Blindsided by the Future.

[Selma in Sandy Eggo]

I have, right here in my lower jaw, Frankentooth.

He's sitting on a titanium screw that was implanted last January. He's a temporary Frankentooth, and his permanent brother is due on or about the 15th of next month after some dental lab somewhere casts PermaFrankenTooth from the four epoxy rubber casts made by my dentist today.

Frankentooth was science fiction, of the most speculative and unlikely sort, when I was in high school. He was cutting-edge experimental dentistry when I was in my 40's and nobody I knew could afford a FrankenTooth.

He is now (including the oral surgeon's extraction and implantation fees, all the hardware, and the dentist's multicast afternoon) a prosthetic that any reasonably prudent person can pay cash for. :wow:

Who else has been blindsided by the future?

[barfle]

I also have a dental implant (the procedure for which I contrasted with a far more elaborate internal examination using an existing access port). It's my upper right incisor, one of the two teeth right in front that everyone sees first.

I had broken it off in an accident when I was eleven or twelve, and went through a series of caps, each of which lasted about ten years, then required replacement. While this tooth is certainly different than the natural teeth, it's appearance is pretty good, and it is strong enough that I can actually bite apples like normal folks do.

The procedure was fairly lengthy, requiring several separate surgeries, each of which had to heal, and in the meantime I had a really crappy partial plate that turned out to be far more fragile and generally irritating than I had ever believed possible, but now that it's done, I'm quite pleased with the results. Just remember to keep decent hygiene around it, because it is a foreign object going through your natural defenses.

I wouldn't say I was blindsided by the future, though. I was quite relieved when I discovered that an ongoing irritation could actually be permanently repaired.

[Shapley]

Why would anybody want teeth like Al Frankens?

[DavidS]

Why would anybody want teeth like Al Frankens?

There's no accounting for taste!

[BigJon@Work]

Cash?! Seriously?! The last implant I was quoted was well north of $10,000 I wanna be your buddy if that is petty cash to you.

[Selma in Sandy Eggo]

Cash?! Seriously?! The last implant I was quoted was well north of $10,000 I wanna be your buddy if that is petty cash to you.

Frankie was nowhere near that expensive. The oral surgeon's total bill (including anesthesia, extraction, implant, and followup care) was just north of two G. The dentist, including all those nasty-tasting casts, the temp crown, the fancy custom permaFrankie, was well south of one G.

I don't think this is petty cash - I think it's a bit on the expensive side for a single tooth, but it's a visible tooth, a fixed bridge wouldn't work, and I really really really don't think well of those flipper bridge things. And it compares favorably with what the cosmetic surgeons are charging for vanity work, locally.

[piqaboo]

My blindside is a ~15 yrs old.
I used to wear hard-contact lenses. They have to come out each night (I could actually sleep with them in, but due to O2 deprivation of the ocular lens, I was blind in the am if I did). And I was blind without them.

Because I camped and backpacked etc, it really wasnt fun being blind at night. When extended wear soft lenses came out and were widely fan-fared, I asked my opthamologist to switch me over. I was stunned to learn that without fanfare, gas-permeable rigid extended wear lenses had also been developed. I can sleep in them for a week, and still see as well as if I had been using hard contax. (I'd have lost a lot of visual acuity in the switch to soft lenses).

These lovely devices have made camping more fun, and greatly increased Altoid's security during the first 6 weeks of life, as I could see where I was going in the middle of the night. This reduced the chance I would trip and drop her.

And they cost the same or less than soft lenses. Go figure.

[barfle]

Cash?! Seriously?! The last implant I was quoted was well north of $10,000 I wanna be your buddy if that is petty cash to you.

Methinks you were dealing with either a different implant (perhaps a living organ?), you're not in a competitive marketplace, or (same thing) you have insurance paying for it (but that's another discussion entirely).

Mine cost in the $3k ballpark, and was worth every nickel (although I'm not sure about the 18 months with that stupid flipper).

[dai bread]

My dentist told me that he won't do implants for people engaged in contact sports like Rugby. A good knock on the titanium screw that holds the implant in place will break a jaw.

I have about as many crowns as Queen Elizabeth. They're cheaper than hers though. "Only" NZD 1100 each.

Unlike our medicine, dentistry is unsubsidised for adults. It's largely uninsurable too. Only a few premium policies include it.

[dai bread]

As for being blindsided by the future, this process I'm using now to write to all you people was the domain of big businesses only a few years ago.

When I first got my computer I was told that internet work would appear snail slow compared to what I had at work. Now it's just as fast, if not faster.

Sometimes I get annoyed at young academics who prate about the "necessity" of "change" and say that we should all get used to it. There's been so much "change" in my lifetime that I'm hard pressed to think where to begin listing it. Occasionally people make lists- "you're old if you remember..." I'm very old. Not old enough to remember cylinder records though.

[BigJon@Work]

Cash?! Seriously?! The last implant I was quoted was well north of $10,000 I wanna be your buddy if that is petty cash to you.

Methinks you were dealing with either a different implant (perhaps a living organ?), you're not in a competitive marketplace, or (same thing) you have insurance paying for it (but that's another discussion entirely).

Mine cost in the $3k ballpark, and was worth every nickel (although I'm not sure about the 18 months with that stupid flipper).

Does molar vs. chopper make a difference? My quote was for a molar. And it was 100% out of pocket.

Dai, dental work is becoming uninsurable in the US as well.