Just came back from VA hospital. They did surgery to remove 2 more teeth. That is 4 or 5 this year. They were very bad so surgery was needed. I also had sedation.
I thought that one of them was going to be pulled last time. The dentist went to see if it would take a crown or a partial and decided it had to be pulled.
One they thought had a minor cavity under the crown. When the crown came off it was major with very little tooth left. Partials are postponed.
Bridge work an additional fillings are postponed. The continued saga of Sjogren's and Teeth. At least this stage was not immediate with diagnosis.
I've had 14 crowns, 9 root canals, 1 implant and 1 extraction. I hope the dental problem has stabilized, no procedures in the last 2 years, thank goodness.
I forgot to mention a side effect of the last two pull. My blood pressure dropped from 177/90 to 144/64. May have found a pain source.
I'm sorry Joe :( having teeth pulled is not fun. I've had darn near every tooth in my head drilled, filled, pulled, crowned, root canaled or implanted already. I guess I've had signs of Sj?grens much longer than I was aware of :(
Yep, I have gone through drills and fills, root canals, and crowns. I have spent many years in a dentist chair. I have heard many complaints. Finding a good meditation made things a lot easier. The surgeon said I did really well. I was drugged and meditating. I did not care a lot about what was happening as long as it reduce the pain in the end.
So sorry Joe. Could't find a "comfort" emoticon to send you, the others all seemed inappropriate!
I thank you for your good thoughts. What I am looking for is partials or full dentures so I have some chewing surfaces again. I hope that when I heal from this round I will get my partials and bridge work. The lower blood pressure has been nice.
My mom and dad lost their teeth before they were 30yo. I did not expect them to last this long. As a kid I had my fangs removed (eye teeth/canine?) as they stuck out over my lips. My mouth was still to small for most of my molars.
At one time I had a book that told what each tooth coresponded to in your body. I have not seen that for decades.
So sorry to hear about that...I remember going through that. If possible go for the partials first, and try to keep whatever teeth are left for as long as you can. Hang in there.
I feel so bad for you. I have had trouble with my teeth all my life. Mostly pain, which I have thought for a long time was trigeminal nerve pain because I have had root canals and the pain continues unabated. I am currently fighting to ignore a tooth that has caused me so much pain for years, but I just don't want them to start doing anything because I know I will end up losing it too. When they do root canals, the pain just never subsides and I end up losing the tooth. I can't chew on one side, but I am SO SO SO afraid of dentures. It is a psychological thing.
I hope you suffer through this well, and it is good you can come here and vent where we know what you are going through. I am sorry I cannot offer a good solution. I guess we can be happy we live in a time when dental repair or replacement are at least possible, even if painful and expensive.
Whatnow, I can understand your reluctance to consider dentures, I don't like the idea of them either. However as the daughter of a dentist, I know that having several teeth missing and not having any replacements for them can cause the cheeks to sink in. The teeth do contribute to the structure of the face.
Another warning - letting tooth decay progress too far can sometimes lead to infection of the jawbone and even the face.
I am sorry if I misled anyone. I want dentures. I want the tooth pain to stop. The dentist wants to do partials and bridges first. I have 15 teeth left. So it may be a while before I get dentures. I lost 5 teeth so far this year. large parts of the teeth that were pulled had been eaten away. The dentist did not recognize that they were as bad as they were at first. Some, that I could feel, I told him about. One had a crown and it looked like there might be some minor decay under the crown. When the crown was removed it was all decay. It will be nice to eat and chew again when this is all over.
Joe, I am sorry that you have had to go through this over all these years. I know the feeling as I struggled with so many crowns and cavities and and infections. It cost so much and it took so much time from my life and I did suffer a certain amount.
The thing that made me so mad is I almost begged to have my teeth all pulled. They pulled them one or two at a time over 20 years and the last 10 years was wicked. I had a partial plate and refused to have implants or buy expensive partials. My dentist was so mad at me. At the end I had 8 cavities that he filled and I heard the tech ask if she should set up another appt. Dentist said no, she will be back soon. I was so mad. I looked for a new dentist and it was 11 months when I found a new dentist and I had 17 new cavitites. My new dentist was so nice and he worked slowly over months to rule out different issues and to allow himself the chance to sort this all out before he took the plunge and pulled the rest. I was patient with him cause he was giving me the chance I needed.
Hopefully you will find the time, the place and the dentist that will pull them. The dentists have it pounded into them that whatever they do they should save the teeth and not pull them. They can't get it through their head that chronically bad teeth make people sick. Take care. Irish
Thanks Irish for your understanding.