I had 3 teeth with root canals but one that was very much a problem tooth.The root canal was very difficult to do as calcification has taken place in the tooth and took many attempts from the dentist to puncture thru the calcification. He kept applying something to the area and the next visit it allowed him to drill further into the calcification. After 5 or 6 attempts he still was unable to drill thru it entirely. I ended up at an oral surgeon doing a top down root canal.
I found out from a different dentist I began seeing later that it appeared the tooth had been punctured, probably during all of those attempts from my dentist to drill thru the calcification, my guess.
I’ve had the root canalled tooth for 10-12 years – dealt w/ infections constantly. Had to flush out w/ antibiotic washes or germ killing mouth washes daily w/ a syringe.
This tooth required endodontic surgery about 3 yrs ago. Endodontist found that a piece of what looked like a cotton ball left in the area where the puncture of the tooth had happened I think. This caused the root area above the gum line to be very black.
I am now seeing a biological dentist that has removed this tooth along with 2 other root canalled teeth (both canine’s and one tooth right behind the right canine). It was extremely difficult to get the tooth described above removed from the bone and a lot of clean up was required. All 3 sites had to have bone grafting done. This procedure was done in January. I went in March for follow up and xrays to see how the grafting looked. He stated that he felt the bone had healed and filled in nicely, well enough for implants.
During our review of plan to move forward, he made me aware that my sinus membrane is extremely low. He made a statement that if he felt he was uncomfortable doing the implant, he would refer me to a specialist. He has a wonderful reputation; in fact, he has clients that come to him from all over the country and even other countries. He has been in practice for many years. I feel he would be honest with me. He has since mentioned that thru some additional training he has had he feels he can manage the sinus cavity issue.

The other 2 root canalled teeth have not caused me on going issues that I was aware of thru the years. I am now well aware that no root canal is a good root canal, so I’m sure there were issues that I was unaware of. I am less concerned about getting an implant in those sites but really wonder about the left canine area. The very low sinus cavity really bothers me also. What do you think about risk involved w/ a) a sinus cavity so low that he 1st thought he may have to refer me and b) the left canine area accepting an implant well?

Additionally, we were looking at putting in the zirconia implants. During the follow up visit, he let me know he was having a very high rejection rate of these and did not recommend them. He states he only uses pure titanium and the rejection rate extremely low. I think they said they had only had 1 or 2 patients reject. I have since read one of the main risks associated with Zirconium based implants is radioactivity. I had originally thought they were safer. From what I understand in my research generally implants are produced from Zirconia material with extremely low radiation emission levels however all manufacturers of Zirconia dental implants are asked to produce a declaration of radioactivity for their Zirconium based dental products. Does your biological dentist use zirconia implants? What are your thoughts Zirconia? He also said that some dentists don't use pure titanium like he does and that mixed metal titanium posts could cause higher rejection rates.

On a side note, my biological dentist uses a CT scan instead of xrays to determine progress. They told me their unit was manufactured in Germany and has minimal radiation compared to standard CT Scans, somewhere between the amount of radiation of a panorama xray and a set of standard rays. Your thoughts?

In general, I am nervous about risks of infection, possible nerve damage, and the chance that inserting the titanium rod into the jawbone will rupture the sinus membrane since mine is so low. I currently wear a valplast fairly comfortably. It was a perfect fit w/ no required adjustments. However, I find it tiring to wear after having it in all day and look forward to taking it out at home. I could just continue with a valplast but at 50, that leaves me many years (hopefully ) to “look forward to taking it out at home”.

Looking for feedback on my decision.
Thank you for your time.
Alane