A Dental question.

In My Humble Opinion
1

When I was younger, about 11/12, I went to the dentist for the first time in years and got a couple of fillings and other work done. Should’ve gotten braces, unsurprisingly at that age I was reluctant.

I went about my life normally for most of the next ten years, eating and drinking what I want without a visit to the dentist. I still feel like any childhood dentist should keep in contact with you, which she didn’t, and parents should encourage you to go, which they didn’t, but at the end of the day I was a teenager and going to dentist should probably be a responsibility you should take on yourself.

Drinking stuff like vodka as a teenager, I always woke up the following day with pains in the corner of my mouth but I generally ignored it thinking it would blow over in a day or two.

A few months before I turned 21, my Mam and Dad started saying to me that my bottom teeth were a bit crooked and stained and said I should go to the dentist, so I went to my Dad’s dentist. He said a lot of the enamel had gone off my teeth among other problems and booked me in for an appointment with the orthodontist across the road.

I went there and he said pretty much the same thing, and here’s where I think things got lost in translation between us. What I think he said was, and what he actually might of said, we’ll check back in a year. I think that either meant we’ll see what the progress is like in a year and work towards fixing them, or call back in a year and we’ll see. Because over three years later, the man still hasn’t called me back.

Since then, especially over the last two years (since the year passed), I’ve become so self-conscious and anti-social over the whole situation. Love-life, non-existent over the last two years.

I’m afraid to go back now, because I’m not sure what the options are. The questions I have about it are, 1. How long will it take, 2. How much will it cost?, 3. What are they actually going to do?, 4. What will I look like during it? 5. What will I look like after it? At 24, I’m surely too young for a full set of false teeth and I certainly don’t want to be walking around with a full set of pristine, fake-looking, false teeth that don’t fit in my mouth.

Anyone have any experience with stuff like this, or is anyone a dental expert.

2

Moderator Action

Welcome to the SDMB.

Questions involving health issues belong in our In My Humble Opinion forum, as do questions seeking advice and opinions. I will move the thread there for you.

Also, please do not bold your text. Many people here find things like that annoying. I have removed the bolding from your post.

Moving thread from General Questions to In My Humble Opinion.

3

Thank you.

4

None of your questions are relevant at this point. It’s been too long.

Doctors don’t call you, you call them.

Go to your dentist for a cleaning and go from there. If you need to be referred back to an orthodontist, then you will be referred. You need a cleaning either way, and if you need to see an orthodontist who says you need work done, they give you an estimate and go over all your questions in the office.

You will not get satisfactory answers here, only anecdotes and opinions on how things have worked for other people. These may help you with figuring out how things work in general, but no one can answer specific questions about your mouth besides the doctors looking at it.

The next step for you is another first step, and hopefully you’ll start following through. Also hoping your mouth isn’t in as bad a shape as you seem to think. We are often our own worst critics.

5

dentist here. It may be my reading of your post but I’m not sure how you got from a little crooked and stained to a full set of false teeth. The first thing to do is to make an appointment with a general dentist for a full exam. They will explain any treatment needed and things like cost and time involved. Ask them the same questions.

I’d be happy to answer any questions I can that you post here keeping in mind I am not your dentist and haven’t examined you but I’ve been doing this since 1986.

6

No one here can answer such broad questions - only a dentist who has examined you can do that.

I will say that you have a pattern of passivity about your dental care. You can’t expect a dentist to care more about your teeth than you do. Saying that a dentist didn’t call you back after a year is like saying a mechanic didn’t call you to remind you to get your car’s oil changed. You should find a dentist with whom you work out a plan, and then follow the plan.

7

If the thing holding you back from revisiting the dentist is the fear of false teeth, then bear in mind that that’s always a last resort these days. Even terrible teeth can stay in your mouth (with fillings, crowns, etc) as long as the roots aren’t destroyed and braces are feasible in adulthood too.

Make an appt for ASAP. Good luck. :slight_smile:

8

YOU call the dentist and make an appointment.

Be prepared to ask THEM the questions you’re asking us, (which we have no way of answering, clearly.)

And keep asking until you understand the answers you’re given. This is ultimately the ONLY real solution, and seems somewhat self evident.

Plus, you’re an adult now, it’s time for you to step up and take responsibility for your own dental care. Stop blaming your parents, nothing was stopping you from taking responsibility for it yourself. Especially if you’re now so concerned as to let it ruin your life.

If you want some adult answers, and you seem to, then it’s time to act like an adult would and seek answers from your Dr, not an Internet messageboard of strangers.