Friends,

I had the abutments put into my implants today. That was a bit of a strange procedure. Just to review, I now have six implants in my lower jaw. When they are put in, they are embedded in the jaw and a flat head screw is put into the implant. The implant and the screws are made of titanium. The oral surgeon simply unscrewed the screws and replaced them with the abutment. The abutment is another screw, of course, on one end, that threads into the implant. The other end is a peg that stands up from the gums. It looks like a peg that is flattened on one side, so that the teeth that are attached to it won’t twist. So after inserting the abutments, the dentist took a small ratchet torque wrench and tightened the abutments to about 40 newton-centimeters of torque. The torque wrench was really cool. It was about three inches long. At one end was a loop where the socket fit in. The shaft of the wrench was only about 3/8 inch in diameter. The tightening mechanism was a wire on one side of the shaft. The abutment is tightened by pulling on the wire until the wire bends to the 40 mark on a scale that is mounted on the main shaft. This is the smallest torque wrench I have ever seen. It was great.

Afterward, I had these “fangs in my mouth. They felt very sharp, but they weren’t really. I immediately went to my main dentist, who took impressions, and then fastened “comfort caps” over the teeth. These are just ceramic cylinders, I think, that sit about the height of the teeth. They are not designed to chew on, so I have to wait about three weeks for the teeth to be completed, then I will go back to the dentist and get them installed. My dentist is giving me a 30% discount, but the final bill will still be over $9000.00 for this little piece of work. I don’t think my insurance will cover much of it, especially since it has a $1500.00 limit. This was pretty devastating as I am looking at loosing my job at any moment.

We will figure it out somehow.

On a brighter note, Menchie and I rode again on Tuesday. Menchie went about 19 miles and I rode about 17.5. She tricked me. We had a great time. I felt strong, and could have gone longer. We went to spin class tonight, where I did OK, but I had to lie down during the standing exercise, because it was too much for me. Otherwise, I did the whole thing. We are planning to go hiking on Saturday, and then go riding again on Sunday. At least 20 miles, I hope.

I have an appointment with my ophthalmologist this coming week, and I think they will be determining my prescription for reading glasses, and generally checking my eyes.

Take care, everyone!

Ted
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