dental implants Archives

Dentist Is Making Me Feel Guilty About Dental Implants

September 10, 2025 by writeradmin

I’ve had massive problems with my teeth for years and am getting dentures. My dentist is pressing me to get dental implants. I just don’t have that kind of money. He’s pretty much told me that I either need to get dental implants or I will ruin my life. I looked at the price and I just can’t afford them. Is the situation really as dire as he says? If so, is there any way to get discount implants?

Marta

Dear Marta,

I am glad you wrote. You didn’t tell me your age, but I’m going to guess you’re younger than in your eighties. What your dentist is worried about is facial collapse. When your teeth are first removed, your body recognizes that. Knowing that you no longer have any teeth to support your tooth roots, your body works to be as efficient as possible and resorbs the minerals in your jawbone. This has the effect of slowly shrinking your jawbone. Eventually, in about ten or so years, you will not longer have enough jawbone left to even support your dentures. In dental circles, that is known as facial collapse. Dental implants prevent this because they signal to your body that you still have teeth and it leaves your jawbone intact.

This is likely what your dentist is concerned about. While he has a genuine concern, I do not agree with how he handled it though. That being said, if you’re looking for a way to get cheap implants, like with a dentist who doesn’t charge much, I do not recommend that. Dental implants is an extremely advanced procedure that requires post-doctoral training.

Dentists who are significantly less expensive than other dentists usually have two reasons for doing that. The first is because they are terrible at their job and have trouble keeping patients. The only way to keep their business going is to keep their prices low enough to draw in new patients. There are countless dental implant horror stories from people who had poorly done dental implants and it led to disastrous problems for them.

A second possibility is that they cut corners another way, like by getting cheap dental implant fixtures. The ones in the United States have to meet stringent safety requirements and cost quite a bit because of that. But, they can also get them overseas for a few dollars. These can lead to big problems.

If you can’t afford full implant supported dentures, then I suggest you try to at least get some mini implants while you save up for the better procedure. These are a safer option for affordable dental implants.

This blog is brought to you by Auburn, AL Dentists Drs. Murphree and Yount.

Am I Too Old to Extract a Wisdom Tooth?

February 28, 2025 by writeradmin

I have a wisdom tooth that is starting to bother me. All of them are impacted, but this is the first time I’ve had any trouble with them. I have a consultation scheduled with a dentist. The thing that worries me is that I am 32 years old. Am I too old to have this extracted if it is infected?

Camille

Dear Camille,

If your tooth is infected, then you will have to have it extracted no matter what the age. An infection from a tooth will continue to spread until the infected pulp is removed. That means a simple toothache can turn into a dental emergency where you are in a lot of pain. If that isn’t treated, it can turn life-threatening as the infection makes it’s way out of your jaw and travels to other parts of your body. Your jaw is close to your brain, heart, and throat. You don’t want the infection reaching there.

While, at your age, your risk factors are up, I don’t start to get worried about the complications until a patient is forty. You mentioned that all of your wisdom teeth are impacted. I am going to recommend that you get them all out. This way you won’t be risking them blowing up when the risks from complications are at their worst.

The good news is that with a wisdom tooth, you don’t have to find a tooth replacement, like you would with any other tooth. That’s because there won’t be gaps between teeth where the other teeth can shift or tip into. If you were losing another type of tooth, I would recommend a dental implant as a replacement.

At your consultation, I would highly suggest you talk to him about removing all the impacted wisdom teeth.

This blog is brought to you by Auburn, AL Dentists Drs. Murphree and Yount.

Why Won’t My Denture Stay In?

April 15, 2024 by writeradmin

I had a denture done quite a few years ago with no problem. It was time to redo it. My dentist gave me one but it just would not stay in. My dentist suggested I give it a few weeks for my gums to adjust to the new denture but that was no help. He had me come in and then said that he thought the problem was likely with my bite. To fix that, he ground down some of the teeth, including the molars, which are now pretty much just nubs. This hasn’t helped either and he is again telling me to give my gums time to adjust. I don’t know what to do.

Cassie

Dear Cassie,

Your dentist’s instruction of saying to let the gums adjust is a stall tactic and will do nothing. There are a couple of possibilities here for what is going on with your dentures. You didn’t say if it was an upper denture or lower denture giving you the problem. If it is the upper denture then giving you a reline may help.

However, let me explain what could be going wrong with that. To get a really accurate impression, your dentist would need to do a two-step impression. First, a heavy impression material is used in order to register where the borders of the denture will be, in a process called border molding. The border is the part of the denture responsible for the suction, which is how an upper denture is kept in place.

This will be followed by a light body material that fills up the interior part of the impression. That will give a good model for all the soft tissue. Sometimes a dentist will cut corners using a single step impression with a medium-body material. This is not as accurate and could be what is happening to you. If you decide to try a reline, be sure to ask for the two-step impression.

If the problem is actually your lower dentures, then a reline or even redoing the denture won’t be helpful. Your lower dentures just rest on the ridge of your jawbone. If you’ve had your dentures for a while, as it sounds like you have, then you are likely struggling with the beginnings of facial collapse. When your teeth were removed, your body began to resorb the minerals in your jawbone. The longer you are in dentures, the more your jawbone shrinks. Somewhere between 10-20 years, depending on how fast your resorption is, you will no longer have enough jawbone to retain your denture.

The solution to this is to first have bone grafting done in order to build up the missing bone. After that, you have two choices. First, you can get dentures again, but be aware that the whole process of facial collapse will begin again. If you want to prevent that, then you will need to have dental implants placed and then have your denture anchored to the implants. Because the dental implants function as tooth roots, it signals to your body that your jawbone is still needed and it will leave it intact.

I hope this helps.

This blog is brought to you by Auburn, AL Dentists Drs. Murphree and Yount.

Can I Prevent “Old Mouth”?

February 23, 2024 by writeradmin

I am just in my late twenties and have had horrible problems with my teeth. I feel like every time I am at the dentist something else goes wrong. Then, I was diagnosed with a calcium deficiency. My dentist said I am fighting a losing battle with the lack of calcium and wants me just to extract the rest of my teeth and get dentures. I remember my grandmother in dentures and her mouth was all scrunched up. She looked ancient. My mother called it old mouth. I don’t want to look that same way, especially as I am still what I consider young. Is there anything that can prevent this?

Peggy

Dear Peggy,

What your mother called “old mouth” is what dentists call facial collapse. This happens to people who are in completely removable dentures because your body recognizes that you do not have any teeth roots in your jaw. To preserve as many resources for the rest of your body as possible, it resorbs the minerals from your jawbone to use elsewhere. This shrinks the bone itself and gives that scrunched up appearance. There is a way to prevent it. However, I have my doubts about what your dentist is saying.

If you developed a calcium deficiency in adulthood, then it would not have any impact on your teeth. Your teeth are fully formed and are not impacted by a calcium deficiency. There would have needed to be a problem during their development. When you are an adult, the impact will give you nerve problems, cramps, and even osteoporosis, but it will not damage your teeth.

You may be wondering why a dentist would tell you to extract your teeth unnecessarily. The truth is dentists will vary in their willingness to work hard in order to save teeth. Some will work tirelessly to save them. Others prefer just to extract problem teeth. You mentioned you’ve had challenges with your teeth. It’s possible this dentist just doesn’t want to deal with them. I recommend getting a second opinion by a dentist who prefers to retain as much natural tooth structure as possible.

If for some reason, it turns out you do end up losing your teeth, you do not have to be stuck with facial collapse. In order to prevent that, you will need to have dental implants placed and then have dentures anchored to them. The dental implants stand in as prosthetic teeth roots and signal to your body that you still need your jawbone intact.

This blog is brought to you by Auburn Dentists Drs. Murphree and Yount.

My Dentures Will Not Stay In

December 27, 2023 by writeradmin

I have been in dentures for about 20 years. Lately, they will not stay in my mouth. I’ve even tried using those denture adhesives, yet nothing is working. I went to see a dentist and he told me that my lower ridge is almost completely gone and that is why my dentures won’t stay in. Do you have any recommendations for me as to whether there is any way to fix it. The dentist I went to see just said that it was a result of wearing dentures for so long. What else was I supposed to do?

Jenny

Dear Jenny,

I certainly understand your frustration. Whatever dentist you went to see certainly did not expend any effort to be helpful. While he is correct that it is a consequence of having worn completely removable dentures for an extended period of time, that does not mean there is not a solution for you. The good news for you is that there is.

First, let me explain what happened. When your teeth were removed, your body recognized you no longer had a tooth roots in your mouth. As a result it begins to resorb the minerals in your jawbone in an effort to be efficient with your body’s resources. Unfortunately, as you have experienced it has the negative side-effect of shrinking your jawbone. I’ve posted an image of this above. In dental circles, this is known as facial collapse.

The first thing you will need to do is have a procedure known as bone grafting done. This will build up the bone that is now missing from your jawbone. Once that is healed, you have two choices. You can simply get new dentures. Though you should be aware that the process of losing your jawbone will start all over again.

A second option is to have dental implants placed in order to serve as prosthetic tooth roots. This will signal to your body that you still have teeth and as result need to keep your bone structure.

You can do this with as few as two dental implants. Though, obviously, the more implants you have the more bone struture will be preserved.

I hope this helps you.

This blog is brought to you by Auburn Dentist Dr. Alan Yount.

Does My Dentist Owe Me A Refund for Not Finishing My Dentures When Promised?

August 31, 2023 by writeradmin

I was moving in two and a half months. I told my dentist this when I went to him about needing to replace the overdenture for my four mini implants. I asked him how long it would take him to make a new one because I was trying to decide if I needed to wait until I was in my new state to take care of it or if I could knock this out before moving. He told me three weeks so I agreed to move forward. Nine weeks later, the thing finally arrives and doesn’t fit. The dentist forces it on and sends me on my way. By the next day, I was in so much pain that I couldn’t even eat a bowl of noodles. I call the office and they squeeze me in but with a different dentist because mine is tied up. He diagnosed a two-fold problem. First, the holes were not drilled out properly. Second, the overdenture was slanted. They said they can order new gaskets which should fix some of this. I’m out of time and have little confidence in this office or their follow through. Is it unreasonable for me to just ask for a refund and get this taken care of after I move?

Drew

Dear Drew,

You are not being unreasonable. Your dentist made a legal agreement with you that the dentures would be ready in three weeks. Three weeks is the standard for turnaround on dentures. He took nine. That alone would be enough but most patients are just happy they got them and move on. However, your situation is different. Even after they came in they were not up to any standard of acceptability. Your dentist should not have forced them on, but instead examined them to see what the issue was.

Here is what I recommend you do. Start out by asking for a refund. Hopefully, he has the wisdom and integrity to realize he blew it here and just give you the refund. If he refuses, you have some leverage here.

Options You Have When a Dentist Refuses a Refund

Tell him you’ll be writing a review warning other potential patients of his lack of follow through, skill, and ethics. Research shows that about 65% of potential patients looking for a new dentist check online reviews.
Go to the dental board. This definitely did not meet the standard of care and you even have one of his colleagues in the same office saying that.
Call your dental insurance, if you have any, and tell them what happened.
Threaten to take him to court. This can be expensive and time consuming so I only recommend this when there is the potential for a payout that makes it worth it. I do not believe your case has a payout that makes it worth your time.

When you get to your new state, make sure the dentist you go to has post-doctoral training in dental implants so you don’t end up in a similar predicament.

This blog is brought to you by Auburn, AL Dentist Dr. Alan Yount.

How Far Back Should Dentures Go?

April 16, 2023 by writeradmin

Can you tell me how far back dentures should go? As it is now, I am chewing on the wisdom teeth gums. I’ve tried to explain to my dentist how uncomfortable this is, but he doesn’t seem to understand (or care) how it feels. Is there anything that can be done about this?

Reggie

Dear Reggie,

To answer the question directly, yes, your dentures should cover the area of your wisdom teeth. In fact, it should go a smidge past that too. My guess is that your dentist understands this and is just pretending not to understand the problem. The reason for this is that the denture would have to be completely redone. That is a lot of work and my guess is your dentist isn’t too interested in more work for no money. That’s not fair to you, but it happens. Different dentists have different work ethics, as well as professional ethics.

Before you try to fight him on this, I want to bring up a different issue. When your teeth were removed, your brain recognizes that and in an effort to be as efficient as possible with your body’s resources immediately begins to resorb the minerals in your jawbone in order to use them elsewhere. With fully removable dentures, this is not preventable. Within ten years or so, you will no longer have enough jawbone to keep your dentures in place anymore. This is known as facial collapse. Another issue you’ll fight from the beginning is chewing capacity. Even the best-fitting dentures will reduce your chewing ability by 50%.

The Solution to Facial Collapse

If you want to prevent the loss of your jawbone, the only way to do that is to get dental implants placed and anchor your dentures to those. These are known as implant overdentures. They will not only prevent facial collapse, but they will be completely secure. You’ll find your chewing capacity problems will be over. You can once again eat anything you want to eat, including steak.

If you are going to re-do your dentures, you may want to consider getting implant overdentures instead. I will not lie, they are much more expensive, but your quality of life will be significantly higher.

That being said, I do not think your dentist is going to be the one to do it. If dentures are out of his reach (and effort), I would go elsewhere for your dental implants. It requires someone who has post-doctoral training. Otherwise, you can end up with a disaster.

This blog is brought to you by Auburn Dentist Dr. Yount.