New teeth

The process begins

I'm reclined nervously in the dental chair at Integrated Dentistry in Mountain Home staring into the glowing dental light. Dr. Derrick Johnson has just applied the topical stuff that dulls sensation in the rear gums on both sides to ease any discomfort from the numbing injections he'll soon administer before removing four upper molars.

The show begins in a matter of minutes.

I wrote initially of the first step involved in replacing my original molars with implants and what was involved leading up to this day. That experience consisted, you might recall, of lots of discussion, X-rays, scans, impressions from which the doctor can fashion a temporary partial that will last the next several months, and a timetable to see it completed.

As with the hip replacement I wrote about 12 years ago to hopefully bring encouragement to others facing the same operation, I believe many among us in the fall of life will be turning to dental implants and wondering what it's like to go through the process.

Oddly enough in the final week before the actual process began, I confess to feeling a melancholy sense of impending loss. Yeah, I know, silly, yet I couldn't shake the feeling that I was about to forever lose deeply personal parts that had been important parts of serving me across most of a lifetime. I remembered feeling the same lament when my hip was removed.

Now my moment to face reality has arrived, gulp! It's time to man up and get this most difficult phase of exchanging the permanent teeth I've relied upon since childhood for the artificial implanted ones. Hopefully, the new models to be attached to the bones beneath my sinuses will serve well until chewing becomes, well, irrelevant.

Dr. Johnson already has spent a lot of time explaining his plan for my restored mouth and exactly what he'll be doing, as well as why it's necessary.

Those are positive things because I feel confident as he now trains the light and administers the numbing injections with the aid of an innovative device that carefully measures the flow of Novocaine so as to make any pinching sensation minimal. It works.

For the next hour I feel nothing but the sensation of the doctor applying the pressure necessary to remove each tooth and make certain he's gotten the tip of each root. A couple of delicate broken tips provide him a slight challenge. But one by one, all signs of the teeth are removed. And through it all, despite the pre-visit anxieties, I've felt only minimal discomfort.

After the teeth were extracted, Dr. Johnson used a laser to prepare the bone at the base of where each molar had been. Then he applied a matrix of bone paste into each cavity where in coming months the mixture hopefully will attach to my existing bone, thereby creating a much more solid and strengthened base to eventually secure the implants. Adding bone is a common step, he said, when implanting teeth into the upper half of a mouth because the bone structure of our sinuses is naturally thinner and not as strong as the lower jaw.

Then the doctor carefully stitched each cavity closed and told me not to use a straw or make any sucking motions. He said he didn't want me to become his first case of suffering a painful "dry socket" from a pulled tooth. I didn't.

Ten days later, I was back in the same chair where Dr. Johnson removed the stitches and said everything looked ideal. Then he snapped the temporary partial of molars he'd created into my mouth, adjusted them a bit to perfect the bite, and said "the worst part's behind you now. We'll see you in a few months to place the implants."

I left his comfortable, friendly office smiling and realizing yet again that John Denver was right when he sang: "All the things that you fear, at the most they mean nothing."

Why not George?

Since Micah Neal's sudden and unexpected decision to leave the Republican Party in Washington County without a candidate for county judge, I went to the closet and put my thinking cap on. It looks a tad like one of those pointed dunce caps of old, only mine's lined in aluminum foil to block the static.

Who would I choose as a GOP candidate? Who would I select that seems free of the mucky political infighting and personal vendettas?

Why, I'd pick none other than George Braswell, formerly of the county's road department. Not only was Braswell the outspoken whistle-blower that made the world aware of the two unsafely built bridges that had to be repaired, but he's always struck me as one of those people who always seemed to want to do most everything the correct way ... you know, along with some integrity and honor.

Since he reached his lawsuit settlement with the county, George has been enjoying some hard-earned respite. So he's certainly available.

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Mike Masterson's column appears regularly in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. Email him at [email protected].

Editorial on 07/24/2016

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