Today I had my tooth implants for the third time in my life.
Some forty years ago my dentist who is still a patient of mine in his late 80's
diagnosed my dental health as terminal and
told me to expect to lose all teeth within two years.
He said the cause was gum disease I had had since childhood.
I was in my late thirties then.
It has been my life-long endeavor to restore my dental health ever since.
I did everything he told me to because we both trusted each other,
I as his patient, and he as my patient.
So he sent me to gum specialist who treated me every three months
for two years, then discharged me.
Then my dentist, Lou, had me go to tooth implant surgeon,
I got three new teeth that will outlive me.
This was some twenty years ago.

In the meantime Lou was regularly working on me to prolong
the lives of each tooth besides extracting some one third of them.
He put me through some three or four bridgings,
some three or four root canals, etc.
Then he retired, and his son, who is also a patient of mine, dentist, 
took over my care. He was after me for tooth implants on the left side
where he extracted all the teeth.
I still remember that day when I lost last two teeth on that side
because right away I was speaking funny.
Words were coming out without sharpness, without accents.
I lost confidence in talking.
Ever since then, I've been very careful in talking with others, particularly strangers.
Then he, my dentist Joe, moved out of the state after selling his practice.
My new dentist, Ron, had to pull out two teeth next to the old strong implant teeth,
which could not keep up with the stainless steel teeth.
Ron had me try false teeth, which gave me nothing but pain,
so he had this wonderful, new implant surgeon,
Bob, give me two new ones a year ago.
 
I liked Bob very much so I had him do the left side today.
It took him three full hours with two assistants to give me four new ones.
Then he gave me the best news I've been longing to hear, i.e.
I don't need anymore implants because I am able to get by for the rest of my life
with what I got, namely consisting of nine implanted teeth and all the bridgings
and a few natural teeth.
By the way my gum has been as healthy as anybody's over ten years.
My lifetime dream, it seems, has been fulfilled with the help of
modern dental science, my persistence and money
(incidentally, I have not carried dental insurance so you can imagine).
 
One more thing I came to like to go to the dentist.
I like all the dentists. I like all the hygienists, nurses and their secretaries.
I even became a sort of masochist, liking all the needles
they are giving me before the dental works.
I always hear the complements from the dentists and nurses alike
that I am one of the best patients.
Today my dental nurse gave me the praise that topped all the previous ones.
She said, "You're the best patient I've encountered in my career of many years.
You did better than the people under general anesthesia."

I must confess what I was thinking during those three hours
my surgeon was chiseling, drilling, screwing with much of his arm muscle,  and hammering
sometimes making me feel like my jaw and the entire head coming off
while his two nurses suctioning, and retracting my mouth corner
so hard with the retractor so that the corner was torn slightly.
Yes, I did feel the pain but I knew I can handle it a short period of time.
One or two times the surgeon's needle poked my unanesthetized tongue
while suturing my gum in a limited field.
Yes, I felt the pain but brief. And I wondered how many times
I did the same to the patients when I was in training and working in the ER.
But I was relaxed and contented.
 
Oh, my confession which was,
"After I got bored with all my memorized prayers,
I was imagining and almost seeing my Creator Who
was laughing and smiling as HE was watching my surgeon at work.
Here this dentist is sweating to give me the four teeth for three hours.
I could see HIM feel sorry for him and smiling and at times laughing."

*Of note, in the first 10 years after my first implant,
they could not do the left side because of not enough bone depth
resulting from the sinus cavity on that side is reaching low.
In recent years one of new technics allowed the implant possible,
which I don't want to elaborate here.
In addition, I had to have a specialized CT scan to locate the mandibular nerve
in the lower jaw not to let the implant touch the nerve(not covered by Medicare and
BCBS). If you google tooth implant, you will note a small incidence of post implant
neuritis in the lower jaw. One of physicians I know got it after the procedrue by
his friend dentist. I wanted to share my dental experience with others on this page.