If you are in good health I would do it. I have had two done for the same reason. The worst part is the tooth extraction after that no big deal at all, I takes a few months for the jaw bone to grow around the anchore but after that no problem. Plan B to leave it in there with the possibility of a bridge someday and the cost and no guarantees I went implants. The front tooth is capped so you would even notice the new one is fake.

Don't chance bad tooth infections! Just get it done.

I seemed to recall having to wait for the hole to heal after the extraction... 3 months?
If you can live with the gap in your teeth for a bit.. get the extraction done asap.... and wait until after the IM for the implant.

I have IM in 5 months. Will this hurt swim training? thx

After the extraction I think I was out of the pool only for a couple of days... just to be safe.
I swam the day after the implant.

I had something similar happen. I had bone receding from a tooth with a root canal and had the tooth removed. While removing it, two of the four roots broke off and they had to dig into my jaw bone to get all of it. It's completely healed over now but I'm waiting until after the season to get an implant.

After I had the tooth removed it took a few weeks for the infection to go away but I was swimming within a few days of the extraction and back to full training a week later.

I'm a dentist and place roughly 100 implants per year. You will likely not miss a single day of training due to this procedure. Very simple, minimal post op discomfort. Rarely do patients require pain meds for more than 12-24 hours.

Thanks, I have a 7 week gap between bigger races, I'll talk with my dentist and see the cost/schedule.

jaretj

From what I have read everywhere an implant really isn't a big deal and is the easiest part of the process almost. Main thing is to get the bad tooth out asap and then let things heal for a few months. I had a tooth extracted a few weeks ago and will get an implant in a few months. I was told no exercise for 24h, and then no swimming for a week to minimize risk of infections. It healed nicely, not much pain (only needed some Advil on the day of the extraction).

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_____________________
Don't forget to attack!

I went through the same thought process a few months ago and then 6 days before an ultra I was in a dentists chair on a Sunday getting an emergency root canal :(

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Rodney
TrainingPeaks | Altra Running | RAD Roller
http://www.goinglong.ca

I am a dentist as well, I place 10-20 implants a yr, restore over a 100 a yr, and have seen to many dental infections and root fractures to count. Implant and implant crown for 3k, thats pretty good! First: GET THE TOOTH OUT; waiting on it only increases your chances that it flares up/gets infected. My pts that choose not to listen to me are the same ones that call me up at 11pm on a sat telling me there tooth hurts and is infected and can i help them! Get the tooth out before it gets worse, at most you will loose a few days of training. Second; your baby teeth (impossible to treatment plan with out X-rays and exam) i would leave in unless there is a problem with them, i.e. loose or caries in them.

Question i would ask the dentist: do i need a bone graft, what kind of implants are you using, can you implant be placed same time as the extraction, what are my options for the crown and the abutment. What kind of materials are you using for the crown and the abutment.

Feel from to PM message me if you have more questions.

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2024: Bevoman, Galveston, Alcatraz, Marble Falls, Santa Cruz

The biggest problem with waiting is bone loss in that esthetic zone. As an infected tooth stays there, it's destroying bone daily. While we can graft bone back, you can never get it to the level of the adjacent teeth, and you end up with a defect there---right in front where everybody can see it. Essentially it will make it look like that tooth is longer due to a higher gum line. I prefer to place the implant at the time of ext, unless there's simply too much infection to do so. Get it done. No long ride is worth a lifetime with a shitty looking front tooth...

Halfway proper grill vs. Ironman? The race can wait if need be.

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DISH is how we do it.

+1

Listen to this Dr. This is the best advice on the thread. Do take a day or two off after your surgery. I'm a dentist (Endodontics) and went for a five mile run after an extraction and implant, before going to the car dealer and negotiating a new truck (don't have a lot of free time, a day off is precious). In hindsight, I wish I had followed the advice I've given a thousand times and gotten some rest. It hurt for a while.

You should get it done ASAP. I had a retreat endo done 2 months before a IM race and it was fine. I know that some dental offices can do an Extraction and Direct place Implant with crown in one visit with good bone and that would save you a tone of time in visits. The longer you wait the worse and more time it takes to heal.

WRT extractions they can be funny buggers. I had a wisdom tooth out and took ibuprofen a couple days and that was it. recently had an upper tooth extracted and it took 2 weeks of constant ibuprofen and tramadol and i had noticable swelling for a week - it was the most i've ever had to recover from. i was shocked at how little recovery from teh wisdom tooth and how much from this non wisdom tooth.

so, yeah, extraction will be the hardest part.

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http://harvestmoon6.blogspot.com
https://www.caringbridge.org/visit/katasmit

Ask for a lighter tooth while you're at it.

so what did you do? I just last night found out i had the same - tooth root fracture and that puppy is now gone. my 2hr run scheduled today is also out the door. i have IM in 2 months and not sure what i'm going to do about that hole. did you get the implant or bridge?

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http://harvestmoon6.blogspot.com
https://www.caringbridge.org/visit/katasmit

Go with the implant, Kathy.

If you live long, as I know you will, the bridge wears out and then you're faced with 3 missing teeth instead of one.

This is the voice of experience talking to you ;-)

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DFL > DNF > DNS

Pro advice.

It will take 6 - 9 months for an implant. They have to put in a socket and let they bone grow around it and then do the actual implant. Sometimes, they have to seed in some bone before they put in the socket. Depends on the location

they put a temporary in mine while most of it was going on.
Once it's done, it's like any other tooth though. Solid and you don't have to worry about damn bridges ruining more teeth.

I just went through this.....cracked my molar at he root shivering for 4.5 hours at IM Whistler, and eventually had the tooth extracted 2.5 weeks later and bone graft. Had 2.5 weeks to 70.3 WC and was fighting a bit of an infection through this time. 70.3 WC went fine and then IM Tahoe 3 weeks after that was OK. The entire thing by the time I get the implant put in will be $5K CDN. I was just going to live without the molar but my wife told me to go for the implant, so that's what I am doing.

Paul those wives keep my in business! fyi if its your first molar it on avg takes 30% of your force, it the first tooth filled, crowned and extracted. If you loose it and don't replace it all that force goes somewhere else! Those wives are smarter then us!

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2024: Bevoman, Galveston, Alcatraz, Marble Falls, Santa Cruz

LOL...I was going to get a new Dimond TT beam bike but that budget went to replace a tooth that I cracked while shivering aboard my current TT bike. Now I have an older TT bike and getting a fake tooth!