Great So Far.

I hope I can do justice to this review as my experience at Golpa Dental was so positive.
As a background, most of my dental issues were self inflicted - smoked for 40 years, neglected dental cleanings despite several crowns, loose and missing teeth and a partial. My periodontal disease was quite advanced and my local dentist's plan was to place 11 implants, sinus lifts, bone grafts, laser gums, three bridges, and save 5 teeth over a 2 year period all at the princely sum of 61K. Wow. It wasn't just the cost I objected to but the fact that I'm 62 years old and did not want to spend that much of the time I have left in this life in a dental chair! So like others here, my research led me to Dr. Golpa.
My husband and I flew to Vegas on Monday, Aug 27.
Tuesday (Aug 28) I went in for my consultation, xrays, CT scan and went to surgery later that morning. Everyone was so nice, professional and efficient. Dr Anna did my uppers and Dr Golpa did my lowers. I ended with 5 implants on top and 4 on bottom. I did not need a sinus lift but did have to have a couple tori removed from my lower jaw. Dr Young, the anesthesiologist made sure I was comfortable and that the procedure was painless. He has a very nice soft and soothing voice that was very relaxing. I vaguely remember being told to open my mouth a couple of times during surgery but that's all I remember. I had previously picked out my teeth design and color so once I was fully awake, my husband and I went back to the hotel.
We stayed at the Paris on the strip and it ended up being a great choice. I was able to slide down a savory and a sweet crepe without worry about chewing. They were delicious! I spent the rest of the evening icing off and on and making sure I kept up on the Rx. No pain that night at all. A slight amount of bleeding and some numbness of my chin and lower lip. I slept great.
Ashley called the next day and said my bridges would be ready about 1130AM. They are beautiful and I couldn't be happier. Dr Anna had to make a slight adjustment to my bite but that was it. With a few exceptions I was told I could eat just about anything I wanted. So off we went to lunch! We spent the rest of the day and evening hanging out in the room or casino. I was feeling pretty good and only took some Ibuprofen for pain.
We flew home Thursday (Aug 30) night. I had yet to need anything for pain but the Ibuprofen until the plane began to descend. Maybe it was a coincidence but when the plane began to land my face swelled up like nobody's business. I could actually feel the skin on my face getting tight. That was the only time so far I had any real pain. Took a pain pill last night and again slept well.
That brings us to today, Fri Aug 31. The right side of my face remains swollen with about 4-5/10 pain level. Not too bad. I have begun to bruise along the right side of my lower jaw despite taking arnica pills. All in all, my recovery is going pretty much the way everyone else had reported.

So tomorrow is the day I have to start flossing the inplants with the rope floss. Dreading it because I have a feeling its going to hurt and bleed. Tomorrow is also my first day back to work. So two things to dread about tomorrow lol.

It's been a month already! It's gone by very fast. I think I'm healing well. Some tenderness in a couple areas of my gums underneath the bridges and two of my implants get sore and throb from time to time but I think that is all pretty normal. (Isn't it?) I'm eating pretty much what I want with a few exceptions like hard nuts. I want to check with the Golpa office before I try something like that. I'm amazed at how well these bridges perform with day to day eating. I can bite into a sandwich, munch on pretzels and I even ate a bagel the other day. These are all things I could not do a month ago. Flossing is getting a little easier every day and I manage to brush and water pik at least three times a day. The numbness in my chin and lower lip is almost completely gone.
I'm probably going to call for an appointment for sometime in January - about the 5 month mark. I thought someone said they called three weeks after surgery to check how things are going but I guess I misunderstood.