Oral Surgery

On Tuesday, I faced up to one of my big fears and for the first time in 10 years, had oral surgery.

In April of 2002, I had a tooth that required root canal, so my AMAZING dentist, Dr. Robert Vavolizza DDS referred me to an endontist. I hate when it is something Dr. Bob can't do...

No one but Dr. Bob had done anything dental related to me since 1987 when my wisdom teeth were removed. I trust him. And dental stuff scares me.

So the root canal failed... and the pain was unbearable ( and I have given birth for goodness sake!)

After 4 days, my tooth was pulled. The oral surgeon filled the hole with fake bone and mentioned getting an implant at a later date... I was not feeling it.

Dr. Bob mentioned the idea of an implant each year when I saw him...

I wasn't feeling it.

I moved to Ohio and realized I would need a new dentist... Major problem... I had been seeing Dr. Bob since I was 18 years old...

I got my kids set up with Marie Callen, an AMAZING peds dentist... but she doesn't see adults...

Then I found Dr. Gilles... and his son- also Dr. Gilles...

And Dr. Ross Gilles, that is the son, and I chatted about the idea of an implant. Clearly he caught me on a good day. Or maybe it was just time. And I am trying new things this year after all.

So he made the referral and I went to see Dr. Bonomo.





Dr. Bonomo is nice, knows his stuff and we set up the surgery. His staff reviewed the pre-med antibiotics and post-op care I needed to follow... And I considered cancelling right up until I showed up in his office.

I was not willing to do anesthesia other than novocaine injection, so I was awake and breathing through my nose, chilling with my I-pod... And Dr. Bonomo humored me by taking all the photos so I can show you all that it was not nearly as bad as I had made it in my head all those years...

The surgical set-up is a bit intimidating.










This is Dr. Bonomo...
I teased him that this is a bit too "Little Shoppe of Horrors" for my taste


So this is our starting point.

My molar has been missing since 2002



My pre-op x-ray shows where the fake bone was installed in 2002



Before



Exposing the ridge- you can see the bone



The guide post in place shows the implant will be straight and level



X-rays of the guide in place





The implant



Dr. Bonomo is ready to install my implant



Implant in place



Side view



Implant in place and stem removed



X-ray of implant in place


Capped for now


So I am still on my antibiotics and am being careful of what I eat. I am a bit achy and swollen, but the pain meds keep it bearable. I go back to Dr, Bonomo in a week for follow-up and back later to have my stem installed- then I will be able to have Dr. Gilles make my crown. All in all, not too bad.

Which surprises me... in a good way!