I ended up getting an implant bridge on the right side of my mouth in order to replace three teeth. When I bite down, the teeth on the right where I have the bridge touch, but now none of the teeth on the left touch. It’s pretty uncomfortable. My dentist said that I am just adjusting to the bridge and eventually I won’t notice it, but I thought the teeth would be the same height as my other teeth. Am I overreacting?
Andrew
Dear Andrew,
No, you are not overreacting. Your dentist is deflecting and it will cause you serious trouble down the line. Your teeth are supposed to line up when they come together, meaning that they come together at the same time and height and “hitting” each other in certain positions. There is an entire field of dentistry about how our bite comes together.
There are two possibilities of what went wrong with your case. You didn’t mention if the dentist also did the surgery or just the restoration. If you saw an oral surgeon and a dentist there needed to be good communication between the two of them and the dentist needed to be the one who makes the decision as to where the dental implants are placed. It is possible the oral surgeon didn’t properly place the implants. A second possibility is that the dentist did the restoration wrong.
If this is not looked at and fixed, it could lead to TMJ disorder. I would like you to get another opinion from a dentist with post-doctoral training in dental implants.
When you go to get this looked at, make sure it is a blind second opinion. By that, I mean do not tell the dentist who did your implants. Just let him look at them and tell him or her what is going on. This way, if he or she knows your dentist they will not feel like they are “ratting him out.”
This blog is brought to you by Des Moines Cosmetic Dentist Dr. Phelan Thomas.