"But my cousin had a lot of pain after her implant was placed and it ultimately failed."

I hear this from a patient occasionally, and it is very disheartening, because implant placement generally is not accompanied by severe pain. As a matter of fact, when a patient tells me that they experienced significant pain following implant placement, I suspect that something isn't right, and the implant may be infected. This is really a very rare occurrence. Implant success rates are in the 95-98% range. You would be hard pressed to find another procedure in medicine or dentistry that has that kind of predictability. Keep in mind that you likely have many friends and relatives who have implants that are doing well, and who had a good experience with their implant procedure. People are much more likely to voice their dissatisfaction when something doesn't go well than to brag about a procedure that they underwent in which everything went perfectly. That's just human nature. I tell my patients to expect some soreness following implant placement that may last 2-3 days. Anything worse than that, and I want to hear from them, because something isn't right. Fortunately, I rarely do have patients call to complain of unusual discomfort following implant procedures, and that's because implant placement really is a predictable and comfortable procedure in the vast majority of cases. 

Don't lose your benefits!

Most insurance plans start on January 1st and end on December 31st. If you've been delaying treatment, it's now or never to use your remaining benefits for this year. Even if you don't do all of your treatment this year, do what you can to lessen your out of pocket expenses next year. The Holidays are also a good time to recover from surgical treatment without having to use vacation or sick days. Time is growing short.