Dr. Mike Malone’s Blog

One of my molars has decayed below my gumline, and both my regular dentist and a specialist I saw said it has to be removed and replaced with a dental implant. I don’t have insurance and want to spread the cost of the two procedures out as much as I can. How long can I wait to get the dental implant after I have the molar removed?

Theodore in Grand Falls

Dear Theodore -

A few things will affect the timing of your dental implant after your molar is fully extracted. First, you must wait for the infection in the socket to heal. As soon as possible after the infection has cleared, you should have the root form placed. I know you wished to take more time, but I would advise you to keep the delay to a minimum. Here’s why.

After just a few weeks, the teeth surrounding the site of a lost tooth will begin to “tip” into the space, and the corresponding tooth in the opposite jaw (the opposing tooth) will begin trying to grow into the space. All of these are natural movements. Our teeth will naturally shift to touch their neighbors, and meet the teeth in the opposite jaw. If left too long, the shifting of teeth due to the missing tooth can cause headaches and TMJ pain, and can be very costly to repair.

The root form of the implant also needs several weeks to heal and to integrate into the bone of your jaw, so your dentist will need to fit you with a temporary tooth to help hold the space. A dental flipper, which is a simple resin tooth mounted on an acrylic plate, would be effective.

Your dentist may be able to work out financial arrangements with you to make your very necessary dental care more affordable. Good luck!

I am currently wearing full upper dentures, and I hate them. Nothing my dentist tries with them seems to work, and he has now suggested that I go to dental implants. I can not afford to do that on my own. Is there any kind of dental insurance plan out there that would help me cover some of the cost of dental implants? Thanks for your help with this.

Eliana from Miami

Dear Eliana,

You’re in a difficult position, and you’ve highlighted a little known issue that occurs when people have all their teeth removed. What many people don’t know is that when you lose a tooth, your body reabsorbs the bone at the site of the missing tooth. If you’ve lost ALL your teeth—whether through extraction or decay—your entire jawbone begins to shrink. After 20 years or so, you will be unable to wear any kind of denture at all. Restoring your oral health at that point becomes a lot more complicated, and will probably require bone grafts in addition to dental implants. Dental implants help halt the bone loss that makes your jaw bone shrink, and can serve as anchors for your dentures if you have no alternative but to have them extracted.

Sadly, no private dental insurance plan I am aware of will pay for dental implants.

To understand this, you have to think about it from the perspective of the dental insurance company. They wouldn’t stay in business long if they sold you a plan and then immediately paid out for coverage that dramatically exceeds the cost of that plan. They are a business, and businesses need to make money.

Dental insurance through an employer makes more sense to most people. Essentially, your employer is using pre-tax dollars to pay for the cost of employees’ dental care (along with a small profit for the insurance company) as a benefit of employment. Dental implants are almost never covered through an employer’s dental plan, either. They pay for the least expensive treatment, which is a denture rather than implants. If you require any kind of extensive dental work, the typical annual maximum of $500-$1,000 doesn’t usually go very far.

Talk to your dentist about financing your care. He may be willing to help you figure out a financial plan that will suit both of you to see you get the care you need. Good luck!