Wilson

You're trying to play dentist on your own and the fact is you are
missing a lot of important information which will lead you to make a
bad decision.
Implant surgery in not very painful at all.
Now if everything is good as far as bone you only need to wait 3 months
and there are things you can do to such that during the healing process
you still have a tooth there.
For example there is immediate placement and loading which is becoming
to be more successful. There are also many ways to make a temporary
tooth to fill the space during healing.
You said
"Is the additional pain/cost/time of an implant really worth it? It is
hard for me to judge."
I would have to say yes. If you get decay under one of those crowns you
are going to have to replace the whole bridge, risk more drilling of
your teeth and more chance of something needing a root canal.
Also by avoiding the bridge you will be able to floss like you do with
natural teeth, a bridge needs an extra tool called a floss threader to
maintain flossing.
And if you don't floss now or barely floss imagine what it would be
like when the floss threader is not around.
Again you suggestion for a bridge is connecting incisors to posterior
teeth, the current philosophy is begining to change advising this
should be avoided.
As far as closing gaps, you are not an expert on the best way to do
this and there are many other ways maybe less expensive and better than
what you are proposing.
There is a saying "Anyone who tries to be their own doctor has an idiot
for a patient.", you do not want to be an idiot. Leave the treatment
planing to the professionals. That does not mean you should not
participate in it, you need to express your concerns ask all the right
questions, reveal all your habits and go through different treatment
options. But don't try to play dentist by thinking something is going
to be better and look nicer than something else, you do not know and
you have not seen what everything looks like to make that decision
yourself.
Good Luck.