Monday, October 15, 2007

..And only seven grand!

Had my dental implants put in today. Given my history (implants in this same space failed), there was extensive preoperative planning: a CAT scan of my jaw, a computer-model plan of the implants.

So this morning I took the express bus to the Loop to go under the knife once again.

Thanks to modern anesthetics it's not a painful procedure, but it's unpleasant nevertheless. The squeak of the scalpel cutting into the gum, the scrape of the blade and other instruments (some of which resemble the bits on a Black and Decker hand drill) on and in the jawbone, keeping my mouth wide open for three hours. It's exhausting. Before I left he gave me another shot of lidocaine to keep me numb for another 6 or 7 hours.

Sitting on the bus home, ice pack pressed to my jaw, I marveled at how amazing it is that I can get up, hop the bus to an office, have titanium screwed into my jaw, hop the bus home, and be ready for work the next day.

That, and how insanely expensive it is (~$7,000), none of it covered by insurance.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Would have been cheaper in Hungary.

JC said...

because they're made of popsicle sticks.