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A little background. You know I'm 70: No secret. I was raised in a suburb of a large Midwestern city that had no city water, so when our suburb was built (started late 30s, our home built 1940, I was born '43) so everything was set up around community wells, about 12 to 15 homes to each well. So, no fluoride in the water. Also the Gene fairy was unkind to both sides of my family. Both my parents hat their teeth removed in their early 30s, before I was born. I never knew them without dentures.
Needless to say I've had problems with my teeth all my life. In my adult life I've spent 50/60k on fillings, crowns and bridges and for 3 1/2 years in my early thirties wore braces to correct TMJ issues. Tuesday I broke a tooth eating an apple. No, I can't bite into them, I cut them up. So anyway, the tooth was mostly filling and the rest broke of well below the gum line. I had the broken tooth extracted yesterday after 45 minutes of pushing, pulling, hammering and chiseling...
Actually, that's the good news... The bad news is that in the preliminary X-Ray the tooth behind it has a large abscess in the tooth and the bone. So that will come out Monday after treatment with an anaerobic antibiotic.
That will leave on top a 6 crown bridge in front and 3 crowns. Luckily it doesn't show how few teeth are really there. I'm ready to pull the lot and go with a full upper. Of course my Dentist wants to keep me as a cash cow. Hell, I'm an anuity for him. He suggests replacing every tooth with a $3k implant. That pig isn't flying yet as I don't want to think about that kind of expense.
So: Dentures? Does anyone have experience they're willing to share, good or bad, pro or con? I want to make an informed decision. Should I do uppers and lowers at the same time: Might be easier to get things lined up right and they would all be the same color. If you don't want to post publicly, please PM me.
I really need to get information from people who don't have a financial motive.
Thanks,
Ole
Comments
dentures
im 73 and have had dentures for over ten years. mine are full on top and a bridge on bottom. the one I have in now are my second set. I eat pretty much what I want with them and have only broke a tooth one time. hope this helps.
robert
If you decide
on dentures, be prepared for food to taste differently. You have no idea how much the roof of your mouth is used for tasting til it is covered. Chewing steak and such is slightly more difficult and you can only chew sugarless gum because regular gum sticks to them very often. Also if you like to whistle, you will have a much harder time, if you can do it at all. (I can't anymore)
I already had weak teeth from having to take very strong antibiotics because I was very sick as a child. So after an attack one night, three were knocked out easily and the rest were not strong enough to support a bridge.
It is painful to have so many teeth removed at once and takes some adjustment to wearing them at first but in a short while they will feel completely normal.
On the plus side... if you suffer from tooth pain often, it will practically disappear after your heal and you really will feel completely normal before you know it.
Also if you decide on dentures, alot of people opt for bright white. Be mindful of the color you choose because if the are too bright they will act as a beacon to let others know they are not natural.
Hope this helps.
Well, Stef, I can't whithtle now. ;-D
I've heard about the flavor change, and I guess I'll have to get used to it, though I love the flavor of good food. I took lots of Tetracycline when I was a kid and mostly it turned my teeth grey though it may have weakened them too. White teeth have been a lifetime dream, but I'll try to control myself. Since the few unaltered teeth I have are grey and the others are varying shads of almost white they really don't look all that real now. Those are all good points.
I'm fortunate that I haven't had much pain: I think I had more when I was a kid. But at 21 I injured my back and really learned about pain. I taught myself coping mechanisms and learned to deal with it. It's autofused now but the nerve still runs through it, so I have a dull back ache 24/7 but hardly notice it and since that time pain hasn't much bothered me. I ignore it or push it away which can be a handy trick bu sometimes it's dangerous because I go too long before seeking help, and I have caused extra damage.
Thank you so much for the good advice, Stef,
Your friend,
Ole
We are each exactly as God made us. God does not make mistakes!
Gender rights are the new civil rights!
No Sticky Candy :(
I had TMJ also, mostly either ground my teeth off or broke them off in my sleep.
So I have a 5 tooth partial bridge on my lower right side. You have to keep them clean, but otherwise mine has been fine. Like I said, "No Sticky Candy", you'll find out why. :)
Gwendolyn
Hi, Gwen,
I'm not much of a candy eater, hard or sticky, so that shouldn't be a problem. The only thing even remotely sticky I've eaten this year is a (only 1) Milky Way Caramel Bar, and the caramel was pretty liquid. My snacks are mostly fresh fruit, berries and nuts.
I used to brux like crazy, but have trained myself not to.
Thanks Gwen,
Ole
We are each exactly as God made us. God does not make mistakes!
Gender rights are the new civil rights!
I have a partial plate
I too grew up mostly on well water and the equivalent from private water treatment plants. Fortunately, being almost half Indian, my teeth got somewhat better genetics than you. But because of crookedness and associated problems, I have had a partial for about five years. Lower front, I chose the partial over a bridge because of the expense. I'm pretty happy. I lost a molar early this year due to a bone abscess and may go with an implant for that since the molar behind the missing tooth and the premolar in front are good teeth. Three thousand sounds high for an implant, my dentist is talking around $1200.
Hugs,
Erin
= Give everyone the benefit of the doubt because certainty is a fragile thing that can be shattered by one overlooked fact.
Thanks, Erin,
Even at $1,200 Doing the entire top and 4 on the bottom would be prohibitive. I'm pretty sure upper and lower plates would be less. Though I really haven't researched that yet. If anyone has any clue on prices, please let me know. An abscess in the jaw which appears to be twice to three times the size of the root and larger than the molar itself (I should say crown) is the reason for Monday's extraction.
Most of my teeth are crowns some of which have had additional fillings at the gum line, and even some that aren't have already had root canals because the fillings are so large and near the nerve. The maintenance is never ending and I probably should have done this 20 years ago.
I hear what you're saying on the expense of bridges as I have the 6 tooth bridge on top, dead center, and a 4 tooth bridge on the bottom.
Thanks for the help,
Ole
We are each exactly as God made us. God does not make mistakes!
Gender rights are the new civil rights!
dentures
well i to have had the luck of not having the best teeth but being a clumsy kid and using my face as a brake most of the time didn't help any. the day came for me when i to had a tooth split down the middle, i went to my dentist and he said i can fix that and all the others too with porcelain veneers and such. he and i argued but i has said to pull all 10 of them it was the best thing for me to do as i don't have any tooth pain . when i had them pulled they put the plate right in and i never looked back i can eat anything i want lol and i do not use any adhesives to hold them in. yes you cant some chew gum yes you might have to cut your food a bit better but hey it your choice. yes i can whistle and still do all the things i have done before i had my teeth pulled. its just now i save on tooth paste. and if the do hurt i can pull them out and gum it for the night lol. PS youw ill get sore for a bit as the dentures will rub in places till your used to them and another thing you will save on dentist bills big time
hugs rues
Hey, Thanks rues,
I'm not a gum chewer so no loss there. What you describe is what my dad described to me: Had the teeth pulled and put the plates right in. He said the gums healed to match the plates and he never used adhesive. the only time he took them out was to clean them. He even slept in them.
Ole
We are each exactly as God made us. God does not make mistakes!
Gender rights are the new civil rights!
Second Opinion
Hey, Ole.
You might want to get a second opinion, from an oral surgeon who does apicos. If they can save that tooth over the abcess, you may have more options. This is not something your dentist can do. Even if he's not being greedy and counting the money he can make by doing it his way, he might simply not be aware of what an oral surgeon could do with that tooth. Or at least, that's the generous interpretation.
Call up a couple from the phone book. Tell them your dentist says you have an abcess under the tooth and you want to find out if it's a candidate for an "apico". They may even offer you a free evaluation. Also, ask your dentist for copies of your xrays, which should at least make him nervous that someone else will by evaluating his advice. Win-win! (Don't delay any appointment with an oral surgeon waiting for your dentist's xrays. They probably would rather do their own, and probably have better equipment which will give them better images anyway.)
Had mine since 1992
I had a similar experience to you and in '92 I was eating peanuts and broke a molar. This upset me because I had been to the dentist just three months prior and had a bunch of work done. However, I'd been fighting gum disease for nearly ten years and suffered receding gums and I had a gum line cavity that undermined the tooth in that short a time. I decided then that it was time to give up the fight and get dentures.
I went to denturist for advise. He advised that due to my gum disease that I go to a dental surgeon and have my teeth removed and my jaw bone scraped to remove all the associated plaque. I spent nearly $ 2000.00 dollars for that procedure and another three hundred for the dentures. On advice from the dental surgeon I waited a month before I went back to the denturist for the impressions so that the swelling in my gums receded. He said that normally he would advise two weeks between extractions and impressions. Eating during the wait was no problem. No raw vegetables or hard fruit, meat cut in small enough pieces to swallow whole and gummed to get the flavor before swallowing.
Long story short, I'm still wearing the same dentures today with no adhesive. I can eat corn on the cob, apples and crunch the ice in my drinks. As a matter of fact, I haven't come across anything I want to eat that I can't eat. I couldn't be happier with my dentures.
Hugs
Patricia
Happiness is being all dressed up and HAVING some place to go.
Semper in femineo gerunt