Dentistry Woes

Also all my burps taste like honeydew now cos there was melon flavored fluoride and this is Excellent

 

I need to have more teeth removed in order to get orthodontia to make my super crooked teeth straight and not ugly. I am really, really not looking forward to that. I got a dry socket when I had my wisdom teeth out and that sucked a whole lot, I do not want to experience that again.

And the idea of losing more teeth? The orthodontist assured me that with braces, the others would move in to take their place and it wouldn't look weird and gappy, but.... How does she know?? She can't know for sure that that will happen! And having 4 more teeth yanked out is permanent, can't just shove them back in after stuff if it turns out it didn't work!

* intense fear but also intense hatred of how my teeth are now *

 

I have a temporary crown in my mouth right now and slowly it is chipping away because i keep find hardened glue like things while i chew. Ive got roughly two weeks before i go back for my actual crown. The acual tooth is being exposed and hurts like hell when i eat anything sweet (which sucks because its shark week and all i crave is sweets) Owwww

 

i haven't been to a dentist in years and i know i should... look into going to one... now that i'm an adult (garden says, being 20 yrs old).... but i just. am Afraid.

esp. because i know i have certain teeth problems -

Spoiler: teeth issues description

mostly since i actually still haven't lost all my baby teeth? because my "adult" teeth have this tendency to grow in next to their corresponding baby tooth, and then the baby teeth just don't get loose ever so my mouth just has Extra Teeth

which i mostly don't care much about besides the anxiety of This Might Fuck My Teeth Up, except that my left upper adult canine grew in behind the baby canine, so. that's a thing. that i've had for the past 2-3 years.

and i would like to at very least fix that last issue, buuuut braces sound like hell both to have and to maintain - like my depressed ass can barely manage to brush my teeth once a day there's no way in hell i can correctly maintain braces or a retainer or w/e

and on top of that i am afraid of cavities, etc.

so mostly i just ignore it despite knowing that this is absolutely the Wrong Decision

 

Either a filling's vanished somehow or I have another fucking cavity in the threeish weeks since I got the others filled. (Or the dentist missed one.) Uuuuuuuuuugh.

Eta: possibility the 4th: I actually have TWO infected partially-erupted wisdom teeth and this one's rot just finally hit the outside layer

 

I'm going to need a night guard, because my teeth are way more worn down than they ought to be, given my age (yay, tooth grinding) and I've also got a couple cavities that need fixing up. And if I ever want a normal bite, I'm gonna need braces (and even that might not completely help, given the tooth grinding, but it'll take care of the reverse fangs I've got in place of eyeteeth.)

(Asides from that, though, it was honestly the nicest dentist visit I've ever done.)

 

K so I have experience with this.

I was born without 2 of my adult incisors. The baby teeth came out and nothing was there to replace them. So I had 2 big gaps right in the front of my mouth making me look like a rabbit for several years. When I got braces the orthodontist moved everything over and then shaved down my canines to look right. I was at my dentist today and he was talking about how it looked completely normal. Whenever I get a new dental hygienist working on me they get really confused because they're counting the teeth and the numbers don't add up but it all looks right.

I also got several teeth pulled in addition to the genetically missing ones, so I wouldn't worry. And if for some reason it looks too gappy they can give you an implant which looks identical to your natural teeth. But again I wouldn't worry.

 

Also went to the dentist today because I chipped a tooth. Yaaaay. He said it was just superficial and didn't even give it a crown but I did get my 6 month cleaning early.

 

@Saro I had the same thing when I got braces and (my personal issues with dentist-anxiety and how that was a terrible time in my life for major decisions and how the anesthesia knocked me out notably longer than it should aside) everything worked out fine, no gaps.

 

Thank you both, I really appreciate the reassurance. Makes me feel a little better about the whole thing.

 

@garden hyperdontia (extra teeth) normally aren't too bad as long as you're very careful about keeping them all clean. which, I totally get you on teeth being hard to maintain when you're depressed.

If you had a tooth come in behind the other, they'll probably just pull the baby tooth and leave the other where it sits. that's what they did for my one friend who had the same thing happen, I think actually for her one canine also

 

same hat!! I have implants for my lateral incisors, they look totally natural. People have no idea.

downside: very expensive. fortunately my parents had been saving for it. ty parents.

er, tangential downside, as I mentioned before, my orthodontist was just a shitty guy. having braces was hell for me. the actual braces? not so bad. the orthodontists office? awful. The Worst Thing.

 

I had the first of two treatments for the gingivitis today... Dental scaling is extremely unpleasant. DX

Also I'm not totally sure but I think the hygienist scratched one of my veneers :/ it sort of looks like there's mechanical pencil scribbles on it, except they don't rub off. If it still looks off tomorrow I'm gonna call and see if they can do something

 

Update: I ended up having a change of plans, so I just went back to the office. The dentist was able to polish it clean for me, there's no damage & it shouldn't affect the life of the veneer. She also said she would talk to the hygienist that did my cleaning, I mayyyy have gotten the hygienist in trouble. >_> Then again, she scratched my veneer & didn't say anything, sooooo.

 

i didn't have any cavities at all until i was.. 18 or so (i'm 22) but since then every year i have 2 or 3. which ??????. It's upsetting. and, because I'm an idiot, after a couple of cavityful visits i started putting off the dentist, so after two years of avoidance I had a bigger cavity. like the kind that hurts when eating sugary stuff, idk anything about anything. anyway that was ~6 months ago and now that tooth hurts and i Do Not Want.

i regret all the oreos i ate this finals week

 

Rant incoming:

A few days ago I had to navigate emergency dental care for my partner. His wisdom tooth had cracked, and he was dealing with it to begin with and planned to see a dentist at the end of the week. But a few days ago the pain got really, really bad. So bad he couldn't talk and had a fever. I called the non-emergency NHS line (for non-UK folk: 999 is for if you need an ambulance. 111 is for if you need urgent medical advice, but don't think an ambulance is really necessary). They told me there was nothing they could do that evening because A&E 'doesn't like seeing dental patients' and out of hours GPs 'don't like doing house calls for dental patients'. The latter I understand, because dentistry isn't their profession. But A&E?! I suggested taking him to them because at that point he was throwing up. The lady on the line was very dubious and said I could if I wanted to, but we'd be sitting there for hours. I had to call the non-emergency line back 4 times that evening. They told me to call again at 8am the next morning and they'd put me through to the emergency dental care line and get me an appointment for him.

I woke up at 7.30. Called them at 8am. I was playing telephone tennis with them for another 4 hours before they told me we could get an appointment that day, but it would be 22 miles away. The town that practice is in would cost £80 ($103) to get to via taxi, and would take 1 and a half hours to get to via public transport. It was the only thing available though so we took it. By that point the pain had subsided, so my partner drove us there. (I made absolutely sure he was alright to drive).

The practice was lovely. They x-rayed my partner's jaw. The wisdom tooth definitely had to come out. But apparently the two teeth next to it also had to go, because the dentist that did the original fillings in them had fucked it up and there was no saving them, so it was probably worth taking them out at the same time. We agreed.

We recently moved, so aren't registered at our local dentist yet. As a result, the charge for the procedure was £600 ($778). This was on the NHS. If we were registered (again, with the NHS), it would have been a fraction of that. And the £600 price point was a reduction because the guy that treated my partner owned the practice and knocked a whole chunk of money off the usual price.

It isn't the fault of anyone I spoke to. Our health services are stretched so very thin right now. But it was an absolute example of how ridiculous things are getting here.

 

Double trouble: Nertbugs' Dental Issues

1) Bruxism. My partner has told me multiple times that I grind my teeth really hard in my sleep. Every so often I wake up with pain in my jaw.
2) Gum issues. My gums seem to be really sensitive. I use special toothpaste, but they still bleed every couple of days. I'm now very concerned about receding gums. I don't think they really are receding? But I don't like looking at / touching them just in case.
3) The number of people that want to know why I didn't 'fix' my upper left lateral. I had a retainer but it bloody hurt, and though it's very obviously wonky it doesn't cause me problems and I'm not concerned with the aesthetics. I never show my teeth when I smile in photos and tbh that's the main thing I'd probably be concerned about.
4) My wisdom teeth grew in wonky. We drive in to work, and I fall asleep for most of the journey so my head falls forward. I end up biting down really hard on the sides of my mouth / tongue and not realising until I wake up.
5) I'm sort of sure I need fillings, but idk if that's just me being a dental hypochondriac or if it's actually true. They look alright in the mirror? But it feels like the depression in the middle of some of my molars is deeper than it used to be.

I know all of this could be sorted by visiting a dentist, but the fact that I have 5 things on my dental woes list at the moment is making me scared to go. I used to have perfect teeth, so to be told I have to have extensive work done would be scary. Plus I really, really want to avoid having my wisdom teeth out if I can. (Despite the fact that I recently saw my partner have one out and he was absolutely fine)

 

resurrecting this thread! bc where else am i gonna talk about Teeth

about two weeks ago my lower back right molar started aching a LOT, so i got my first dentist appointment in at least 5 years... probably closer to 8 or 10 tbh. the cause was a deep cavity, and thankfully the antibiotic i got prescribed to make sure it wasn’t infecting shit made the pain more or less go away, so i haven’t been in pain in a week.

today was actually fixing the cavity, or, part 1 of fixing it. today was a root canal, which was actually not as nightmarish as everyone makes it sound. there was some p bad pain initially, but after the anaesthetic set in, the rest of the procedure was painless.

(worst part of it was that i was more or less compulsively swallowing every so often because i was 1) far too aware of the fact that i had a mouth, and 2) general mouth numbness made me feel like i should be swallowing)

it’s been about 6 hours since then, and the right side of my mouth/tongue/lips are still partially numb, though not as much as they were before. because the numbness is still there, idk how much pain to expect, but i’m gonna be taking ibu for a few days.

i’m gonna need to get a crown ASAP, so hopefully that will be soon.

doing all that is “phase 1” of what my dentist wants to do for my mouth (phase 1 being fixing the most problematic tooth.) but, as i’ve described before, i do have other issues, mostly baby teeth that never left. dentist recommends getting all 4 of those pulled (both of my upper canine baby teeth never got loose, as well as two upper... premolars? or maybe they’re regular molars? idk man) as well as getting my wisdom teeth extracted

IDC about the premolars (actually, i’m in favor of pulling those, bc those are two where the adult tooth actually never fully came in, though i think they’re both attempting to erupt further, as of the last few months), but the baby canines.. well, i still have my concerns about leaving gaps, and large concerns about braces that boil down to 1) instinctive fear/horror, and 2) i am so bad at self-maintainance now — i still can only get myself to brush once a day — and you want me to get braces? sigh

but i have an orthodontist appt tomorrow just to check things out, so i guess i’ll talk out my options with them.

 

follow-up: ugh. numbness has pretty much worn off, and i haven't had much pain, but i still can't really open my mouth all that much (can't fully close, either -- by which i mean, from the outside my mouth looks closed, and i can close like 95%, but it's a strain to go further than that. so it's not like my mouth's hanging open, but it's still weird.) so i'll be having soup tonight. i don't particularly like most soup. hopefully this doesn't last too long.