dental woes

[Julianne]

We've all talked about various health maladies and prayed for our faire folk.

I have bad teeth.  I've always had bad teeth.  I'm losing my teeth one by several now that I'm (muffled)47.

I have an inherited gum malady.  My grandmother lost her teeth by her 20's and my mother was completely toothless by her 30's.  I'm 47 and have only lost 3...but....and here lies the rub.....I seem to be losing my teeth in quite succession....molars first.

Do any of you have bridges?  Do any of you have implants?  Do any of you have full dentures?

How do they work?  What's the upside and downside?

Right now I'm suffering an abcess..(again) from a dead molar...needs to be yanked.  I'm running out of teeth to chew.
What do I do?

Toothless Lady
needs expert advice

Currently I've a dead tooth (no pain) but the left side of my face looks like someone stuffed it full of cotten.
I have a faire to attend to soon.....I can't very well collapse from infection...that so wouldn't be right and so not my style .
Options?  Advice?

[Noble Dreg]

An unfortunate meeting with a broken garage door spring cost me my front teeth.  My wife and I have had excellent results with implants but they are PRICEY!  Glad I have them, they have held up very well.

[Julianne]

Thank Dreg....I'm seriously considering the implants to replace the bridge(s).
Pricey yes....but fortunately my insurance actually covers a portion.

[Auryn]

I'm sorry for the issues you are going through.
Unfortunately I am all too familiar with them as I have been surrounded by dental issues all my life. Thankfully I am so far unscathed but I can give you some information on what I have witnessed.

Do to lovely genetics my mom lost most of her upper teeth by the age of 15. She has this thing where basically the bone in her mouth is gone or minimal at best. When she was young she used to use basically like a denture.
Then about 25 years ago she got a permanent implant. That had to be replaced about 12 years ago.
Her options were to get another permanent 1 piece implant, or to do a grafting of coral (yes from the bottom of the ocean) onto the little bone she had, this would allow the coral to grown in place of her natural bone and then she could have individual implants put in. The chance of success was 50/50 so she decided against it.
I believe what she has now is a permanent implant with a bridge that is screwed into her skull basically. She is very happy with it. She says that its just like having your own teeth. She still has to brush and floss and maintain them just like "normal" teeth". I do remember that initially when she had it there was a lot of discomfort for a few weeks but you have to expect that with procedure.  I know her teeth can be very sensitive to hot and cold. All her teeth nerves are still intact so she does feel temperature and the like. Its not like just a dead thing.


My boyfriend has a very similar condition. He has a light form of a genetic issue that causes the body to have issues with hair, nails and teeth.
He is currently in the process of having to make that decision. He uses what we call a "partial". To me it looks like a mix between an orthodontic retainer ( I had braces) and a denture. He has broken it quite a few times and he has to take it out to eat which he is very self aware of and he hates it, plus he has to be really careful on what he eats and how he eats it, for example he cant eat corn on the cob, so he is in the process of deciding what to do next.  He is not doing the coral implants because of the money and also the amount of recovery time involved in which he would not even be able to use his partial. Basically he would have to go around with healing gums and no teeth and theres no way he would do that, can't say I blame him. I would become a recluse until it got fixed if I had to do that.
I think he is pretty much set now on doing a permanent bridge. He had to have one of his molars pulled to allow room for the bridge. They had to let that heal for about 6 months before they can move forward with the next step. If I remember correctly the estimate for everything when it was all over was about $5K. 

Hope that helps.
If you want more specifics let me know and I can ask.

[Taffy Saltwater]

Try gargling w/hot (as hot as you stand) water mixed w/a couple of spoons of salt.  For some reason this really helps draw down swelling & relieves pain.  I hope your dental issues are resolved quickly & as painlessly as possible.

[Leyla]

If your teeth are prone to going bad, implants may be the better way to go. When you do a bridge they have to file down the neighboring teeth to hold the bridge in place. This trauma to otherwise healthy teeth can end up killing them and leading to more root canals or tooth loss. Plus, if you go with the implants now, and need more teeth done later I'm pretty sure they can use the implanted posts  you'll already have in order to do a larger (multi-tooth) implant.

Also, my oral surgeon said that once the tooth is infected it should come out fast. The longer you have the infected tooth the more bone loss occurs. If you end up needing a bone graft you'll have to wait that much longer for your implant.

[Julianne]

Wow...Thanks you guys!  Very helpful advice.
I'm strongly leaning to the implants.

Had the bad tooth pulled yesterday and they did have to do a bone graft.  I'm having some "just oh so pleasant" gum work now too as the Dentist has assured me this will save my teeth (heard that before).

ah well....getting old sucks.