Recently, I had an old bridge removed because the tooth holding the bridge became unstable and needed to be removed. My dentist was very reluctant to put in another bridge that would span the length of two false teeth. He felt a bridge spanning that distance would not be stable, and that I would probably have trouble with it down the road.

He recommended that I visit the Shenandoah Valley Implant Institute to learn about implants and my options. "Implants", I asked? "Yes, implants", my dentist replied. "It’s the latest thing, is much more stable than a bridge, will never give you any trouble, and is no more expensive than a bridge."

When I got home my wife asked me, "What did the dentist say?" "He suggested I get implants instead of another a bridge", I replied. "What? How does that work", my wife asked? "Well, I guess they put you under, cut your gum open (the two teeth space), drill two holes in your jaw bone, hammer and crazy glue two metal posts into the bone, sew that all up, and wait three months for it all to heal and for the bone to grow around the posts", I replied. "Gee, that sounds painful. How will you eat", she asked? "I guess I’ll have to be on liquids for a few weeks at least", I said.

I made an appointment with the Shenandoah Valley Implant Institute, and shortly thereafter I was in the chair and Dr. Steven Saunders saying to me, "There is a new procedure for implants, and you’re a perfect candidate. This will be a piece of cake!" ("I’ll bet all dental surgeons say that," I thought). Then Dr. Saunders made a cast of my lower and upper teeth.

A few weeks later I delivered the cast to a local hospital where they took a CAT Scan of my mouth with the cast in place. A few minutes later the hospital handed me a CD of the results (no music) to return to Dr. Saunders with my cast. When I returned the cast and CD to Dr. Saunders, Twanna (SHE really runs the place) made me an appointment for about a month later for the procedure.

Now remember, I’m thinking, "Sodium pentothal, cutting, bleeding, sewing, soreness, liquids for breakfast, lunch, and dinner for a week, drugs, missing work (missing work wouldn't be so bad), bla, bla, bla."

Well, the day of the procedure came very quickly. I didn’t sleep too well the night before, and I made sure NOT to eat any breakfast that morning (They always tell you to FAST before any major surgery, but Dr. Saunders must have forgotten to tell me to do that. No problem, I thought. I know what to do. I’ve had major surgery before.).

I was in the chair at 9:03 a.m. (I checked my watch). The dental assistant rubbed some

kind of Novacaine on my gum with a Q-tip. A few minutes later, Dr. Saunders gave me a needle shot of Novacaine that I didn’t even feel!

A few minutes later he put a special formed cast in my mouth and started drilling.

(So far, I hadn’t felt any pain or discomfort at all! And what happened to the gum cutting

and the bleeding?). Crank, crank, crank, he reached up, turned off the light and said, "OK, you're all done." "WHAT?", I thought. I looked at my watch. It said 9:24 am. "Doc, when are you going to put the implants in", I asked? He answered, "They're both in already." He handed me a mirror.

I looked into my mouth. There was no bleeding, no stitches, no pain, and no gauze. The only thing I saw were two gold-looking pins level with the top of my gum. "When can I eat something", I asked? "Whenever you want to", he answered.

The whole procedure sounds easy, and that's because it was easy (for me).

After I left the dentist's office, I went across the road to McDonalds and had a Deluxe Big Breakfast and a large coffee. After all, he did say I could eat.

That evening I had a tiny bit of discomfort in the implant area. But that was gone after a dose of over-the-counter Aleve. Three days later, I'd forgotten I'd even had the procedure done!

Dentistry and dental surgery have come a long way since I was a young man, and the

Shenandoah Valley Implant Institute is on top of all the latest techniques and procedures

out there. If you need implants, visit them, talk to them, you’ll be glad you did, I certainly am.

One final comment … I'd like to extend my personal thanks to Dr. Steven Saunders for doing a great job in implementing this latest implant technique for me. He truly is an artist in his profession.

Ed Wilson

Satellite Network Engineer/PM

Verizon Business