Implant
After a long fight, my dentist (the fantastic and highly recommended Dr. James Crabtree in Arcadia) and I decided that my #3 upper right molar could not be saved. A botched crown some years back did the damage, but what can you do?
Dr. Ardary, an excellent oral surgeon in Arcadia, extracted the tooth long ago, and late in 2008 he did a sinus augmentation to build up the bone structure in my upper jaw so that it could handle the implant.
Today, he placed the implant. In ten days the stitches come out, and in three to six months he'll do some more, relatively minor work to prepare it for the crown. Dr. Crabtree takes over then, creating a mold for the crown, then installing it. Implants are more like car repair than traditional dentistry, but I think they are much preferred over bridges.