I have congenitally bad teeth, and I would like to find some permanent solutions to these problems rather than just going in and getting fillings every year. My molars are pretty much disintegrating before my eyes with gum disease, cavities, and my teeth-clenching at night, but my front and eye teeth are pretty much intact, so I don’t think dentures would be the way to go at this point. So, Dopers who know these kinds of things, what are my options for a permanent fix for my crappy molars?
(I don’t want to go to a dentist and discuss this at the moment because I have a hole in my back molar that he will insist on fixing and we just can’t afford it right now.)
Pull 'em…before you lose all of them. Get a bridge, till the rest fall out or you have them pulled. Screw the pain and expense of trying to save rotten teeth.
Floss floss floss floss. If you have to choose between brushing and flossing, choose flossing.
And if you are like me, (big hands, tight teeth, small mouth) and you find flossing effectively difficult, get a Glide floss tool, it makes serious, extremely effective flossing even easier than brushing.
If your teeth are in bad shape, you can look into the screw-in type. The go directly into the bone and it is permanent. They’re very expensive ($1800/tooth) but it will offer an anchor for the other teeth to hang onto. My husband has terrible teeth, but we can’t afford the screw-ins.
If you’re clenching your teeth at night, try taking calcium pills, as that’s one of the things which can cause it. Calcium suppliments can also help improve the general strength and condition of your teeth. Additionally, there’s a “chip” with flouride on it, that your dentist can glue to the backside of your teeth to help keep mouth bacteria in check. You should also consider having a check-up at your physicians office, since certain medical conditions (I don’t remember which ones) can cause teeth problems.
I know you’re short on cash, but you’ve only got one set of choppers. If you’ve got moderate to severe gum disease, you just plain have to go into the dentist and get a deep scaling and root planing to save the teeth that are still saveable, and the sooner the better. After your teeth are as clean as can be, he’ll provide a regimen for keeping them so, like a clorhexadine rinse or an appointment with a periodontist if necessary. I know this wasn’t what you wanted to hear, but a scaling and root planing are most likely a minimum necessity if you have periodontal disease.
Also, dentists sell something called Periomed that works wonders for gum disease. You’ll notice less bleeding in just a couple of weeks. It’s kind of expensive, about $20 a bottle, but it’s worth it. It tastes yucky, though.
On preview, that may be the clorhexadine rinse pravnik is referring to.
I guess I should have mentioned in the OP that I do brush, floss and stimulate my gums nightly - that’s part of what makes this so frustrating. No matter how hard I work at it, they’re still crumbling in my mouth. And I’ve had the root scaling done, as well. My teeth just seem to want to give up on me, so I figure some kind of pre-emptive strike might be in order.
(Tuck, that’s a good idea about the calcium, but I already drink about a litre of milk a day. I don’t think calcium deficiency is my problem. :D)
A dissenting opinion to the 'pull ‘em all now’ people: I have very bad teeth too, but managed to get on insurance to get most of the real problems filled/ crowned one year. Now I’m on my man’s insurance and when I went to the dentist they said there probably won’t be any problems from here on, as any surface in my mouth that really chews food is already filling. . . most every tooth has had some work but it appears that they will stay in there for the long haul, in the end.
Stop eating sugar/ drinking soda, if you do-- they say this makes an enormous difference. Stop smoking, if you do (gum issues).
Okay, I have a mouth full of fillings, 2 root canals and 2 crowns at the age of 26, and I have the best teeth in my family. yikes!
I assume you are already using prescription toothpaste? The kind with 1% flouride? Prevident is the brand name but I get generic at the pharmacist. Costs about the same as regular toothpaste under my prescription plan ($10 for 2 tubes). And I was using Chlorhexidine rinse for a while to keep the bacteria down in my mouth. I think that’s the foul-tasting stuff another poster was mentioning. Have you looked into an appliance to keep your teeth from grinding together so much at night?
Another thing is to keep your mouth moist, just by drinking water, etc. Apparently dry mouth=decay.
I think that’s all I;ve got as far as low-cost maintenence ideas right now.
What is crowning? Why would it help? The only thing I know about crowns is my brother has a crown on his front tooth because he smashed it in half while it was only half-way grown out :eek: On a similar note, what is capping?
Dentures aren’t so bad. I mean, you should try to save what you’ve got, but if you can’t, or if you’re just sick of being in pain, dentures aren’t nearly as bad as most dentists will try to convince you.
Denture adhesives all suck. They’re a disgusting mess. With a little bit of practice you can hold them in your mouth with no effort at all. Total cost for yanking my teeth and custom fit dentures that rarely hurt at all - $1800. I can eat almost anything (much more than I could with painful teeth), and can even chew several brands of gum. Tough foods like steak are no problem at all.
Oh, and that fluoride mouthwash that others were talking about - YUCK! That stuff made everything I ate taste vile, even 12 hours or more after rinsing with it!
I still say that you should see your doctor to rule out any medical conditions that are causing your dental problems. A friend’s grandmother had such a condition (but I don’t remember what it was called), and seemed perfectly healthy otherwise. Certainly couldn’t hurt to check.
I have had periodontic surgery, root planing, scaling, floride treatments, 10 crowns and uncountable fillings.
I too brush, floss, rinse after snacks. My teeth are crumbling before my eyes as well.
Just last week I bit down on an almond M&M and cracked my perfect lower tooth in half. Half the enamel fell off and I was left with exposed pulp. I took a Vicodin and went to bed. 18 hours later I sat in the dentist chair as he gave me the numbing injections, four total.
Suddenly I began to feel not right. I began to have tremors in my hands and feet and my blood pressure went from 98/65 to 150/110. My pulse went from 66 to 150. I felt like I was going to explode or have a seizure or something.
I know I am very sensitive to albuterol, sudafed, caffiene, and any of those herbal preparation containing gotu kola, guarana or ma hung. It seems I am very sensitive to epinephrine as well.
They had to wait until I stopped shaking so much before they could pull the tooth.
You would think that I would give up wouldn’t you?
In about a month I am going to have six teeth that are beyond redemption pulled. Then I am going to have upper and lower partials made. I plan to keep all my teeth that are crowned or perfect. This will cost me approximately $1400 of my own money. I don’t have dental insurance.
People who are blessed with perfect teeth don’t know what they are missing.
I watched my mom suffer for decades with tooth and gum problems. She had breath so foul it could peel paint off a wall even though she was extremely diligent about brushing, flossing, dental visits…it was the smell of her gums and teeth rotting, you see. Ugh.
It is sad but true that some are more dentally blessed than others. Sometimes, a person just gets a bad roll of the dice, or maybe was ill during a crucial point of development, or had some other sort of bad luck (I’ve known folks who’ve lost perfect teeth to car accidents and other mishaps).
Even if you CAN’T afford to get your mouth fixed up completely, DO go see a dentist. They can tell you what’s really happening, maybe give you some options you’re not aware of, suggest ways to minimize the damage until you can get the work done. There might be payment plans available, or there might be charities in your area that can help you out with the cost. A dentist might even be willing to cut you a break on the cost, depending on the situation.
Sometimes, yes, you have to pull the teeth. Sometimes that choice is driven by cost - a snazzy new dental technology is useless if you can’t get it due to lack of money. But bad, painful teeth ARE a potential health risk. Do what you can to fix 'em up. If you can’t fix 'em, get the best set of dentures you possibly can.
I’m lucky and I know it. I’m 40 years old and have never even had a cavity. I still have all my teeth and hope it stays that way. The reason I said pull 'em. My mom and dad both have suffered with bad teeth for years. I’ve seen them in agony trying to save their teeth. Someone said about bad breath, man I know that’s right.
They grew up in the days when there was no flouride. I brush my teeth at least twice a day EVERYDAY and thoroughly. I use mouthwash and wish I could floss, big hands small mouth and TIGHT teeth. But, I’m not complaining. I hope this gum disease isn’t hereditary, please!
So, you do what you’re dentist advises, but it sounds to me that it’s too far gone and is gonna be more pain than gain. Try to save what you’ve got (the good ones) and good luck.
BTW the dentures or whatever they’re called that attach to screws in the jaw are bad about abscessing.
Check out the dental colleges in your area. They like having human subjects to experiment on…ummmm, I mean, the students (overseen by doctors) will perform services at no/low cost. With the right drugs, you look like this :o. And when they’re done, you look like this :D. Good luck.
Good idea about the dental colleges, Buck. I’m not sure we have one around here, but I’ll check it out. I was hoping somebody knew about some amazing new magic bullet for bad teeth, but no such luck. Dental practices are still so barbaric I can hardly believe that we can’t do any better than needles, drills, and yank 'em out.