Well here goes! Day 1 of my dental blog. It really started in England just before New Years Eve. Everyone in the family was talking about what Resolution they were making for New Year's Eve. We usually write them down on a piece of paper and then throw them into the big coal fire at Midnight. Sometimes we keep them secret and sometimes we share. For several years I have been worrying about my teeth. I knew they were in bad shape but just couldn't think what to do except hope that I died before they fell out or that they would finally invent some stem cell technique that would allow me to grow new teeth in the gaps. I have very bad gum disease - my gums started receding when I was in my early 20s and the cost of periodontal treatment was way out of my salary resources. I ignored it for years. When I finally had enough money and courage the dentist talked me into having crowns put on all my teeth "because I wouldn't have to worry about them again in my lifetime". Then a second set of crowns 20 years later and a bunch of nice bridges hung on the crowns while all the time the gum disease ate more and more of my jaw bone. I had them root cleaned every 4 months, suffered partial drowning from dental water in the lungs, and suffocation etc. Finally I was totally traumatized by any dentist and simply had nightmares about the future. By New Year's Eve 2006 I hadn't been near the dentist for 18 months. I resolved to find a superb dentist and make an appointment when I returned to the US. This is the ongoing story of the repair of my mouth (hopefully) over the next year.
I asked my friends about dental schools at the University hospitals and was fortunate enough to have one friend who had been to the same dentist for 25 years. He had been a teacher at Northwestern dental school, and when it closed had continued in private practice. I looked them up on the internet and found a dentist within that office who volunteered some of his time at local nursing homes. This is the man for me I thought. Someone who is used to little old ladies with fragile bones and hearts that might stop beating while they're in the chair. Also I have a very small mouth, something wrong with my jaw so that my mouth only opens about 33 mm - this could be a real challenge to him. I called and made the appointment for an initial consultation and xrays. $210, no dental insurance of course. Yesterday was my first appointment day.
I walked into the office at 7:15 a.m. accompanied by my husband (who was there not really for moral support but more because he was sure I would have turned tail and come home instead of keeping the appointment if he wasn't there) . Of course I hadn't slept the night before. Not at all. Not even for 5 minutes. I read a detective story, chewed my nails, and worried. Got up at 4:30 a.m. for the 2 hour drive to Chicago and then had coffee before my appointment. No breakfast because I didn't want to make my beautiful falling out teeth dirty before the dentist saw them.
The dentist himself, I'll call him Dr. A., was charming, reassuring, understanding of my dental fear, or a really good salesman and liar. I consented to have the xrays taken which I had been told were done outside the head so I needn't worry about my small mouth etc. Once in the chair it became apparent that digital xrays are taken with the mouthpiece Inside the mouth but I was able to tolerate it for all but the back two teeth. These were done with a really tiny piece of film on a long pair of pliers and I was able to do that too. Then Dr. A came back and explained the digital pictures to me from the TV display. Seems that none of my top teeth had roots. In some cases the tooth was barely in the bone and in one case the entire tooth was out of the bone and supported only because it was cemented to the crowns on either side. Nothing could be saved in the upper jaw. My heart sank. Not a horrible pink plastic upper denture, my nightmare image for the last few years. Not a partial bridge but a whole pink plastic thing covered in gleaming white teeth that clacks when you chew and falls down when you least expect it etc. I can't bear the idea of keeping my teeth in a jar at night and lying there toothless until morning.
And then the magic words "Of course you could have implants, if you were a candidate for them." Of course I'm a candidate. I don't care at this point if I have to mortgage my house, sell my husband on the streets or send the dog out to work. I can have implants, suffer through the pain and end up with teeth and never worry again about the dentist. I can even be put to sleep for all the procedures, just costs a little more. They might be able to do the work in sections, back first so that when those implants are finished they could put a temporary bridge in the front hooked on to the back implants and no one would know I didn't have teeth. That might cost a little more doing it that way - Who Cares it sounds wonderful to me!!
Then I had impressions made of the upper and lower jaw, I also managed to do that and the female technician was very nice and gentle and used a small mold for my lower jaw so that it would fit my tiny mouth. After that I was told to go away. All the xrays, moulds, Dr. As tape describing my teeth etc. would now be turned over to the surgeon who would be, hopefully, doing the procedures for me. I have to wait another two weeks and then I go to see him, Dr. B. to hear what he thinks he can and can't do, what it will cost (don't think about buying a new Italian sports car next year) and how long it will take etc. I find I have gone from being terrified of the idea of having the roots of my teeth scraped during a deep clean to actually praying that Dr. B will be willing and able to pull out my teeth and cut holes in my jaw bone etc. Can anyone be that vain about wearing a denture that they would actually welcome that kind of pain? Are they just really good at selling a very expensive product? Why aren't I really angry with me that I didn't do something about my gums at 23? I probably could have found a teaching place that would have done gum work fo the poor at that time instead of waiting until now when I could pay a fortune for it. There is nothing left to do now except wait and see what Dr. B has to say. Meanwhile I shall do some self searching and research on implant procedures etc. I have already called one of my husband's friends who has an implant and whose wife has had two implants done. Both are really happy with the result but dropped hints on the cost. Both said it really didn't hurt but was very noisy with the sawing and drilling etc.
Thats all for tonight.
