Got an implant for a molar tooth a couple of years ago, will get another one later this year for another molar.
1) Are you happy with it?
So far I'm pretty happy as in it looks good and doesn't cause any big problens. Two small issues: there is a little gap in the gum tissue (i think the medical term is "cleft") behind the implanted tooth because the implant is smaller in diameter than the original tooth root was so the gum didnt fully grow back to its original shape. Sometimes small pieces of food get stuck in this gap, but they're pretty easy to remove with my tongue or rinse off. The gum tissue grew over time, so the gap is now smaller than it was originally: probably about 2mm deep, behind the tooth. The front side of implanted tooth looks pretty much the same as a normal tooth. The second issue is when I chew on something pretty hard it feels a little painful. The dentist warned me that i shouldn't chew on anything too hard anyway, so that's completely my fault and I should watch for it.
2) Did you have the implant post installed immediately or have to wait for some weeks after the extraction?
I had to get a bone graft for a lower side molar. Also, the original tooth was pretty difficult to extract. My dentist couldn't remove all the roots the first time, so the implant specialist had to clean up the root area before doing the bone grafting. I lot of pain and discomfort while recovering twice instead of just one time. After bone grafting, waited a few months, had an implant placed, waited a few more months and then got a crown. After that there was another small issue which the implant specialist easily fixed.
3) For those in the USA, what was the total cost?
I honestly don't remember the total out of pocket cost because I had to pay for each procedure, then dental insurance covered some of it. I also used HSA to pay for it so the money was spent before tax. i'm guessing the total out of pocket cost was between 2.5 and 3.5K. I'm tracking my spend on the second implant I'm getting. My estimate is pretty similar, around 3K out of pocket in total.