I had molar three extracted due to extensive eternal resorption in June 2009. At that time, site preservation was done, and a collagen plug put in place and sutured closed. A week later, the stitches were removed, and I was told to come back in three months for the implant. Within 24 hours of stitch removal, the collagen plug fell out. The MD told me 'not to worry about it'. Today, two months later, I went to another local oral surgeon because I was having a lot of tooth sensitivity in the area of the missing tooth. He took x-rays and told me that that the bone loss in the adjacent tooth was advanced to the point where I could not have an implant placed without a bone graft. I am wondering if the loss of the site preservation material contributed to the bone loss. If it wasn't important, then why put it in in the first place? And when it fell out immediately, why did the MD tell me not to worry about it? I am a Medicaid patient, and Medicaid will pay for extractions, but not for bone grafts or implants. Now I am being told that if I don't do anything, I will have to have another molar extracted or pay for an expensive bone graft procedure, plus implants. I have always had perfect teeth - not even a cavity - and am now facing losing two prominent molars, with no way to pay for replacing them with implants or bridges. Did my doctor make a mistake? Should the site preservation material have stayed in longer, and did its loss contribute to the bone loss that would prevent me from having an implant procedure scheduled for three months after the extraction? I have not been able to find the answers on the net, and the local MD was reluctant to answer my questions, or even speculate on what might have happened, since he was not the MD who did the procedure. I know that the MD who extracted the tooth will deny any responsibility, but I have to wonder if he did the right thing in not replacing the plug after it fell out. I have paid him a lot of money for the extraction, site preservation, and flipper, and was going to pay him $1200.00 more for the implant. Now I'm being told by another doctor that I can't even have an implant with the adjacent tooth in the shape it's in - plus, I have pain from the exposed nerve, and will lose the tooth if nothing is done. Please - can anyone help answer some of these questions?
how long should collagen plug stay in after tooth extraction
