By Alexander Germanis
In 1958, a dream study was conducted and published by the American Anthropological Association. Entitled “The Universality of Dreams,” it described how humans, despite the culture in which they grew up, are visited by the same types of dreams and haunted by similar nightmares. One of the most common nightmares held common across the globe is the fear of losing one’s teeth.
Jane, a patient of Emil Verban, Jr., DDS, in Bloomington, understands that fear extremely well. Plagued by sensitive teeth since she was a child, she explains that sensitivity made even sleep an unpleasant prospect. “I used to have dental nightmares that my teeth would shatter,” she shares.
Because she worked in nursing homes when she was young, that nightmare of being without teeth was reinforced on a regular basis. “I felt so sorry for these poor people without any teeth in their mouths, and I thought, ‘I don’t want to be that way when I get old.’”
As she aged, Jane’s visits to the dentist for even the simplest check-ups had become episodes of excruciating pain. “The last cleaning I did with my real teeth, I was hurting so badly, the poor [dental hygienist] just gave up,” she recalls. “The older you get, the worse the pain gets; it’s a snowball thing. I just couldn’t live with them anymore. I thought anything would be better than this.”
Simply pulling her teeth and wearing dentures was definitely not an option Jane wanted to entertain, however. Her experiences working in nursing homes had left another lasting negative impression on her. “I always had a fear of being a really old lady in a nursing home, and they’d take my teeth out and lose them, and then I’d be toothless—all gums,” she chuckles.
When Dr. Verban suggested dental implants to Jane, it seemed like the perfect answer to her problem. “During the process, he did fit me for dentures,” she explains, “so I would not be toothless [during the healing process].”
But having the dentures in her mouth—even for the short period between having her teeth extracted and the new ones placed—simply confirmed Jane’s dislike of the temporary dental apparatus. “They just wouldn’t stay tight; I had to put more gunk in them,” she says. “It was awful. And I didn’t want to mess with putting my teeth in a jar at night.”
“Dr. Verban was great,” she continues. “He explained the process of getting dental implants—the pros and the cons. Of course implants are expensive, but if you think about having dentures, you know you’re going to have them replaced several times throughout your life because your jaw changes.”
The jaw alters due to bone loss inherent to not having teeth anymore. Without real teeth or dental implants, there is nothing to create stress on the jaw bones—positive stress that forces the bone to constantly rebuild itself and therefore not atrophy and be reabsorbed from lack of use.
“With implants,” Jane adds, “they get seated into your jaw bone so you don’t lose any more of the bone. So these implants should last me the rest of my life. It’s been ten years, and I have had absolutely no problems whatsoever. Zilch. Nothing.”
Not only has Jane not had any problems with her implants, the problems she used to have with her regular teeth are now gone. There is no more pain-inducing sensitivity, and what little gum disease Jane had before is now a thing of the past. “In my case, these are better than my real teeth ever were. I have to remind myself at times I actually have fake teeth in my mouth.”
She finally has teeth, Jane beams, of which she no longer has a fear of losing. “I had my appendix taken out about four years ago,” she says, “and I am so glad I went with the implants because I still had teeth in my mouth when I woke up in the recovery room.”
After a life of pain, Jane’s dental nightmares have finally ended and have been replaced by the wonderful dream of worry-free and painless dental implants.
If you missed the previous articles on the dental implant procedure, you may read them online at www.HealthyCellsBN.com, or contact Cheryl Eash at 309-664-2524.
For more information, you may contact Emil Verban, Jr., DDS at 309-662-8448, or visit www.mcleancountydental.com. McLean County Dental is located at 2103 E. Washington Street in Bloomington. Dr. Verban provides his patients both general dentistry expertise and the ability to provide specialized services such as cosmetic procedures and dental implants.