Dental issues.....again.... - Page 2

Colonel Meow · ‎05-25-2014

On 8/15/2014 gazelle77 said: When you see people with no teeth....or with bad dentures, I guess that is where people give up, or just have no funds to save their teeth. Even with good insurance, it is very expensive.

Yes, my mother is one of these. She had no insurance and no funds to continue getting dental work done - so she made the decision to just pull all her remaining teeth and be fitted for dentures. Her uppers are fine, but she rarely wears her lower teeth because they are poorly fitted.

Mary Bailey · ‎03-09-2010

Nightowlz · ‎03-11-2010

On 8/15/2014 Colonel Meow said:
Oh, I feel badly for all you ladies who have been experiencing such issues! ${#emotions_dlg.crying}$ I'm going to ask a question that may seem obtuse, but please realize that I'm asking in all sincerity and with genuine curiosity.

At what point do you make the decision to just pull the tooth rather than try procedure after procedure to fix it? Some of you have spoken about tens of thousands of dollars being spent on dental procedures (with no help from insurance). Has there ever been a time that you just had to throw in the towel and give up on a tooth?

I did once. Had an abcessed tooth & had to take 2 rounds of antibiotics, root canal & crown. After all that money spent on one tooth I still had pain & problems & had it pulled. It was to far gone from the beginning & the dentist should have recommended that I have it pulled IMO. There were roots wrapped around it & was hard to get out when they pulled it. My face on that side was swollen black & blue.

chessylady · ‎05-01-2010

The oral surgeon said that root canals save the tooth but often cause damage that down the road causes the tooth to be pulled. One of my molars did not require replacement because the bite with the lower teeth was still intact. I was not so lucky with the other molar. I have gum disease and get a cleaning every three months which may have contributed to the loss of teeth.

F1wild · ‎11-30-2011

On 8/15/2014 Colonel Meow said:
On 8/15/2014 gazelle77 said: When you see people with no teeth....or with bad dentures, I guess that is where people give up, or just have no funds to save their teeth. Even with good insurance, it is very expensive.

Yes, my mother is one of these. She had no insurance and no funds to continue getting dental work done - so she made the decision to just pull all her remaining teeth and be fitted for dentures. Her uppers are fine, but she rarely wears her lower teeth because they are poorly fitted.

She could have her manipulate (lower) denture relined to make it fit properly.

Colonel Meow · ‎05-25-2014

On 8/15/2014 F1wild said:
On 8/15/2014 Colonel Meow said:
On 8/15/2014 gazelle77 said: When you see people with no teeth....or with bad dentures, I guess that is where people give up, or just have no funds to save their teeth. Even with good insurance, it is very expensive.

Yes, my mother is one of these. She had no insurance and no funds to continue getting dental work done - so she made the decision to just pull all her remaining teeth and be fitted for dentures. Her uppers are fine, but she rarely wears her lower teeth because they are poorly fitted.

She could have her manipulate (lower) denture relined to make it fit properly.

I've actually encouraged her to see about having this done, but she just brushes me off. She's had this same pair of dentures for over a decade, and feels like it would be a waste of money at this point. (Don't ask me to explain my mother's logic, lol!)

F1wild · ‎11-30-2011

On 8/15/2014 gazelle77 said: So I went for a cleaning yesterday. I set up an appointment for next week to have a crown done on an old 30 year old mercury filling filled molar with fractures in it. Well this morning when flossing, a crowned molar on THE OTHER SIDE of my mouth broke! Probably the dental cleaning I had yesterday caused it if it had a weak place in the old crown..... I would like to cry now..... So I went back today AGAIN to the dentist and got a temporary crown on until next week when they can prep the tooth for another permanent new crown. I can not chew on it as it is sensitive with the temporary crown. Is that normal??? My teeth have given me nothing but heartache it seems... Now I have to pay for two crowns $$$$$$$. Teeth issues and my bad joints.... I sometimes understand why people get depressed and just want to give up.

I just wrote a long explanation-I'm an expanded-function dental hygienist. I'm not sure where it went, but this time I'll be brief.

When it comes to silver/amalgam/mercury fillings, they are subjected to the tonight's thermal dynamic properties. Expansion and contraction with temp changes, like a road in summer winter. The filling doesn't expand and contract, causing cracks & eventually fractures. Tooth-colored fillings are chemically bonded to the tooth so not the same issues. A lot of people, the last with silver fillings have to get crowns.

The other crown probably wasn't weakened by the cleaning (not sure if you meant tooth or crown broke) because these crowns, most porcelain-fused to metal are made to withstand the chewing forces of the back teeth (more ppi than anything else in body). Maybe small incipient decay under crown or cement gave out. If crown was still whole it can be cleaned out and reused, if not new crown.

Your poor tooth has been through a lot. Losing crowns or tooth fractures sprain the little ligaments holding the tooth to bone. So it's just like a sprained ankle, only it feels bigger in your mouth. Take OTC pain meds and ice packs, just like for a sprained ankle.

I'm sorry you have to go through this. Dental problems are awful! Keep us posted to how you're doing.

Drythe · ‎07-09-2011

Ouch, so sorry!

Don't know about normal, but I have one crown and the temporary did hurt.

Loved dentist was retiring soon, decided to find a new one closer to home. Seemed new one thought I'd NEVER been to a dentist - suddenly everything in my mouth needed something done to it. Took x-rays, 'tooth cracked, absolutely had to have a crown right that day.' Temporary hurt so bad I called my loved dentist and begged, he said 'get your x-rays from them and come by with them today.' After several thorough looks, and pokes around tooth and reviews of new x-rays compared to the ones in his files, he said that he 'couldn't see that the tooth was cracked, or had ever been cracked, but that given what had been done I would of course have to go on with a permanent crown.'

He told me that new, crowns, temporary or replacement can put pressure on a nerve. We agreed to wait for 3 months with the temp. to make sure nothing else was going on under it, and then he would put in a permanent, stay in touch if pain didn't go away. Decided to stay with that practice.

Not saying your dentist has done anything wrong, just that in my one and hopefully only experience they can hurt.

"Animals are not my whole world, but they have made my world whole" ~ Roger Caras

F1wild · ‎11-30-2011

On 8/15/2014 Colonel Meow said:
On 8/15/2014 F1wild said:
On 8/15/2014 Colonel Meow said:
On 8/15/2014 gazelle77 said: When you see people with no teeth....or with bad dentures, I guess that is where people give up, or just have no funds to save their teeth. Even with good insurance, it is very expensive.

Yes, my mother is one of these. She had no insurance and no funds to continue getting dental work done - so she made the decision to just pull all her remaining teeth and be fitted for dentures. Her uppers are fine, but she rarely wears her lower teeth because they are poorly fitted.

She could have her manipulate (lower) denture relined to make it fit properly.

I've actually encouraged her to see about having this done, but she just brushes me off. She's had this same pair of dentures for over a decade, and feels like it would be a waste of money at this point. (Don't ask me to explain my mother's logic, lol!)

My mother's similar. Some quack, in the 50's convinced her to remove all top teeth and get a denture "to have perfect teeth". She was just out of school and working. Didn't come from lots of money. She never went to a dentist while I was growing up and would never volunteer to be my patient when I was in dental school. I never knew she had a denture. She finally had to get a lower denture a few years ago and the prosthedontist could believe how perfect and new her upper denture looked and it was over 50 years old!

F1wild · ‎11-30-2011

On 8/15/2014 Drythe said:
Ouch, so sorry!

Don't know about normal, but I have one crown and the temporary did hurt.

Loved dentist was retiring soon, decided to find a new one closer to home. Seemed new one thought I'd NEVER been to a dentist - suddenly everything in my mouth needed something done to it. Took x-rays, 'tooth cracked, absolutely had to have a crown right that day.' Temporary hurt so bad I called my loved dentist and begged, he said 'get your x-rays from them and come by with them today.' After several thorough looks, and pokes around tooth and reviews of new x-rays compared to the ones in his files, he said that he 'couldn't see that the tooth was cracked, or had ever been cracked, but that given what had been done I would of course have to go on with a permanent crown.'

He told me that new, crowns, temporary or replacement can put pressure on a nerve. We agreed to wait for 3 months with the temp. to make sure nothing else was going on under it, and then he would put in a permanent, stay in touch if pain didn't go away. Decided to stay with that practice.

Not saying your dentist has done anything wrong, just that in my one and hopefully only experience they can hurt.

That's no fun! We'd usually put the permanent crown on, but with temporary cement, as the permanent is much stronger. Sometimes the nerves are bothered as the little gingival fibers & ligaments are manipulated. Those chewing forces are mega strong.

In the new, eager dentist's defense, cracks cannot usually be seen on a 2-dimensional xray. So, there may have been something going on. Some dentists are conservative, like me. Some love those crown & bridge $$$$$.