I'm 28 and my teeth are deteriorating rapidly. What do I do?

In My Humble Opinion
1

Hey there.

As the title says, I’m 28 (and male, FWIW) and have really bad teeth. I’ve had one wisdom and two molars already extracted (the wisdom tooth was taken out due to a jaw injury, the molars were remove because large pieces of the tooth had broken away).

Two of my still-in-mouth teeth (both molars) have large pieces missing from them, that my dentist told me on my last visit will almost certainly need root canal and/or crown.

I’m in two minds about spending the huge dollars required for root canals and crowns. A lot of anecdotal experience suggests that crowns and root canals can be hit and miss. My mother has had two crowns, one lasted 9 months, the other last 3 years. My work colleague had had one crown, it lasted 3 months.

My previous dentist told me that my teeth are amongst the softest he’s ever drilled, “it’s like drilling butter”. I have no confidence in my teeth being able to “hold on to” a crown for a long enough period of my life that I think it’s worth me spending money on getting them.

So, with two gaps in my mouth where molars have been removed (I don’t miss the wisdom tooth), and another 2 molars in urgent need of work, I’m not sure what to do. I have no emotional attachment to my teeth, so that’s not an issue. I’m not rich, so that is an issue. My eating ability is already impeded, that is an issue. I don’t care too much about aesthetics at this point, because the worst of my teeth sit just outside my visible smile line.

Over the next 5-10 years I expect my teeth to decay even further, so it’s going to be crunch time very soon to decide which path I go down in terms of a long term solution for my teeth.

Currently I am thinking a denture plate may be the way to go:

Any advice or opinions? Thanks.

2

Get your teeth sealed, and use fluoride gel.

3

My parents both had dental problems from an early age - mid-late 20s.
My mom had full dentures by the age of 40, and my dad managed to hang on to just a partial plate until he was around 55.

I think if asked they both would have advised you to hang onto however many natural teeth you can, for as long as you can. Without being in pain or having to bankrupt yourself, of course. If your natural teeth can handle supporting a partial plate, that might be the way to go.

4

My grandpa had a choice at some point of implants or pulling them and getting dentures - he was too cheap for the implants and always regretted it. Dentures suck.

5

Well, for some anecdotal tales to rebut yours… I’ve had one crown in my mouth for something like 15 years, a couple for about 10, and a few for about 6.

In all that time, I had to get one re-done because I got decay under it, and one has popped off twice, but without decay, so they just re-glue it.

No root canals so far- all in all, the crowns seem like a pretty excellent deal when compared to the alternatives. And I have decay-prone teeth; I brush twice daily, and floss daily, and when I visited the dental college in graduate school, they brought the students over to see an example of “excellent gums” in my mouth. Yet my teeth still tend toward getting cavities.

6

You are 28 - you should try to hold on to as many natural teeth as you can.

Get them sealed after cleaning, it will help.

7

It kind of sounds like you might benefit from a more extensive conversation with your dentist about preventive care. If your enamel is really that soft, I would bet no amount of sealing or additional fluoride will really extend their life. It’s probably why your dentist didn’t offer sealing as an option, but it can’t hurt to bring it up to make sure.

I’ve met a couple of people IRL who have “soft” enamel. One went with implants, and the other is getting veneers as the enamel chips, so I’m not in full understanding of why choose which option, maybe it depends on the nature of the wear. I have bruxism, which means I clench and sometimes grind my teeth, resulting in wearing my molars down. While the teeth/roots/everything besides the white enamel is fine, I needed two crowns. My dentist said they are basically little helmets since there was no root canal work done or anything like that.

Where I’m going with this is if your enamel is the problem and the rest of your tooth is healthy, a dentist is truly loathe to pull it. The tooth root and jaw bone structure is the healthiest thing to maintain if at all possible. Due to the bruxism, I opted for gold crowns, since it’s the furthest back molars on each side, who’s going to notice, and it’s the longest-lasting option. My mom has a gold crown on a tricuspid that was placed when she was 30, she’s 66 now, and also uses that tooth as an anchor for a partial. My dentist said there’s no reason not to expect my gold to last upwards of 20-30 years with proper care (brush 2x, floss 1x every day, wear mouth guard every night).

There are several options for crown material. My dentist originally quoted me for the metal/ceramic veneer since those are the most popular, but especially with my clenching issue, I decided I would go the non-vain route and get the ones most likely to last without problems. The veneered ones are too likely to chip or wear and need replacement in 5-10 years.

Your partial option may only be viable if there’s a crowned or implanted tooth to anchor it to. If your enamel is so soft it may shear off, a partial is going to wreck the teeth it’s anchored to, from inserting and removing it daily. So you will still most likely need to go with a combination of crowns and partials if you don’t get implants.

You’ve gotten stories from RL people who had bad crown experiences, but I’m not convinced the people who had problems after only a few months really had permanent crowns - that sounds like temporaries that they let go too long. The ones that lasted a little longer, perhaps weren’t fitted perfectly. When I had the second crown placed, I had to get it done twice. The first time there was a miniscule mismatch that made running floss over the spot where tooth met crown feel a tiny bit rough. Unacceptable, sent crown back to lab and had to do it all over two weeks later. So my dentist is a perfectionist, and I feel like I’m getting what I’m paying for with him, even though he’s priced on the high end of normal.

So, please do more research before deciding on pulling otherwise healthy teeth. Talk to your dentist. I’ll bet he won’t really like the idea, I don’t think a good dentist would support the idea of pulling otherwise healthy teeth that just need helmets!

8

I also have bad teeth. I take supplements, I keep them freaky clean, and use a special persciption, daily topical fluoride treatment, yet they continue to deteriorate, even the ones that have been sealed. My dentist and FNP are mystified. As best as we can tell, my body has decided that my teeth are foreign invaders and my immune system is attacking them. I had 5 root canals with crowns but only one is left. Now, when I have a tooth go bad, I just have it pulled. It just wasn’t worth the $1500 to $1700 for dental work that only lasted 3 years or so. Considering an implant is about $2000, for only a few hundred bucks more, I get something much more durable. Not that I can afford $2000 dental work, which is why I look like a meth addict when I laugh.

9

When the time comes, go for the implants. Greatest thing since sliced bread.

10

If your dentist has mentioned getting a bite guard to wear at night, get one. If you can’t afford the expensive official mouth appliance, use a sports one. There are threads on how to use those.

11

I’ve heard this comment a few times, but I keep forgetting to ask why?

12

Stop tweeking. It’s really bad for the teeth.

13

Because dentures SUCK. Seriously.

14

False teeth won’t ever feel the same as your real teeth. Do what you can to preserve the teeth you have left. I’d go through 100 crowns before I’d let them fit me for dentures.

Have you spoken to your dentist about possible causes for such soft enamel? Do you have an eating disorder? Do you eat a nutritious diet and/or take vitamins? Were you on long-term antibiotics? Surely there’s an underlying reason. If you can identify it, perhaps you can try and reverse the soft enamel.

15

As Zsofia and PunditLisa touched on, dentures will never be a perfect replacement for natural teeth. They move around, they have to be glued in place with sometimes unpleasant pastes and powders, they can be uncomfortable, etc. Once my mom went to full dentures she was never able to bite an apple or eat corn on the cob again. She had trouble sometimes with just biting a sandwich. Eating was a slow process because her dentures would sometimes slip unexpectedly.

If you can instead anchor a partial plate to natural teeth, or have crowns, it’s apparently much more comfortable and secure.

16

What the difference between an anchored plate and dentures?

What is this? http://t3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcR6E8QYdV4KuCmMIxDNxzuy9dk0sZIMnpVhklGGw567qNiPB7CM

17

That’s a “partial” denture. For when you still have some teeth. I, too, have had the same problem as you, only mine have really rapidly deteriorated over the past 10 years or so, and I’m 51. I’m looking at implants, which have been estimated at around the price of a small car. People who haven’t had issues with “soft” enamel and tooth deterioration seem to have a difficult time understanding how, sometimes, the best course is to have the damned things removed. Dentists won’t remove viable teeth if they can help it, so if they do recommend removal I’d just go with that.

18

Drink more milk! Take calcium tablets!

19

If the teeth have already deteriorated, that is not an option. Like I said before, if you haven’t experienced this, you most likely won’t understand.

20

Other than go to a good dentist and follow his/her advice to extend the life of your natural teeth, you may wish to investigate implants and figure out a way to finance them. This may involve taking out a loan and paying them off over a course of years, but if they are a good option for you (this requires consultation with an oral surgeon, if I recall) then they can be a permanent solution for your problem. Implants are costly, yes, but so are crowns and root canals, particularly if they don’t last. Bridges and dentures work to some extent, but they don’t last forever and there are significant drawbacks. With implants you might take 10 years to pay for teeth that could last the rest of your life, so long term that may be the best course of action, but like I said, you’d need to talk to a dentist/oral surgeon who is qualified to perform the procedure.

It’s my understanding that you don’t have to get a full set of implants, either - you can get a couple or a few implants and use them to anchor a bridge or set of dentures, which option you might want to look into as well. A bridge anchored to an implant will be much more stable and enduring than one anchored to a “soft” and deteriorating tooth. That might be a solution that is more manageable in cost but will give a better result than some alternatives.

Regardless, researching your options is definitely a good idea.