Dental Implants: Stories

Write a Review

Dr. Brueggen, Houston...all on Four - Houston, TX

  • posted 6 months ago
  • updated 2 months ago

I had my all on four procedure done two days ago....

  • 15 Nov 2012

I had my all on four procedure done two days ago. Actually, I had an extra implant and 6 bone grafts too. No pain. I haven't taken as much as a tylenol. A little swelling today, and one tiny bruise. I probably could have found a less expensive doctor, but he had such great reviews and I felt very comfortable with him.

I also had about 15 teeth pulled. I am not sure...

  • 15 Nov 2012
I also had about 15 teeth pulled. I am not sure how many teeth I had. I had a fixed bridge and some crowns and a couple of teeth that were broken off and he had to remove the roots.

I am 9 days past having my implants done, and so...

  • 22 Nov 2012
I am 9 days past having my implants done, and so far, so good. The swelling is gone. I had one small bruise at the corner of my mouth, and it is faded almost completely. I still haven not had to take anything for pain....nothing over the counter or prescribed. I was told I can eat anything I can cut with a fork, but no biting with my front teeth like eating pizza or a sandwich. Nothing hard like nuts. So, my diet hasn't been as restricted as I thought it would be. Dr. Brueggen told me it was very important to maintain a good quality diet. I will be going back for a check up next week, and I am looking forward to hearing that I am healing well. So far, this has been easy. I do think motivation plays into it and I was extremely motivated to get this done.

I went for my first check up today. They gave...

  • 5 Dec 2012
I went for my first check up today. They gave me two water piks and some little brushes and a floss threader and told me how to clean my teeth. Dr. Brueggen looked at my gums but didn't remove the "appliances". They will remove them and clean them, the next time I go back, in February. I had been told to only eat foods that I could cut with a fork, so I have been very careful about chewing but was told, it was okay to chew, as long as I don't eat really hard or sharp foods or bite with my front teeth. So, I haven't found the diet to be very restrictive at all. Still extremely pleased with the results.

I went for my 3 mo. check up a few days ago. I...

  • 1 Mar 2013
I went for my 3 mo. check up a few days ago. I was thinking he'd have to take out the arches, but they didn't. They cleaned them and took x rays. Dr. Brueggen said they look great and to keep on doing what I am doing....which is keeping them clean. No problems at all so far, and they feel perfectly natural. I have gotten many compliments on them.


\
Great review?

My Doctor: Dr. Wayne Brueggen

My rating:

Doctor's Bedside Manner
Answered My Questions
After Care Follow-Up
Time Spent With Me
Phone or Email Responsiveness
Staff Professionalism & Courtesy
Payment Process
Wait Times

I researched this for 3 years. I read everything I could find on the internet, every video on Vimeo and Youtube. I saw him on the Wellness Hour and he impressed me with his compassion and the fact that he seemed very down to earth and someone I could feel comfortable with. I will post a picture later.

Comments (32)

Sort by
ANQI 28 Apr 2013
Hi Byugal, I am going to do my full mouth dental implants in the future,I hope to find a very good dentist to do that for me.I just saw your post and your are quite happy with your dental implants and your dentist seems great! Would you mind tell me the contact details about your doctor : Dr.Wayne Brueggen and the clinic address in Houston?Please email it to me,my email is annielovecanada@gmail.com.Thank you very much! Annie
Charles L. 16 Mar 2013
Byugal, I'm a bit jealous I had this procedure done 3 weeks ago and have been told I'll be on this soft no chewing diet for possibly six months, it can be a bit overwhelming if I think about it too much I just try and stay busy but it's tough.
tottcatering 18 Mar 2013
believe me you will find ways when you get hungry enough, also you should be past the just yogurt, puddings etc etc only. You can eat soft chicken, soft fresh veggies cooked, like broccoli boiled about 6 minutes, rice, pasta,. Basically things you can cut with a fork. Just think about for a little bit you'll come up with lot's of ideas, especially when you get hungry enough. At first you get a mind block but slowly it starts unblocking. I let my raisin bran cereal sit an extra minute. When I think back I think I was thinking like you. One morning I just had to have toast with butter, so I let it sit in mouth till I felt it was soft enough and then used some chewing to get it down.....Remember!!! If you can cut it with a fork!!!!!!!!!!
Charles L. 18 Mar 2013
Thank you for your response, it's very helpful hearing from others who have undergone this procedure.
byugal 19 Mar 2013
I was thinking I would be on a very soft diet for six months too, and I was kind of surprised when they told me anything that I could cut with a fork. I was talking to Dr. Brueggen and since we own shrimp boats and he worked on a shrimp boat when he was a teen, he told me I could eat fish, shrimp, oysters....and I eat a lot of chicken and tenderized beef cutlets. He said it is very important to maintain a good diet. Actually, I was sort of looking forward to having a restricted diet....thinking it would be a good time to go on a diet and lose a few pounds, but since I can eat almost anything I want, the "diet idea" has fallen by the wayside.
Charles L. 19 Mar 2013
I have my last weekly checkup later this week and I will ask both my dentist and oral surgeon why the no chew soft diet and get better clarification, it could be due to some bone grafting that had to be done or perhaps due to pulling all my teeth (28) not real sure. Thank you for sharing your experience.
byugal 19 Mar 2013
I had a bunch of teeth pulled too. It might be the first few weeks that you have to be on the soft diet. I was on soft food for about three weeks, but when I went back for my first check up, I was told anything I could cut with a fork. Good luck...hope you can move up from the really soft foods.
byugal 1 Mar 2013
rightchoice, I don't know who you are talking about having complications, but I have had none. Considering I had about 18 teeth pulled and minor swelling and one bruise the size of a dime....took no pain medicine...not even one tylenol or anything else...just antibiotics the doctor prescribed, I wouldn't say I have had any complications. I researched this thoroughly for 3 years...reading everything I could find on the net and watching every video I could find on vimeo and youtube. I didn't go to Clear Choice because I liked what I read in reviews of Dr. Brueggen. No regrets at all. No problems at all.\ No pain at all. Money well spent, in my opinion.
arthurtmp 18 Mar 2013
Just out of curiosity, why pulling 18 natural teeth for implant supported denture? Why not keep them and add individual dental implant at the lost tooth positions? So that you still have some chewing ability while in the healing period. Thanks.
byugal 19 Mar 2013
If my teeth had been good, of course I wouldn't have had them pulled. I didn't have a good tooth in my mouth. I had old caps and a bridge, and some missing, some broken, decayed, discolored. For years I didn't have the money to do extensive dental work. I also had a terrible fear of dentists. I was a recluse in my own home, due to the embarrassment of how I looked. I was very depressed. I don't have a picture of my "before". Dr. Brueggen took one, and if I ever can, I will post it here. Believe me, I have a lot of places I could have spent $50,000 and if I hadn't needed this so badly, or if my teeth could have been saved, I would have gone that route. As for eating, I have had no trouble eating. The first three weeks, I was eating a very soft diet, but when I went for a check up, I was told to eat anything I could cut with a fork, and no biting with my front teeth, like eating pizza or sandwiches with very had crust bread. I think the only thing I have missed eating is steak...but if meat is very tender, I can eat it easily. I eat a lot of chicken, shrimp, oysters, tenderized beef cutlets, fish. The diet is not restrictive at all. I had thought I would have to eat a very soft diet, and as it turned out, I have had to make very few changes to what I eat.
tottcatering 20 Mar 2013
Just a little comment to arthurtmp. Most of my natural teeth I had before removing them, I was going to loose eventually, rapidly in fact. I was missing so many teeth already. All my decay damage was not fixable. I had spent $5,000.00 dollars in two months time trying to save 3 upper front teeth, which included root canals and crowns. They didn't last a week because of the alignment of my bite. The doctors want you to be confident that there may be hope but they don't tell you really of what might happen. Our minds don't think like their minds because they know more than we do. Dentists always want to save a tooth!!!! They just don't tell you that its temporary for some years only. Once I understood about the alignment of the bite, which you don't have even with just a few teeth missing it appears more damages come about. My daughter in-law who is still very young was going to have her first root canal. I suggested to her a tooth implant instead because trying to save the tooth, in about maybe 10 or so years she's going to loose that tooth anyway. In my day, there was no such thing as a tooth implant. To many complications, time and damage force some of us to choose denture implants as the best way to go.
tottcatering 1 Mar 2013
I'm sorry I think I have misinformed you for your comment, rightchoice(dated 1 Mar 2013. I had two problems that unfortunately happened to me. But when I'm eating now with teeth and I don't have to hide my smile in front of people, hey , that means I'm doing just fine, Its been 2 and half months. I'm doing fine!!!!!!!!! And if its a marketing scan, maybe you should look at my before and after pictures. As far as the price your showing, I was quoted by two other dentist of lower only including many visits close to 20,000, So for me, I really don't know what your talking about.
TMT 18 Feb 2013
I gotta ask, did Dr. Brueggan also give you a new car for that price kind of like banks once gave incentives for oprning an account ? For the amount he's charging he could have thrown in a vacation condo as well. I just had 7 genuine implants done in Jeffersonville, Indiana for $995.00 each for cash, Implants, Abutments and Crowns included. I believe Dr. Long may have raised her prices somewhat since I first contacted her in late 2011 but is still probably providing the cheapest implants in the USA. I did not need sinus augumentation etc. due to very sturdy bone structure. I actually paid $300.00 extra to have some bone scraped away and another $450.00 for a 2 tooth lower temp partial plate. I'll probably have those two teeth done next when I can afford them. See my own review for the full story. She works with her husband and he is the lab tech with in house lab and they worked side by side through every step of the process. At this point, I could not be happier. I look and feel like a new man. By the way Dr. Long does not feel the snap on are a viable option and strongly recommends the real single implants are the only way to go. I have read a lot of very negative commentary in relation to the CLEAR CHOICE option both from the standpoint of how they do business and the product itself. I'd considered them untill I did my homework. When I contacted them they just did not come off as dealing with the patient on what I can only describe as being straight up and honest with sales people being the first contact with First Choice when I called their number advertised on the net.
tottcatering 20 Feb 2013
so far CC isn't so bad especially when you don't need just 7 teeth, these are called denture implants, when you only have a few teeth left or none. CC does not use snap on. These are exactly like your own teeth and all done in one day, that's implants and your teeth. After the implants heal, you get your permanent ones put in. Look and feel like your own teeth. You know when you haven't experienced loosing your teeth and then have to get false teeth, I wonder how much you would be willing to spend? False teeth are always bothersome, you get sores on your gums because they move around no matter how much they say how great they say adhesive products are.
byugal 1 Mar 2013
I agree, it was a lot of money, but I chose someone that I felt comfortable with and had the most experience doing the all on four. No regrets from me. I could have shopped around for cheaper or gone to Costa Rica or another foreign country. If someone is going to drill holes in my jaw bones, I want the best possible person I can find to do it. I haven't had the first problem with them, and went for a check up a few days ago, and they are healing fine. They feel perfectly natural and I have had many compliments on them, and these are just the "temporaries".
byugal 1 Mar 2013
You are absolutely right, tottcatering. These "appliances" don't snap in. I needed dentures or something drastic for years. When I was able to afford to get implants, I was there the next day. I could not be more pleased with mine or the care I received from Dr. Brueggen. I would recommend him to anyone.
kroberts12 28 Jan 2013

My mother 81 years old. Had 9 dental implants on January 16, 2013. Still under pain and swollen gums around implants. Also she had root amputation at the same time tooth #30. Her doctor Edmond Bedrossian (San Francisco)

German Arzate, DDS, MS 7 Mar 2013
Your mother shouldnt have pain after 10 days, Have your doctor checked her lately? xrays, etc? Did she take the proper antibiotics?
View answers from German Arzate, DDS, MS
Ironspirit64 24 Jan 2013

OMG, how do you afford this? I need something done & don't have that kind of money or credit laying around!!! I'm desperate & scared!

kroberts12 31 Jan 2013
East Europeans custom help and support parents. Nothing surorused
byugal 1 Feb 2013
If you are asking me, my husband got an insurance settlement, and that is where I got the money for mine. At my age, I couldn't go in debt, and though I had been saving money for it, I don't think I would have ever saved up enough. You know how it is....something unforeseen always comes along.
tottcatering 7 Mar 2013
Gosh, this is not very easy to post because I don't know if I can find the site of where I got my information. After filling out a questioner, it did turn out that I qualified for a grant from the government for $29,000.00, which I did not have to ever pay for to receive denture implants. They have their own dentist's and specialists. This was a surprise for me when I qualified. I ended up though paying from my IRA to go to Clear Choice for the simple fact that it was done all in one day, removal of teeth and leaving with upper and lower (unmovable) dentures the same day. Of course these are just temporary until my implants heal, then I will receive my permante teeth (6 mos) I will try to find the site and if I remember right I think it cost me a small fee to enter the website which I think was maybe $29.00 dollars.
tottcatering 7 Mar 2013
Gosh, this is not very easy to post because I don't know if I can find the site of where I got my information. After filling out a questioner, it did turn out that I qualified for a grant from the government for $29,000.00, which I did not have to ever pay for to receive denture implants. They have their own dentist's and specialists. This was a surprise for me when I qualified. I ended up though paying from my IRA to go to Clear Choice for the simple fact that it was done all in one day, removal of teeth and leaving with upper and lower (unmovable) dentures the same day. Of course these are just temporary until my implants heal, then I will receive my permante teeth (6 mos) I will try to find the site and if I remember right I think it cost me a small fee to enter the website which I think was maybe $29.00 dollars.
tottcatering 7 Mar 2013
I think I got the internet site for the government grant: www.americasgotfunding.com. I don't remember the details of getting to where I wanted to go on this site except to say I was focused on one thing, finding a grant for denture implants and I was desperate!!!
JoJo1980 19 Jan 2013
I have a 4 piece permanent bridge on the top left side of my mouth..it doesn't come out, it is 3 years now. when he placed it it hurt really bad and continued to hurt for a little while.but everything is ok now 3 yrs later..just not happy that it is higher then the teeth next to it and I had bone grafting to assure that wouldn't be the case..so I don't smile real big like I used to, they are very functional though and great to eat some of the foods that I couldn't eat with the temp. Hope you heal ok, I'm sure you will "-)

More Dental Implants Reviews

The All-on-4 Procedure Changed My Life! - Las Vegas, NV 22 hours ago

After months of research I decided to drive to Las Vegas to have the All-on-4 procedure...

Worth It if You Use a Specialist. Procedure is Only As Good As the Person Who Does It. - Memphis, TN 3 days ago

The most important things you need to know about implants are: 1. to not smoke or use...

Beware of dentists giving out of this world prices if it to good be true? - Arizona, AZ 25 days ago

I recentlet did a investagation to explore mt dental implant options and prices aroungd the...

View more Dental Implants reviews

Welcome Back

Sign in with Facebook

Your information remains private and will not be posted without your permission.

Forgot your password?

Don't have an account? Create one now.

Join RealSelf

Join with Facebook

Your information remains private and will not be posted without your permission.

Please enter a valid email address
 Did you mean ?

By creating an account, you are indicating that you have read and accept the RealSelf Terms of Use.

Already a member? Sign In.

Retrieve your password

Enter your username or email address and we will send you a link to login.

Check your email

Check your email. We've sent you a link to reset your password.

Ok