Throughout November of 2025 I interviewed, in person, five different dentists to determine the best one I could find. I read reviews from dentists specializing in full arch, uppers & lowers, from Denver to Cheyenne & exchanged emails with practices in Greece & Mexico. The international ones were cheapest, of course, and they include housing & airfare. However, after reading about the procedure from many sources, it was clear to me many return visits over four to six months would be required to obtain an excellent fit. This turns out to be true.
Here’s the experience, generally. My regular dentist, after filling nearly each tooth over several weeks & refilling a few, declared I needed each & every tooth crowned. It seems “something“ was causing my teeth to rot. I had been told, about forty years ago, that if I kept up my dental habits, I’d have good, strong teeth, forever. However, about five years ago something, unknown, did happen. I started having regular mouth pains & cavities appeared regularly. Cause is still unknown.
My dental adventures begun. Getting an estimate from my dentist became a struggle. Finally, I got a $25k price in early November 2025 in which my insurance would only pay $2k. Again my reading convinced me that crowns, for my situation, was not a good, long term solution. Since the cause of the “rot”& the pain & inflation was still unknown it seems that this technique might not solve the under lying issue. I continued my quest…
Full arch (dentures screwed onto posts drilled into my jaw bone) came to the top for solutions. My first dental visit to learn about this process was very good experience. The dentist’s assistant took xrays & determined I had sufficient bone density to move forward. The snag was their marketing techniques & ultimately, price.
First, let me point out that there are several different types of dentures that can be used to replace my teeth. This first dental practice quotes $30k to remove all my teeth, under full sedation (which I’m not thrilled about) &, same day, bolt down custom new dentures. They spent a lot of time showing me a variety of styles (who knew?) & quality of materials that can be used. Turns out the 30k buys a “starter set” that should last about three to five years. The “good stuff”, guaranteed a lifetime, is $10k, per arch (so $20k). Now we are at $50k. More interviews needs & mostly follow this approach to the surgery.
My “favorite” visit is, what appears to me, an attempt to be elite furnishing & first contact personnel. The lady as I entered wasn’t at a desk but carried a tablet to check my details. She was dressed & talked like she was planning on us to go out dancing after the backroom discussions were finished. As you’ll see, we didn’t.
I was shown a waiting area, complete with fireplace, fish tank & a wide variety of drinks & canape’. I chose a Perrier & waited. Waited over twenty minutes; time enough to name all the fish. Another young lady eventually fetched me, mis-pronouncing my name, and showed my to a typical dental chair with a large window overlooking a nice, green park. I waited about five minutes until a very young man, in scrubs, appeared. He immediately started his, clearly rehearsed, speech. I interrupted him to ask how soon an appointment would be available. He promptly excused himself, say, “I’ll go check”. More waiting… At least fifteen minutes later, I left without talking with anyone else. My only contact with this dental practice since was an email wanting me to rate them. Ha!
I did ask my regular dentist to give me their estimate for this type of surgery, including lifetime arches. I’ve not heard anything more from them.
Along the way I interviewed, or visa versa, a dentist is Wellington. I liked him very much but felt it was important to learn all I could from several others to feel I made the best choice. It appears to be a very small practice and the dentist never seemed rushed & is very talkative: full of related (& minimally related) information. I liked this very much. I don’t like general anesthesia, if at all available. I broke my upper arm several year back & a rod & screws were installed. I did have general anesthesia for this. However, I’ve had two colonoscomies, a stint put in my heart & bilateral carpel tunnel surgeries (& several less severe surgeries) all without general anesthesia. This Wellington dentist does the double arch implant surgery using general anesthesia, primarily. However, he was willing to listen to me & do mine without the general (not his first time). Also, not a major factor, it saved me $3k to not need the anesthesiologist. He also will, after a few temporary arches to insure fit, make & install a tungsten backed, “diamond teeth” set of implant dentures. He also provided a Water Pik, custom dental guards for night wear, & many, many visits to check fit & comfort, all for the low, low price of $37k.
A date in late November & one three weeks later in December, were set. Unfortunately, I got RSV & pneumonia about Thanksgiving & a new set of dates, starting January 29th, were set. Should I have considered this an omen? I didn’t.
I bought protein shakes, ice cream, mashed potatoes & pudding. The pharmacy sent me Penicillin pills, Percocet & ibuprofen (800mg) in preparation of “the day”. I stopped taking the low-dose baby aspirin a few days before the surgery. My wonderful wife had PBJ sandwiches & dried apples ready for the eight hour waiting room stint as my driver & support. In some ways I expected her sacrifice to be great than mine. Taking care of me like this and post surgery can’t be easy.
On this Thursday we made the nearly one hour drive to start the ordeal at 8 AM. Nothing went unexpected, I’ll note here, but I also can’t say it was expected, either. Every one in the office is friendly & helpful but I’m anxious so, believe it or not, I don’t talk much. EKG, pulse-ox, blood pressure cuff are attached. IV started in my right arm & the doc injects a little something to “relax” me. Then the serious shots into my upper gums begin…
I’ve had a couple of teeth pulled before and find the most intimidating part to be the sounds. I’m having a full set of upper teeth “cracked, twisted & snapped away” to facilitate the implants. After becoming toothless above comes the grinding of bone to present the even surface for the dentures to “almost” rest. There is, actually, about one millimeter between the dentures & gums. The dentures mount on the five implants, in my case. That’s what comes next. The implants – actually hollow titanium tubes – are screwed into holes that are drilled into my jawbone (more bizarre sounds). Finally metal studs are inserted in those nuts & the denture is fitted over those & tightened with a tiny torque wrench to 20 newton per cm². That, too, is a snapping, squeaking, squealing cacophony that is mostly heard only by the bone conduction experienced in my head.
Between the time my teeth are all removed & the denture is mounted (about five hours) the denture/arch is being printed, in house. The 3D printer, building up from liquid resin, makes a reasonable facsimile of my original teeth, minus gaps, holes & filling. However, in my case it doesn’t quite include my farthest back molars as there isn’t enough “good” bone to mount implants do to, largely, teeth that had been removed years ago. Also, one original tooth remains as it happens to be very health, has a very long root that goes into my sinus & should work as a good foundation for the denture to abut. It may need to be crowned later, which my good doctor declared will be included in the original price (yay!).
Ok. If you’ve read this far, let me say that this is the easy part, from my perspective. Recovery…
After the denture was bolted in place Diana drove us the 50 minutes home. The Novocain (not the actual shot-in-the-gum medication used today) & an injection in the arm of an upscale Ibuprofen, kept the pain at a dull roar for the trip. I took a Percocet, drank some protein shake & relaxed in bed. I slept reasonably well, that night, as compared to the next several days. The next morning, - I’ll call it day two – was starting out poorly. Painful. I took 800mg of Ibuprofen AND 500mg of acetaminophen about every six to eight hours but it takes nearly an hour to kick in and lasts about four hours. That leaves a balance of, at least an hour, before the next dose and another hour to kick in. I found, by-the-way, 800mg of IBU & 500mg of Acetaminophen is much more effective than switching off every three or four hours as is generally recommended. I prefer the four hours of relief rather than just some partial relief.
Day three things got worse… I blacked out for a second in the shower. Probably a result of regular meds and the extremely hot water (lowers blood pressure) that I’ve enjoyed nearly every day my whole life. This time the combination was too much. I cut my leg and arm and knocked down a shelf unit in the shower stall (which I don’t remember hitting) but, fortunately, no sign of hitting my head or jaw. My wonderful wife and son helped me get to the car and a trip to the ER. After leg Xray & internal CT scan no new problems were found. The next several days did get progressively better but the standard, it seemed to me, started pretty low. About ten days later I could see that I was improved and could begin eating some crackers & cream cheese and similar food. To this point the hardest food I ate was a Cadbury Egg. Surprising how solid that chocolate shell really is!
Day fourteen I return to the dentist for evaluation. All as expected at this point except pain in the roof of my mouth. Apparently a stray stitch is irritating it & causing a blister or welt that make eating almost anything painful.
Here’s the “fun” part… it’s now twenty days later and I’ve had the lower teeth removed this day & the temporary arch bolted into place on the bottom. I went through the noises distributed through my bones. I feel the pressure of cracking & breaking the bad teeth apart and the digging for the long, long roots that wouldn’t come easily. Because no sinuses to deal with this session was shorter (about four hours) but all the other parts of extraction were similar to the uppers. Let me mention at this point I truly believe I’ve chosen the right dentist! He talks (& sings) most of the time so that I feel I know what is going on. I know he’s cognizant of my attention & probably is careful to not worry me if things go poorly for a bit (unnecessary) but I appreciate knowing. Also, & perhaps most important to me, is his suturing skill. I’ve had very little bleeding a very good healing, so far. I’m very happy for that.
The next two to three days will be the worst, if the uppers surgery is any indication. I’ll add more as recovery develops.
Day 4/24 - The swelling is present but significantly reduced. I will eat some soup today & that'll be about the thickest food I'll try for few more days. Now that the swelling is down my tongue is exploring the newest addition. Some of ridges & such I thought I felt the past few days were mistakes in my discovery. My tongue can now feel the symmetry along the denture that wasn't apparent with swelling - with one exception.
I don't have a denture tooth opposite my natural tooth. I only have very tender gum & stitches at the farthest right end of the lower arch. That tooth was the last to come out & the biggest struggle. I don't know if that's related to not being covered or not. I believe the next arch will extend back over & match the upper arch. Discussion to follow, I'm sure. It's not a sprint...
Day 11/31 - We went to my my grandson's, Oliver, birthday party mid-day. I'd hoped to stick around & talk, etc. for a couple of hours but it just exhausted me very quickly. We stay less than an hour & drove back home. While I do believe I feel progress daily, I still survive on three Ibuprofen & acetaminophen daily. When I try to skip a dose the pain gets to be too much. There is much less swelling & I can use the WaterPik on my upper arch without too much pain but the lowers just get a salt water bath a couple of times a day. Even without obvious swelling pain radiates from above & below. A marathon...
Day 12/32 - Amazing! Finally feeling better. I return for a dental exam in two days. That's exactly when I turned the corner after the uppers were removed. Wow!
Day 14/34 - Got two thumbs up from the doc today. Now I should WaterPik uppers & lowers; ok to use a straw for drinking (but no popcorn until final dentures :( Soft diet for 6wks more, at least. The primary concern is breaking/cracking the resin denture but also possible to loosen the implants. I'll return in 9wks & get new temporary arches with some (minor) changes. Pain is decreasing but I'm still doing ibuprofen 2-3 times a day & Percocet at night. The lowers healed quicker than the uppers so we'll consider time of exams, fittings, etc. as one event from here on out. Baby steps...
Day 35+/- I wore/wear a mask in public so not to get sick. I was afraid of sneezing or blowing my nose given the fragility of my gums. Well, I have a small cold, anyway. I take Sudafed, & it helps relieve the sore throat & have sneezed a few times & blown my nose, lightly, a couple of times. No noticeable issues with the newly stitched tissue (newly as in 2 - 5 weeks ago). This is a great relief to me. Dry socket-like problems is no joke.
I ate some garlic bread, too. I was concerned about the tearing or pulling motion needed on the relatively tough crust but, again, at this level of healing, I've experienced no problems. Next I think I'll try some peanut butter on bread or Club Crakers. I use the WaterPic &/or toothbrush several times a day because the feel of anything remaining on my teeth or under an arch is very uncomfortable. That sensation is easing so only eating liquids isn't totally necessary. I'll be traveling overnight thus weekend & that will be another milestone for this experience.
An unexpected effect of not having natural teeth is (Ok - I've 1) is not feeling what you eat immediately. The "push" against the jaw bone via the implants is quite a lot more subtle, at least so far, compared to feeling through the nerves that are inside natural teeth. I'm getting used to it. Also, the "sound" of the arches clanking together is rather loud. I'm guessing it is a result of bone conduction through the implants to the jaw bones to the skull & ears... Just another weird sensation I'm sure I'll get used to & ignore.
Day 45 - Progressing - slowly, it feels. I am down to one ibuprofen/acetaminophen combo a day - usually late afternoon.
Day 51 - Yesterday &, so far today, no pain relievers! I'm beginning to "feel" what I'm eating, too. Generally a feeling of mushiness where my gums & lips meet & using the roof of my mouth more to distribute food around & taste it more. Food isn't tasteless it is just a different approach to finding the textures & adding that to the basic tastes. That's something, I think, that was automatic a couple of months ago.
Day 60 - Sugar. White, refined, everyday sugar. I had a pancake (at a Denny's) for the first time this year. I like just butter & sugar (no syrup) on my pancakes (grew up poor). My first bite was LOUD! It seemed like there was a mass of sand in my pancake. I took them apart looking if the cook had made a mistake. Nothing unexpected. Another bite & I realized it was the grandulated sugar. Now, my point here is that the sound & taste of foods is so much different. It is taking a lot of adjustment. Just another unexpected side effect of fake teeth.
Day 75 - Had gotten, pretty much, used to this first set of resin arches. I'll call them Set One. A couple of days ago my tongue was feeling "something" behind the front top teeth. I had a diastema before Set One, with my original teeth, so feeling a small gap didn't seem too odd to me. However, today, the top arch could move, slightly. This had never happened before. It was late afternoon so I immediately called my dentist's office. They weren't open the next day BUT they brought someone in, just for me, particularly as I was leaving the state the next afternoon for 10 days. Good thing they are so accommodating and good I called. As it turned out the upper arch had split completely! Apparently this isn't terribly uncommon for resin arches and when I arrived (just me and the dentist today) he'd already made a new arch! In less than an hour Upper One-A is installed and appropriately modified and I made my travel schedule. These feel somewhat different but very close. This is a great system!
Day 77 - My tongue is feeling a slight bump behind and between my top front teeth and a slight divit in the front between them. Paranoia?
Day 99 - Installed version Two. Took about 1 1/2hr. She is very carefull & it's painless (yay!) Return in a couple of weeks to make a few adjustments in teeth size & midline position and install version Three. I've been cleaning them well, apparently (a big concern of mine). I do have 3 waterpics - 1 in shower & two travel versions. I keep one in the car & one at the sink for quick touch up. More paranoia? Feels like the home stretch but really it'll be about 6 more weeks until final set are installed.
Day 103 - Curious, at least to me, how different each new set feels. My tongue gets sore (have I mentioned that?) with each change. It's just now getting used to the new set; the new nooks & crannies. The "teeth" are very sharp, or feel that way, at first. After a few days they feel less so, more "normal". I don't think there is an actual change. I don't think they've worn down. Again, I thi k, it's a tongue thing.
I mentioned how, in the beginning, there is a disconnect between my denture teeth touching the food and the feeling of it "happening". While not completely the same as with my original teeth the sensation is getting closer. I doubt it will ever be 100% the same "mouth feel" as before. I don't see it as a problem, though.
Questions encouraged: ndaungst@yahoo.com