I’ve probably mentioned somewhere in all my nattering that I was going through the process of getting an implant to replace a tooth I cracked in half back in 2009. In December (I think), we finally got the implant landed — not the most fun process in the world. Several checkups and x-rays, and things looked ok… until last week.

Last week was to have been the final checkup. In this one, the oral surgeon was checking the implant with something not far off of a torque wrench. Presumably, that was to check that the implant was gonna stay in place before inserting a permanent post in there, and a crown atop that post. She cranks on it, and then she says “That’s not good” followed by “It failed”. Ugh.

What that means is that the implant — apparently — didn’t survive the torque test, and unscrewed right out of my jaw. After looking at the x-rays, her and dentist decided I needed a bone graft to build up jawbone to help hold the next implant attempt in place. Yesterday, we did the graft.

While it wasn’t the most miserable process in the world — although there was still some mallet-on-skull action this time ’round — the aftermath has been much worse. A ton more swelling, and a lot more pain. To put it in perspective… when the implant was installed, I was hurting for just a few hours, and I only had to take pain meds once. With this thing, I’m coming up on 24 hours of pain meds, and am still hurting. This isn’t uncommon, as they have to really stretch the gum to take all the new bone material that’s been inserted. That gets pretty aggravated, and it certainly isn’t shy about letting me know.

Not a fun way to spend Tax Day!!!!