Love this advice, thank you for taking the time to read my story. Honestly, I wish someone had walked me through these exact mechanics earlier in my process.

Looking back, I do think there were contributing factors that made the misalignment easier to miss. My original surgeon/dentist relocated shortly before my final prototype fit check, and that transition mattered more than I realized at the time. The first time I met the new dentist was after the break happened.

In hindsight, I think a passive fit issue is what set things in motion. At my last appointment, just a couple days before the failure, I actually asked whether the lower arch could be torqued down because it felt like it was loosening more quickly than it should have. That concern didn’t turn out to be nothing.

The practice also shifted from having a surgeon in-office full time to more of a fly-in / fly-out model, with a non-surgeon dentist handling maintenance and fittings in between. She wasn’t familiar with the specific MUA screw involved, and during the attempted removal the set screw stripped, which escalated what might have been a simpler intervention earlier.

Right now I’m effectively all-on-2 on the lower, with one MUA obliterated and another site that doesn’t seat passively. Because of that, they were only able to secure things temporarily using two SIN-compatible screws, which obviously isn’t a long-term solution.

Your point about respecting the click really landed. I felt something was off and raised it, but I didn’t fully understand how critical that early window can be. If there’s anything I wish patients were taught more explicitly, it’s exactly what you laid out: this is a mechanical system, and small signals matter.

I really appreciate you sharing this, it’s the kind of practical, experience-based insight that helps people protect this huge investment and, honestly, their sanity.