Dental Implants
For the first couple of years after I developed diabetes I went undiagnosed. I know that now because I was having some symptoms such as a tingling on the bottom of my feet at night. I just didn't know then that they were symptoms of diabets.
One of the things that was happening was that I was getting some gum infections that wouldn't heal and had some teeth start falling out. I was homeless or near homeless through much of that period and the dental care I was able to get was a free clinic that would do extractions. The way the clinic worked was that you went in to see a dental assistint of some kind who'd look at your teeth and go tell the dentist, "Yep, looks bad". The dentists would then schedule you for extraction.
You never actually got to talk to the dentist and the dentist didn't actually see you. I didn't like the idea of having my teeth pulled without at least talking to someone about replacement options. So after that first visit I just never went back, I just let teeth fall out. Which they did over the next couple of years.
When I finially got diagnosed and treated for the diabetes the gum infections stopped and the teeth stopped falling out. But the damage was done. I'm just another toothless redneck these days.
One of my other health problems is depression (hence that homelessness I (mentioned). While depressed I didn't really care about my teeth or appearance because that's kind of how I felt about myself anyway. I finially ran across a competent shrink (finding a competent shrink is a whole 'nother story) who was able to figure out a workable medication schedule for me. So I'm feeling a lot better about myself, actually getting some work done, and I'm going to get my teeth fixed.
But after a couple of decades of being too depressed to work much I'm kind of broke. I think I'd like dental implants. I do have one implant that I got 40 years ago, when I was 19 and a tooth got knocked out in a car wreck. I've been happy with it. But I know I can't afford that, I need way too many of them (I don't even know how many teeth are missing, but a lot).
So I've been checking into Mexican dentists online. My mother lives in Corpus Christi, TX and has a friend who had a dental partial plate made in Mexico and is happy with both price and product. A lot of the border town dentists have web sites with price lists.
Although I might be able to afford dental implants in Mexico, I decided against it. I'm going to go with some combination of partial plate and bridges (I think I need an upper partial plate and a lower bridge, maybe two lower bridges). Looking at the Mexican prices I can afford that with no problem.
The reason I decided against dental implants is that installing implants is kind of a major surgical procedure. I mean, drilling into bone and stuff just seems kind of major. And a lot of the Mexican dentists talk about how they lower the risk of infection by using new plastic gloves with every patient and using water distilled North of the Rio Grande.
New plastic gloves with every patient? That's something they have to point out that they do? It's part of their special care to control the risk of infection.
I'm diabetic. I have a high risk of infection, and a high risk of big problems if I get an intection. I'm going to pass on having bone drilled into at a place that thinks state of the art infection control means fresh rubber gloves with every patient.
But I am going to Mexico for plate/bridge work.
One of the things that was happening was that I was getting some gum infections that wouldn't heal and had some teeth start falling out. I was homeless or near homeless through much of that period and the dental care I was able to get was a free clinic that would do extractions. The way the clinic worked was that you went in to see a dental assistint of some kind who'd look at your teeth and go tell the dentist, "Yep, looks bad". The dentists would then schedule you for extraction.
You never actually got to talk to the dentist and the dentist didn't actually see you. I didn't like the idea of having my teeth pulled without at least talking to someone about replacement options. So after that first visit I just never went back, I just let teeth fall out. Which they did over the next couple of years.
When I finially got diagnosed and treated for the diabetes the gum infections stopped and the teeth stopped falling out. But the damage was done. I'm just another toothless redneck these days.
One of my other health problems is depression (hence that homelessness I (mentioned). While depressed I didn't really care about my teeth or appearance because that's kind of how I felt about myself anyway. I finially ran across a competent shrink (finding a competent shrink is a whole 'nother story) who was able to figure out a workable medication schedule for me. So I'm feeling a lot better about myself, actually getting some work done, and I'm going to get my teeth fixed.
But after a couple of decades of being too depressed to work much I'm kind of broke. I think I'd like dental implants. I do have one implant that I got 40 years ago, when I was 19 and a tooth got knocked out in a car wreck. I've been happy with it. But I know I can't afford that, I need way too many of them (I don't even know how many teeth are missing, but a lot).
So I've been checking into Mexican dentists online. My mother lives in Corpus Christi, TX and has a friend who had a dental partial plate made in Mexico and is happy with both price and product. A lot of the border town dentists have web sites with price lists.
Although I might be able to afford dental implants in Mexico, I decided against it. I'm going to go with some combination of partial plate and bridges (I think I need an upper partial plate and a lower bridge, maybe two lower bridges). Looking at the Mexican prices I can afford that with no problem.
The reason I decided against dental implants is that installing implants is kind of a major surgical procedure. I mean, drilling into bone and stuff just seems kind of major. And a lot of the Mexican dentists talk about how they lower the risk of infection by using new plastic gloves with every patient and using water distilled North of the Rio Grande.
New plastic gloves with every patient? That's something they have to point out that they do? It's part of their special care to control the risk of infection.
I'm diabetic. I have a high risk of infection, and a high risk of big problems if I get an intection. I'm going to pass on having bone drilled into at a place that thinks state of the art infection control means fresh rubber gloves with every patient.
But I am going to Mexico for plate/bridge work.
Labels: dental implants, mexico
posted by Gary Carson at
6:56 AM
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