I have spent most of my adult life dealing with tooth issues and have visited dentists, endodontists, orthodontists, oral surgeons, and prosthodontists all over the country and had experimental work done by Department heads at Loyola University. Tens of thousands of dollars and scores of years later all efforts to save my teeth were futile and I ended up with a full upper denture and a partial lower denture.
While comfortable and durable enough, the dentures never approached the efficiency of real teeth and my diet was limited by the compromises you make with traditional false teeth. Also, no matter what adhesive I used, my teeth were never secure enough to make me feel comfortable enough about doing certain things in public -- like singing, acting, preaching . . . I reached a low point while performing as a lead character in a play. I had a violently emotional line to deliver and in the middle of shouting, my dentures flew out of my mouth!
The next day I began researching and visiting more oral specialists and had estimates and timetables for traditional implants that ranged from 2 to 4 years for completion and $10,000 - $16,000 spent to get there. On top of that, all but one of the specialists said that my jaw had deteriorated and demineralized to the point that I could not successfully have traditional implants without a bone graft and that would add another year and thousands more to the cost and timetable! Every one of these specialists told me that mini-implants were a disaster, not thoroughly tested, had a very high failure rate, avoid them at all costs!
What to do?! After doing more research on my own and talking to anyone I could who actually had traditional implants, I knew that I could not continue to flush money down my mouth and I found out that traditional implants are also not a "slam dunk" -- many fail, grafts fail, etc. I was about to just "be satisfied" with the dentures I had when I came across a late night "infomercial" that spent a half hour comparing the different solutions to lost teeth and went back to researching mini-implants more.
To shorten this essay, let me just say that my research led me to this relatively new "franchise" -- Affordable dentures whose whole business model and approach appeared to be at least worth checking out. I went to the nearest one to me -- Dr. Ben Mehta in Rockford, IL and was INSTANTLY impressed by the setting, the professionalism of everyone from reception through delivery of service. Dr. Mehta did x-rays and an MRI and talked to me for quite a while explaining how Mini-Implants met my needs and solved all of the "problems" traditional oral care providers had identified. He also explained the steps involved, the timetable, and the range of costs -- all in MY control! Instead of years to complete it was weeks! Instead of more than $15,000, it would be less than $6000 and that included all of the extractions, temporary dentures, and prep work prior to installing the implants!
I decided to go ahead with the implants and dentures and have never been sorry! The treatment is state-of-the-art, the cleanliness and professionalism is top notch. The treatment from everyone involved is like you have become a part of their family. Now all of that is nice, but if the results are not what I was hoping for, then all of that is meaningless. So! The result? Beyond better than I was hoping for! I have had my implants and dentures for more than 5 years now and can eat almost anything I want. My chewing is 3 times as efficient as anything I could do with traditional dentures. They are also incredibly comfortable. I often forget that I'm wearing dentures. I can sing, act, even whistle (couldn't do that with dentures) AND food TASTES BETTER!?!? Yes, it tastes better because there is no broad covering of the roof of my mouth like normal dentures have. The roof of your mouth is filled with "secondary" taste buds and also helps you enjoy/interpret food Texture.
Dr. Mehta is a VERY skilled dentist. His extraction procedures were the fastest, most efficient, and painless I've ever had. The installation of the implants was also surprisingly fast and resulted -- just as he had cautioned -- in 1 day of pain -- ONE DAY of pain! 24 hours later I felt great. The temporary dentures (while the implants are healing into place and your gums are healing) fit perfectly and worked every bit as well as the one I had for 10 years. Fitting for the permanent dentures produced perfectly fitting permanent dentures, as well.
Bottom line, I have recommended Dr. Mehta to many of my friends and everyone who has gone there has come back thanking me for the recommendation! So, if you're having dental problems RUN, don't walk! to Dr. Ben Mehta at Affordable Dentures in Rockford IL and find a new beginning for yourself! read more