My depressing dental journey

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

So, I mentioned a while back that I need a root canal on my front right tooth. Even with insurance I cannt afford it.

Today, I went to the dentist for x-rays, check-up, make a plan. Before covid I was seeing a periodontist regularly. Apparently my bone has receded a lot since then. Even if I wanted and could afford implants (an alternative to the root canal, I couldn’t do because I don’t have enough bone left to hold them. I have yet another dead tooth, and as many cavities in my front teeth as I’ve had in my whle life, and that includes two orthodontic treatments each lasting 4 years. I still have a permanent retainer on my bottom teeth that apparently is keeping those teeth from coming loose. Oh, and a bridge would be out of the question too. Not enough stability because of bone loss natch. I also have a dark spot on my lower left jaw that he’s sending to a surgeon to make sure there’s nothing, " growing," there. Yikes!

So the plan: pull tooth, heal, make a flipper. Address cavities, ignor dead tooth as it’s not a problem now. Get periodontal cleaning, try to hang on to my teeth as long as I can’cause apparently it’s just a matter of time.

TL;DR: I will lose a frnt tooth, have a cosmetic only replacement, and will eventually lose all my teeth. Oh, and there’s a dark spot on my exray. This all sucks.

2

Dental issues are never fun. Keep us posted on your progress.

3

Ah, thank you I will. It’s so distressing that my teeth have always been very good until I broke the front ones. Now? Bleh

4

From someone who is in the process of getting two implants (and has experience with flippers), just reading the thread title made me feel bad for you.

Reading the text quadrupled my empathy.

Best of luck,

mmm

5

Mr VOW is going through something similar. Several years ago, he was waiting for me in the car, and entertaining himself by “fixing” something. He apparently needed his pocket knife, and made the brilliant decision to open the knife with his front teeth.

His front teeth had been worked on many times. Porcelain, acrylic, blah blah. One of those front teeth simply couldn’t take it any longer, and it broke off at the root.

Many dentist visits and a couple of years go by. We had originally thought it would be just the removal of the root, and then an implant.

Hah! The VOW family doesn’t do simple or easy. Turns out, his entire uppers are in bad-bad-bad (to borrow from @Beckdawrek). He needs ALL uppers pulled, all the infection cleaned out, bottoms repaired and/ or pulled. Then he will get “temporary” dentures until everything heals to the point that implants can be installed. Then he can get the permanent teeth.

We have our dental work done at the Loma Linda University School of Dentistry. It has saved us a lot of money. So the estimate for the treatment plan as described above is $16,000.

We were set to begin, but wait! Mr VOW had a heart attack in 2020, so he needed “clearance” from his cardiologist. With the typical back-and-forth, run in circles adventure typical for us VOWs, we finally got it all ready to go.

Then we got COVID.

He’s FINALLY got his first appointment to begin the uppers next month. The uppers will cost $10,000.

Oh, and the reason for the abysmal condition of his teeth? Mr VOW has a firm addiction to Coca-Cola. He simply cannot stay away from the stuff. Yes, it’s loaded with sugar, but sugar alone does not cause the extensive dental devastation. Coke contains phosphoric acid, and that does a job on the enamel. Through the years, the phosphoric acid etches the enamel, and then sugar feeds the bacteria that cause the cavities.

I do indeed sympathize.

~VOW

6

Yes, Mr. Vow and I share that addiction. However, I, to this point, have had a grand total of 7 small cavities my entire life. They were small enough that I always skipped numbing for fillings. I have periodontal disease partly because of a quack orthodontist when I was in middle school, I also have TMJ because of that same rat bastard. Then I broke my 2 front teeth on a steel fence post about 30+ years ago. My first plastic caps lasted 30 years. The pop hadn’t been an issue forany of that … 'till now. Sigh.

7

You have my sympathies - I can’t imagine how distressing your situation is. I’m in the process of getting my third implant, and eventually will need three more. That is overwhelming enough without adding in all of the other problems you’re dealing with.

A friend of mine is having some major issues and is facing an astronomical price to try to keep his teeth but was given a low chance of success. He is still researching, but is seriously considering traveling to Mexico, Croatia or Hungary to have his teeth pulled and implants done. I think he said it would be less than $10k. So I don’t know if that’s a potential solution for you, but wanted to throw that out in case it might be a viable option.

8

Thank you for the suggestion. I would try it but, I’m the working … not poor according to the poverty line, but living pay check to pay check. I can’t afford the out of pocket for a root canal. Also, apparently my gum disease has progresses enouh that implants wouldn’t anchor well enough because there isnt enough bone.

Why, don’t dentits do root canals anymore? Now they want you to go to an endodontist. Insurance doesn’t cover as much and they charge more too.

9

Root canals can actually be fairly complicated procedures. This is something I found out the hard way. You really do want them done by someone who does this all day, every day.

10

This, very much this.
My dentist is a professor at our dental college and even he sends me to a endodontist for root canals.

11

As much ortodontics and periodontics as I’ve had, oh and TMJ treatment, I’ve never had a root canal.

12

Ugh. Yeah. I’m just so sorry.

Dentition has so much to do with the hand you’re dealt. It’s so easy to spend a lifetime trying to make up for any of those deficits from genetics and/or our youth.

I hope there’s a way forward, that it doesn’t break you, financially, and that it dramatically improves your quality of life.

13

I’ll get through alright. I’m working with a clinic that does a sliding scale and charges less. I really dont want a partial. I’ve had upper retainers and bite splint at different times. I dislike all that plastic in my mouth. I don’t want to walk around missing a front tooth. I like to think I’m not totally vain, but that’s a bridge too far. I’m already missing half a tooth vertically, and I’ll prolly go a month without the whole tooth. Blah, red neck eh? :wink:

14

I thought I wasn’t a candidate for implants either due to so much bone loss but my regular dentist sent me to a dentist that specialized in small diameter implants. I got 26 of them. I will never have a new car or a fancy vacation for the rest of my life but for the first time ever since I was 24 and got full dentures I not only feel good but I look good. It is the first time in my life that I’ve been completely without dental pain. I hope it works out for you because I know how miserable it is.

15

@TXRebel

You’ve done a great job discussing the reality of financial concerns. There are a lot of commercials on TV encouraging the masses to do implants, with a voice-over saying “Only $199 a month!”

Yeah, for the rest of your life.

As the money person in our family, I’ve had to do some deep thinking, along with moaning and groaning. We are retirees on a fixed income. And typically, throughout the marriage, Mr VOW is nonchalant about the whole money business, figuring “I want this, and VOW will figure it out!” (He pulled that stunt when he bought a big, honkin’, expensive telescope. I nearly killed him then.)

The reality of this situation is this: Mr VOW is 75 years old. His health is not good. Although he cut back greatly on his Coke consumption after his heart attack in 2020, he has gradually increased his Coke intake to pre-heart attack amounts. With this stupid jinx on our family, how long will he live after I’ve paid the last dollar on his expensive mouth?

I know I’m terrible.

~VOW

16

When I needed this service in 2011, the general dentist who tried to do mine, and failed, sent me to the specialist who did HIS root canal.

And when said root canal failed and I needed an apicoectomy (which sounds gruesome but was actually less traumatic than a filling!), the specialist did that too. I still have a front tooth thanks to him. You know how the roots of your teeth are rounded on an x-ray? That tooth, specifically #11 (upper left canine) has a sharp, angular edge, in addition to the root filling in the tooth itself.

17

Oh no. I know exactly what you mean. With Hubster it was a gigantic satellite dish. This was back in the day of giant dishes and black boxes. I was pregnant for our first baby. I told him that we needed think about it, but I didn’t think we should do it. A week later I’m waddling around the house and a dish installer shows up. Grrr.

18

Several years before he died last year aged 90, my dad had a front tooth that couldn’t be salvaged. He asked about implants, which he did know about, and the dentist said he really didn’t have enough bone to hold one in place, so he got a retainer-type device with an obviously false tooth attached to it. It was good enough for him.

19

You are not terrible. I’m 68 and had it done when I was 66. I thought long and hard about spending that kind of money at my age. Truthfully? If I wasn’t still working no way would I have done it. I’m working because I want to and this is one of the reasons why I want to.

20

I had a root canal in a front tooth and then lost it some years later when it just up and broke. Fortunately I had the bone available to have an implant but it was a long expensive process, the dentist who did the implant didn’t especially impress me on the administrative end and I spent the time with the plastic flipper thing. It was annoying but looked better than a hole.

Empathy for the OP. Dental stuff is no fun, poorly covered by insurance and frustrating/discouraging on multiple levels.