrMarkH, would you mind telling me your dentist’s name as I would like to see if he will accept me. I am not too happy with my current dentist - It is not just that he speaks only French, we can manage - but he does not seem to be very open to discussion and I don’t get a good feeling. It may be time to change.
M Zaharia, 3 Rue Paul Bert · 05 65 34 50 57
He was full, but has since taken on another dentist, who I assume is his wife, so they might have spare capacity. His English is superb. Incidentally, if you phone speak French to the receptionist and don’t be put off by her brusqueness!
The implants or dentures suggestions do seem to vary hugely depending on the dentist rather than the patient as far as I can see. When my partner started to have loose teeth as a result of a problem normally only seen in babies, the dentist (in UK) told him that they would get to a point there they just naturally start to drop out. The dentist here never once suggested implants (so he now has dentures) but other people I know have been effectively told that it’s implants or nothing.
Yes, it’s true that dentures are expensive but a survey of various friends suggests that the cost is nothing like that of implants and certainly my partner’s 2 sets cost noticeably less than my hearing aids.
Good luck with your searches @geoff_faulkner and please report back as to how you get on!
A lot of older people can’t have implants because they don’t have enoughsufficient/strong enough jawbones as in my case. The thing no one has mentioned is that our teeth were originally only meant for a limited number of years as people died earlier and also now, many are losing teeth because they cannot see dentist (the UK is very difficult now as hearing from family that they have given up trying to find one). My dentist certainly did not advise implants and said they were expensive because of the work involved. I would be afraid to eat anything hard to be honest in case they came out. People also don’t realise they have gum disease either which hastens the loosening of teeth and invites bacterial infections to set in.
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Worth seeing if your jaw can take implants, but also how many gaps, if all would necessarily need plugging.
I’ve one inconspicuous gap (caused by gravel in some Saharan couscous nearly fifty years ago) and two modern dentists on different continents have both told me that that there’s insufficient material for a stable implant base. So, the gap remains and I remain in pocket.
I had an implant fitted last year, dentist gave me the option for a bridge but had to adapt the two surrounding teeth. I went for the implant cost +/- 2.5k€ la mutuelle & CPAM paid +/- 1k€
A bit late coming in here, but my question is - are your teeth falling out due to what they call gum disease - which is where the gum does not adhere to the tooth allowing bacteria to pass?
I ask, because I was diagnosed having this when I was young with dentists saying there is no cure with the end result being teeth falling out and dentures. I just accepted it, put up with the odd infection and waited. Then, as Shiba outlined above, I learnt about sepsis - the killer and how easy it is to contract. If you have this condition, I urge you not to hang around …
thank you Shiba, this is very informative. I wonder if you would answr a couple of queries;
- if you take it out to clean at night, why do you then put it back in before you go to bed?
- Did you have it done in France - and was it a regular dentist or a denture speicialist who did it?
thanks agai
I was told to wear mine all the time, as otherwise the other teeth could change their positions.
Because it is designed to be worn 24/7 and if I leave it out even for a couple of hours, it is not comfortable when re-fitted and takes an hour or so to soothe itself to the roof of my mouth . As said, I clean it at night with a soft brush and occasionally some Sensodyne, pop it in and then out again first thing for another clean for the day. If something gets under it after a meal, just comes out, rinsed under the tap and popped back in again. No glue required, works by suction. It has the teeth sitting in man made gums so no one knows its not real and is lovely and even, Hollywood style but not brilliant white as they tone them down to match your coffee stained others below. It was the new dentist I signed up with when I moved down here last year, he also makes his own dentures and protheses which is what this is, a denture is porcelain I believe. It took him about four days to make but having had all the teeth removed up top, I had to wait for two weeks for the gums to heal first so lived on purees and compôtes, lost a nice bit of weight too and then he fitted it, trimming where it rubbed and two or three visits over the next few months to check on the healing of the gums and how the resin was settling against them, trimming to fit as the gums shrank back to normal. Having 9 teeth out in one afternoon was not as bad as I was dreading, he gave me at least five injections and waited for them to kick in, the old dentist used to go to work straight away on work and you would feel the jabs kicking in halfway home in the car! This chap I go to also has a hand held device that he runs round your teeth and gums to get a perfect “sketch” but the playdough moulding stuff is horrible for the actual prothese to be built from.
Thats right, plus if you have a spouse it looks a bit more attractive I would presume. I don’t mind it at all now, I was horrified at first when told the roots were all dead and the teeth had to come out before bacteria finished me off eventually. I live for myself so it was no brainer.
piecing all these valuable comments together, and looking around the internet, I would like to explore the solution of the sort you have Shiba. My need would seem to be adding some more teeth to the top only, and if that can be achieved using some kind of suction palette fitting, that would seem to be the best solution. Does anyone know what this kind of prosthesis is called in French?
Un dentier, or une prothèse dentaire.
Your teeth are like stars, they come out at night 
There are also ‘flexible’ dentures to explore. Presume a bridge is not indicated?