Teeth, bones, Osteo and calcium

I've always had poor teeth and soft bones.  That is fact.  Now, in my mid 50s, I'm a borderline osteo patient.  So when I decided to have all this work done it was imperative that the bones would heal around the implants.  Having sold my soul for this procedure, or actually, remortgaged myself up to my "teeth", I figured I'd better ensure my investment.  Load up on Calcium!  That in itself is an enormous undertaking.  You cannot take oral calcium without food.  Mind you, most oral calcium is calcium carbonate, i.e. derived from shell matter, which results in writhing agony unless you eat hearty.  So there I was, popping one of these horse pills with every meal - taking 3 times the normal amount, but only half as much more as the "Normal" person on the precipice of osteo.  For the record, I've never eaten 3 squares a day which was an undertaking in itself.  Required discipline, too!  I was so pleased with myself, despite that I was walking an extra 45 minutes every night in the freezing cold to work off the excess calories.  When I next saw my surgeon I was delighted to tell him my endeavours of the calcium.  Well, seems I'm not quite as brilliant as I thought.  My surgeon, Dan the Darling, as I've now come to think of him, advised me that too much calcium, particularly calcium carbonate, can cause long-term kidney problems if taken in more than adequate doses. Can't I do anything right????  In "right" I mean, proactive?  Is there nothing I can do to assist my prognosis and final result?  Apparently more research is in order!  Will keep you posted.

Osseointegration 90% complete !

Yahoo!  Saw my implantologist yesterday for x-rays.  My right side (3 implants) are perfect.  Bone mass is great.  The left side where he placed 4, is almost there. He said that I could continue with my reconstruction, i.e. get some teeth!, in about 4 weeks, if I chose to do so.  However, there's a few things to consider here.  One - if you rush the process your failure rate increases.  Beware the dentist who says you can get implants fully completed within weeks or a month!  He can do the work but can your bones handle it?  Two - I'm on the borderline of osteoporosis.  Come on, I'm 55 and the bones just aren't what they were.  I've been without side teeth for months so why would I rush the process?  Lastly, there's a heck of a lot of money at stake.  My hard-earned cash.  I said from the outset that I would wait 7, 8 or 9 months, whatever it took, as long as the process was successful.  So, to make a long story short, I've decided to wait till end of March to start the next stage.  I can't tell you how much I'm going to enjoy chewing food again!

A screw is not a problem!

Have you been waiting with bated breath?  My abject apologies....  December becomes quite hectic between my job and my family, which, by the way, are a couple of thousand kilometers away.  January is the month to regroup so, here I am, back in the saddle.

A brief update - one day mid December something fell out of my mouth while I was eating lunch and I nearly had a coronary worrying about it.  The thing landed in my hand - a screw!  I eventually determined that this screw of the ....  hmmmm...  not explaining this well.  Let's see.  An implant is a screw with a cylider attached to the end.  The screw goes into the bone, which is when you pray that the osseointegration occcurs.  Then there's a sort of miniature cylinder attached to the screw which also goes into the bone.  It should be flush with your bone when surgery is complete.  Then there's ANOTHER screw which plugs the cylinder.  It's only meant to be a plug I think.  Anyway....   the screw ended up in my hand and off to the surgeon I went, fearful that my money had already been wasted.  I was assured that it was, in fact, merely a screw and that they do come loose as a result of all the motion within a persons mouth (mastication).  Surgeon got out his screwdriver, gave my a few shots of Joy Juice and I was back to work in 45 minutes.  So....  a screw is nothing to concern yourself about.  It's just a little piece of metal.

Promise I'll be back very soon!