On Blood Thinners? Go with Incision-Free Implants

Q: I am on blood thinners and I need four lower implants to allow a denture to clip on to. My doctor wont let me come off the Coumadin. Can I still have this work done?

A: When I attended McGill University back in the mid 80’s, which is an English school located in a French Province, they gave me a book entitled: Hospital French for Americans. Since everyone spoke to me in English in Montreal (after seeing my NY Jets T-Shirt) I decided to only pick two phrases to learn by blindly opening to a page and pointing. I came up with: Avez-vous déjà cracher du sang avant?”And “Remplissez-le sans plomb.” “Have you ever spit up blood before?” And: “Fill it up, unleaded.”Not the most useful ice breakers with the ladies at the bars on Crescent Street.

I perform many implant surgeries and extractions on patients taking daily aspirin, Coumadin, Effiant, Xerelto and many other blood thinners. For the ones that absolutely cannot come off of them, we use a flapless technique that eliminates the scalpel, flaps, stitches and a second surgery three to four months later to uncover the implants to attach the crown.

A special rotary tissue punch gains access to the underlying bone. After the implant is screwed into the bone, a small metal cap is placed, protruding through the gum line, preventing a need to cut the gum a second time to uncover the implant for impression taking. We can even take a digital, no-goop, impression immediately for the lab to make your crown.