I'm only 30 - I want to save my teeth!

Drama from work

I decided for my flap surgery that I'm going to ask for 2 days off - just in case. As a teacher, I feel horrible when I have to take time off for myself (there's almost an expectation that teachers don't see their doctors unless it is vacation time or on the weekends - it's a shame that most dentists around here do not work on the weekends and only have 1 day where they might be opened "late"), it's a pain in the butt to prepare lessons that a sub can teach/do with the students, and I have to keep up with all of the emails throughout the missed days.

So I asked to leave early on the day of the procedure - I'm thinking I should get into comfy clothes prior - and 2 days after today at work. By "asking" I mean that I filled out the necessary paper work and I followed it up with an email explaining to my boss why I'm asking for this time off. Didn't go into too much detail - I'm having a medical procedure that my dentist says I need to have right away, it's not life-threatening but I need it done before he can do other work, and I will need time to recover. (I honestly wanted to explain why I needed time to recover- my gums will be in stitches and if I talk or laugh or move my lips wrong my mouth might start bleeding- I do not want to traumatize my students by my mouth all of a sudden bleeding. But... I did not say anything like that)

Boss had no issue - great- take care of yourself - she knows I'm working hard. (Great, wonderful- less stress for me)

Then a follow-up email.... There is suddenly an event after school that I should be at - it is welcoming new families. She asked me if I could reconsider. I would LOVE to be at my job instead of having my gums ripped open- thanks. So I explained to her what my dentist told me- the person comes in like once a month, it takes a certain amount of time to complete (so I can't leave later), and I need this done NOW. I told her how bad I felt as is and offered a suggestion on how I can make it up to the families. So now- not only do I have to worry about flap surgery, I also have to make sure I have 2 days worth of sub plans in place and that I have a whole bunch of welcoming letters ready for my students.

I know it will all be fine- I'm dealing with a headache and a long day of teaching (I had a 4th grader yell at me about taking her hw away- she said she was doing it in class because it was so easy. Maybe after some Advil and actually eating a meal this won't seem so bad. )

And then they cancelled...

Was at work today, got a phone call- didn't recognize the number, let it go to voicemail. Listened to the voicemail and it said this "The doctor can't come in on May 13, we have to reschedule you for April 22nd. Call us to confirm."

WHAT!?!

I've had that scheduled for a week now and even put in the paper work to be off early on May 13 and off to recovery May 14 and May 15. And I'm a teacher - it is not like I have a job that I can come in when ever. And April 22 I'm taking my students on a field trip. And I was not planning on having any more dental work done this month- it comes out of my pocket.

*sigh*

I was so upset that I just packed up and left my job- didn't even decide what I should bring home. I emailed them about my situation - I just could not call them back right then and talk to them. Ten minutes later they called me... was so tempted to not pick up, but I thought I would do the adult thing and pick it up and figure out what the heck to do.

I told her no way can I make it in April. She said she will call her manager tomorrow to see what other dates are available. I told her that I would also go to a different location if that worked out. My dentist is part of a group with over 10 locations. I do not mind driving to get a better time. I just cannot do it in April.

So right now I have no clue when I'm going to get the flap surgery done. I'm feeling good about the procedure but still antsy- especially since the date is up in the air now.

My Mom and I did speak a few days ago and she told me about this emergency tooth removal, which required her jawbone opened up and lots of stitches - she told me she had ZERO pain from the procedure So she told me not to even worry about the whole stitches thing. Everything that I've read from people says that the stitches will not hurt, maybe some tugging which I can deal with. But it is new and therefore scary. (Root canals are not new for me - so I'm not scared of them. At this point I know exactly what the dentist is doing throughout the procedure. )

Hopefully tomorrow I will have a time/date in place. (Thankfully I have no more pain from the root canal- bite is off but I don't care to go back to get it worked on. I can deal with it.)

A month after beginning my journey!

About 1 month ago I started my dental journey into getting my mouth all fixed up. Here my teeth are today (took them with my cell phone with only my bedside lamp on)-





What I have been doing to my mouth every day:
- Morning (weekdays): Brushing and an oral rinse to break down build up. Sometimes I will floss if I have time.
- Morning (weekends): Water pik using the pik pocket and regular water pik tool w/ hydrogen peroxide (for whitening and to kill germs), oral rinse for breaking down tartar, and a gum rinse for gum disease; Flossing; Brushing; Oral rinse.
- Usually on Saturdays I will use mouth trays to have a tooth paste for sensitive gums/gum disease sit in my mouth for at least 20 minutes and I rinse it all out with the Water pik.

- After lunch (weekdays): I bought these one-time-use brushes to freshen my breath and get the food off my teeth. I'm not yet ready to bring all of my supplies to work.

- At bedtime: Water pik with the regular water pik plus the mix of 3 liquids I put into the water (see above), Flossing, Brushing, Oral rinse for tartar.

I've cut back on the flossing because it was leaving my gums really "itchy" - irritated. Now I just 1-2 times a day, always before bed, and my gums seem less angry with me lol Today I did the pik pocket with my Water pik so my gums are feeling some irritation from cleaning them out - I think putting the 3 other stuff helps to clean them out but can cause irritation too.

What I have noticed recently....

• My gums are more pink than red (the pictures from today are red from the Water pik- they are normally more pink than that)
• I don't have what I've come to realize was pus coming out between some of my molars. I knew I had rotten teeth and bad gums back there- I just wasn't aware how bad. With the daily flossing and rinses, this has stopped.
• My teeth are whiter.
• I do still have pain my teeth, but I know that won't stop until I get all of the work completed on my teeth.
• My glands in my throat are almost NEVER swollen any more. This was on going for the last few years- on and off- where I swore to myself that I must have throat cancer or something with how swollen my glands were and how difficult swallowing was sometimes (felt like a lump in my throat). That is all gone!!
• I don't wake up with morning breath any more. Recently my mouth has tasted sour but I think that might be from taking allergy medication- it started when I started taking the meds again now that spring is here. But nothing tastes or smells bad to me.

As for my next appointment for the gum flap... It will be delayed until May 27th and I already am planning to take the next 2 work days off and have the weekend until I return to work (4 days of healing - I'm guessing based on what I've read that should be plenty until I can get back to a more normal routine). Being that it will be on the side where I was having a lot of pus draining from the area - which has stopped since properly caring for my mouth- I'm happy to have this procedure done. I know it will help to promote even more healing to that area, then I can start on getting the teeth fixed up.

After that I will have an appointment in June to see how my gums are coming along after my deep cleaning. I'm seeing positive affects, but I am concerned about my teeth pockets- I'm hoping all of this work at home (and the flap surgery) will help. At least I can honestly tell my dentist I've been caring my for my teeth almost daily - there were 2 days the last month where I just skipped all day (stupid... but just not in the "mood" since my evening routine can take me 20 minutes to complete).

I'm going to have to go talk to my dentist about how my insurance messed things up - they paid stuff out of order. It basically comes down to where the dentist has to refund me money (since the insurance paid for those procedures) but I didn't pay for some procedures myself because the dentist thought the insurance would cover it. Not too bad - the dentist basically just owes me $27 so I'm just going to wait until I see them in May to get it straightened out.

The odd thing is that my insurance said that I didn't need the deep cleaning on the left side (per their dentist's review), but paid for/approved the cleaning on the right side of my mouth. My left side is the side that has the BIGGER pockets and is in worse condition so I'm not sure what is going on. They said they didn't see bone loss going on that would need a deep cleaning. I know I had a lot of tartar build up and big pockets- I would think I would need a deep cleaning (I also researched online the the association that defines when a person says they need a deep cleaning is anybody who has at least 2 4mm tooth pockets on that quadrant - which I totally met and then some.)

Thankfully I have the Care Credit and I'm using that to pay it off a little bit at a time. Although we just got a brand new car and are paying about $300 for it, plus another $200 for insurance a month. I think things are going to be a bit tight around here for awhile - which is honestly good because if I have to pay all of the other bills and things, then I won't be able to go out to eat (we do that way too often) - I'm hoping that will help bring down my weight some.

Did my usual Saturday morning routine - I have skipped a few weeks of doing the tooth paste treatment for my gums. And I can tell they're angry/irritated right now from skipping a few weeks - the paste has zinc and baking soda to help clean out gums. I stopped the hydrogen peroxide for the last few days since my gums seem to be irritated a bit so I'm going to see if that helps. Otherwise same old thing.... I am happy know that after May's appointment I just have some perio check ups and then I'm done for this year (although I still have a lot more work to be done in my mouth).

Update 5/5/15

Taking today off to rest- have a chest cold and I think allergies, so I'm going to use this day as a catch up day and grade/rest all while in pjs!

Nothing really going on in my mouth lately. I did notice something odd to one of my front teeth- it felt like it cracked, but I don't have any pain or see anything off (I had some very minor cold/hot sensitivity). I'm not going to worry about it unless it gets painful.

Still dealing with some gum bleeding issues, which I don't think will be resolved until some more time passes (and I keep up my flossing routine) and the flap surgery takes place. My left side is clearly having more gum bleeding issues than my right side, so I'm assuming that's why they are doing the flap surgery on the left side. Thankfully both sides are WAY better - just some minor bleeding - way way way less than when the dentist was poking at my teeth and there is no issue when brushing my teeth (just while flossing). I'm assuming that flossing in general can cause gums to bleed at times if you are too rough- I'm not sure if I'm too gentle or too rough (I saw how one of my dentists flossed my teeth and was like WHAT!?! THAT'S what you're supposed to do??).

Also while using different flossing tools, I get different results: traditional floss- a few have issues, hand-held flosser with plastic material: one or two problem teeth, hand-held flosser with traditional floss used: way more bleeding issues.

Also I notice a difference when I use the Waterpik before or if I don't use the Waterpik (more bleeding if I don't use it), so that has me stumped (and I would LOVE to know if anybody else has that issue).

But besides that, just counting the days until my procedure. Yes I'm nervous but I'm trying to limit the anxiety until a day before the procedure. Work is keeping me busy thankfully

Tomorrow is the BIG DAY!!!

Tomorrow I will be getting gum flap surgery on my left side. Hubby should be home by the time I get home from the procedure and I will down the street, so if I'm bad I can just walk home or call hubby to come get me.

I know that I won't be in pain because they will numb me up fine.
I know that I will keep my eyes closed for the whole procedure so I won't see the tools going in my mouth.
I know that I will be okay with the stitches because I've been told they are no big deal.
I know that I will enjoy having 4 days off to heal and relax and bum around the house.
I know that I will enjoy having to eat ice cream for the first 24 hours... at least.
I know that I will enjoy watching one of my favorite TV shows all day.
I know that I will enjoy having the bed to myself (hubby is sleeping on the couch - he's worried his arm might smack me in the face while he's turning over. It has happened in the past... a few times.)
I know that my hubby will be there to check on me and that if I'm really bad I can call him to come help me.

But I'm still terribly nervous... of the needles (the left side hurt so much worse than the right side last time I had the root canal), of the blood, of the stitches, of the whole thing. I think it will probably be a new dentist too - new type of procedure for me, so I don't think I will have someone from the past times.

I so can not wait to post in 24 hours how relieved I am.

Angeldove,

I just wanted to wish you the best today and I also thank you for sharing your journey. I enjoy reading your journal. I think you are very brave and I wish you the best. Smiles and hugs to you! Reno

Re: Tomorrow is the BIG DAY!!!

Angeldove said:

Tomorrow I will be getting gum flap surgery on my left side. Hubby should be home by the time I get home from the procedure and I will down the street, so if I'm bad I can just walk home or call hubby to come get me.

I know that I won't be in pain because they will numb me up fine.
I know that I will keep my eyes closed for the whole procedure so I won't see the tools going in my mouth.
I know that I will be okay with the stitches because I've been told they are no big deal.
I know that I will enjoy having 4 days off to heal and relax and bum around the house.
I know that I will enjoy having to eat ice cream for the first 24 hours... at least.
I know that I will enjoy watching one of my favorite TV shows all day.
I know that I will enjoy having the bed to myself (hubby is sleeping on the couch - he's worried his arm might smack me in the face while he's turning over. It has happened in the past... a few times.)
I know that my hubby will be there to check on me and that if I'm really bad I can call him to come help me.

But I'm still terribly nervous... of the needles (the left side hurt so much worse than the right side last time I had the root canal), of the blood, of the stitches, of the whole thing. I think it will probably be a new dentist too - new type of procedure for me, so I don't think I will have someone from the past times.

I so can not wait to post in 24 hours how relieved I am.

Click to expand...

Hope you're doing well & resting up nicely! Your messages have been giving me so much motivation the past few days. I admire you so much and I'm so glad you're sharing this journey!

Hi Angeldove

Just dropping by to say I hope it all went well today, I'm sure it went just fine

you were just behind me as I had my RCT (on the filling botched by my old practice) on Tuesday, all good so far no pain, hope you are in the same situation.

kind Regards

Okay... it's been almost 3 days since my procedure and this post won't be for the faint of heart. The dentist and his assistant were super nice, explained everything, and made sure I was fully numb before starting. The needles hurt a tiny bit - he had to go deep into my cheek - but he made sure to move slowly and made sure to add some of the numbing medicine each time he went a little deeper.

And then all hell broke loose But I survived it - so if you need to get this done to save your gums and teeth GET IT DONE! He did tell me if I ever needed a break to let him know, but I'm more of the type of "let me just get this torture over with as soon as possible", so I didn't ask for any breaks.

Okay... so....He used the word "pressure" when I would say it felt more like "Oh Mrs G, I'm going to start hacking into your gums and bone now". He had to use a lot of tools all at once (which I hate and have an issue with) and a lot of pressure in my mouth to get the gums down to the bone. I think besides the time he was cutting, the worse was when he was reshaping my bone around the teeth (the sound, taste, and smell got to me).

I did gag and try to close my mouth a few times when he did certain things, but he and his assistant never complained and they just worked with me - I could tell because they moved tools around to adjust and the assistant quickly learned where she could and could not put the tool that sucks up everything in my mouth to avoid gagging me.

Looking back, I would highly suggest a person get the gas if they're going to go through this procedure and have a serious phobia for dental work. This is a pretty extreme procedure- for me. It got to the point of where I wasn't scared any more, but I was more angry that he had to be so rough with my mouth and had so much stuff in my mouth and I just wanted it over. That's just my personality - I might be a baby when it comes to dental work, but I will eventually stop being scared and I will get mad (although I'm a good patient and won't complain).

Stitches went great (I was really worried about getting stitches) - I felt two stitches going in up front but I didn't want to bother the dentist with asking him to stop and numb me up even more, all that string kind of freaked me out as he was sewing but they worked on making sure it stayed out of my mouth, and otherwise I didn't feel anything really.

I was very lightheaded when he put me back to sitting up position, but he used that time to talk to me about how to care for my mouth over the next 2 weeks. I live literally 30 seconds driving down the street, so I texted my husband to come outside since I needed to get 2 prescriptions filled right away. Doc gave me Motrin 600 mg and Percocet for the pain. Hubby drove once I got home and once I was home, I went straight into pjs and had to sit up for a few hours to help the bleeding stop.



First 12 hours - A lot of blood mixed in my saliva, but I just kept swallowing even though it's not the best taste. Took the pain meds right away, so pain wasn't too bad. Bleeding stopped before I went to bed and Percocet let me sleep all night. I just drank liquids since everything felt too mushy and painful in my mouth. Oh, and I constantly using ice packs on my face- I have the big gel one so I wrapped that in towel and squished it to fit my face and was lying down on the side that had the procedure so it has full contact with it. I was in so much pain that for dinner I just had yogurt that my husband had to make more of a liquid by pouring milk in to it since it was too thick to get into my mouth or move around my mouth without too much pain.



First 24 hours - Pain, pain, pain. Motrin 600 mg is barely taking the pain off. Percocet was making me sick to my stomach, unless I had something in my tummy. But eating made my mouth hurt really bad, so I had to stop eating, which make me sick to my stomach because of the medicine. So I basically slept that whole day away, ate some, and was in moderate pain. It feels more like a burning/itchy sensation than stabbing pain. I mostly drank liquids (coconut juice, veggie/fruit juice, smoothie hubby bought me), as for solids, I just ate yogurt, apple sauce, and mashed potatoes (small spoonfuls and very slowly because of the pain). I used water to rinse out my mouth and brushed and flossed my normal sides the morning after.

I also found 3 sores from the procedure on my lips - one where he was pushing a tool down on to that was biting onto a tooth (I felt all of that and I tried to move my lip but it didn't help much), a small cut on my lip, and a small cut or sore in the corner of my lips where I had the surgery done - I'm assuming from stretching my lips out of the way with a metal tool. None of these are super bad, but I wanted to mention them. Using lip balm constantly (one that will stay on for awhile and won't dry out your lips) is needed and will help with the healing.



Second 24 hours - Stopped taking Percocet so I'm feeling a lot better. I did change from taking Motrin to Advil and increasing it to 800 mg - I had to do that for my RCT so I figured it would work for this too. I didn't sleep at all during the day, although I'm still lightheaded and feel out of it when sitting up/moving around. Less swelling but similar pain amount. Ice pack all day on and off.

Hubby made me mashed up avacadoes with lime juice and salt (looking back I would nix the salt and lime juice - hurts the gums too much), a lot more coconut juice, Vienna sausages (they come in those little cans- they're super soft and I just wanted some kind of meat in my system. They're gross to most people - hubby calls it my cat food - but I grew up eating them as a kid so I love them.), but I tried to mainly drink a glass of cold liquid every hour or two.

Brushed and flossed my normal sides and very lightly brushed the top of my teeth where I had the surgery. Used this water, baking soda, and tree tea oil mouth wash that I have - it feels sooooooo good on the side that had the surgery. I also started seeing white pus around every single tooth where I had the surgery - it isn't yellow or green and it doesn't smell or taste bad and I do not have a fever, which I know can be a sign of infection, so I'm assuming it is just my immune system trying to heal up and protect the surgery sites.



Today - I did take half a Percocet to sleep (and it didn't make me feel sick), so I slept about 12 hours. I didn't have to wake up in the middle of the night for more pain meds, so that's great. I did take 600 mg of Advil for the pain and it feels fine. There is still swelling, but less. I've been up for almost 2 hours and I haven't started my ice pack treatment but will soon after I post this. I might ask hubby to take me for a walk near a lake to see how I feel this evening. There's still pus, but it's white, I have no fever, and it doesn't taste bad or smell bad, so I think I'm okay. (I had a very bad reaction(s) to antibiotics 4 years ago - right before my wedding - so I've been very cautious with having to take more. I honestly don't think I've taken antibiotics since though.) I don't think I'm ready for real food, so I'll stick to my avocados, Vienna sausages, and lots of liquid diet. I already brushed/flossed my normal side and lightly brushed the tops of my surgery side. Do NOT use a strong mint flavored toothpaste - it will hurt badly.

Over the last 3 days I have been using a flashlight to look into my mouth - it's less scary for me if I know what it all looks like. But be careful with this - I only did it once the bleeding stopped completely since I did not want to reopen my wounds up. Also when using mouth wash I've been basically just letting it sit in my mouth with very small tongue movements and I just let it fall out of my mouth when I'm done (no spitting - it hurts too much to spit and I know it can move my gums around too).

So that's where I am right now Procedure sucked, but healing is going fine. I'm happy I have 4 days to stay home and rest

Also, thank you to those who posted well wishes for me - what a nice treat for me to come back and see them If anybody has any questions about the flap surgery procedure, I'd be happy to answer them too.

This is what my crowned tooth looks like - it has always had this red ring of gum around it for years. Prior to starting my dental journey, I always thought it was supposed to have that and bleed like crazy when a dentist touched it (back in 2004 or so a dentist worked on it and never said a word to me that something was wrong with my gums).

Since brushing and flossing every day, the ring went down a bit (especially when I started using one of those interdental flossing brushes), but with this gum flap procedure it had completely gone away. Not sure if it will return or not, but I'm hoping it will not. (I always worried people would see it when I smiled)

Before --> After -->

^ And you can see some of the stitches in my mouth too (lucky you ).

PS Sorry about the messy teeth in the after - I can't brush that side so it just gathers gunk, which is driving me nuts.

Day 4 after Gum Flap Surgery -

I did take a percocet (half a dose) to sleep during the night, but it didn't help me fall asleep very well. I was up by 8 am. Woke up with some pain - took 3 Advil.

Brushed my normal side, used a mouth wash. The gunk (mix of pus and food bits) has been driving me nuts on my side with the surgery, so I very gently took a q-tip, put some mouth wash (a very gentle mouth wash - NO alcohol) on it and wiped off the gums underneath the stitches. No bleeding, so great. I think some of my stitches have already come loose around one tooth, so I think the dentist might need to reposition the gum again. Not sure - maybe it's just me going nuts. Just had coffee this morning and waited for a late lunch.

Ran errands, felt normal, had some swelling. Gave me and decided to eat some White Castle - not the best cheeseburgers to eat but they are small and very soft (skipped the onions and pickles to avoid getting them caught in my teeth/stitches). Hurt a bit (the area where my jaw joint is is the most painful area so moving my tongue or talking or eating after awhile kills it), but I made it through 4 cheeseburgers. Took 3 Advil afterwards. Had dinner with friends - so I chose stuffed eggplant and they overcooked the pasta for me. Ate about 1/4 of the serving (it's a huge serving). It was AWESOME to get some real food into me after 3 days of yogurt, avocados, Vienna sausages, and pudding.

No pain right now, but I can tell there's swelling, so I'll keep to the Advil until that completely subsides. Since I have to be up early tomorrow morning, I won't be taking any more Percocet - I'm probably done taking it completely.

I have to wait until June 11th for a check-up - I'm hoping all will be well. But I hate waiting... this 2 week healing process is annoying (I want to go back to brushing my teeth and using my Water pik and everything), let alone wondering what the dentist will think about my healing. What helps is that at least I know I'm taking care of myself, following doctor's orders, and caring for my teeth twice a day at least.

I also want to share how proud of myself I am - I normally have a beer or two a day... maybe a glass of wine a day. I'm a beer snob so I enjoy trying new beers out and I'm getting into wines now too (my in-laws love wine so I've been trying to learn some wine stuff to choose good wines for them). Doctor said NO alcohol for at least 2 weeks, which okay for my body I'll do it. And 4 days I've stuck to it for the sake of my health. Right now I'm totally in love with the teas, coffees, and coconut water I have in my house. Hubby even offered me a beer while we were hanging out with friends today and I totally turned it down. So I'm really happy I'm THIS serious about my dental health and that I'm working on limiting my alcohol intake in general. I'm going to wait until my doctor gives me the okay with my gums being completely healed from this surgery before I even think of drinking alcohol.

Day 5 after Gum Flap Surgery

Felt good this morning, slept better than the night before. But I quickly noticed once I got to work that my voice had to stay at quiet levels, otherwise my top of my throat/jaw joint area started hurting. It is feeling more like a sore throat in that area with some swelling than the pain I felt on the first or second day. I can eat mushy solid food without much issue, but with the sore throat going on, I still find myself turning to food that is just mush and I can swallow it. I'm going to see if a cup of tea helps to relax my throat and I switched back to Advil.

I took Motrin (same medicine) but as a powder pill this morning to use up my prescription - my Advil are gel caps and that's what I took this afternoon. I know it's the same medicine but Advil works better compared to Motrin, so I'm not sure what's going on.

Can't wait to be back to normal- that's the only thing that gets me down about this journey: the pain I feel from the procedures and the worries about if my dentist chose and did the correct treatments to save my mouth.

Day 9 after Gum Flap Surgery

Things are a lot better in my mouth 4 days later I'm back to eating almost anything that I want - I'm still not comfortable with opening my mouth wide to eat something big, so I've been cutting everything into small pieces to enjoy it. No more swelling and the pus is almost all gone from the whole area.

On the downside are two things - 1) I think one area on my lower gums didn't heal right. The gums look lower and I'm not sure if too much of my tooth is exposed now. The stitches are still blocking the whole view, so I just need to be patient and see what happens. 2) The stitches are starting to dissolve and there have been times when I'm talking to people and a stitch comes loose and just sits in my mouth (causing me to gag) and I have to excuse myself to go spit it out (no way I'm swallowing that).

I'm still having to take Advil sometimes for the pain. If I talk too much or do a lot of chewing, my jaw joint on that side (where it's taken the longest to heal up) HURTS. And there are times where I will move a stitch that the gums have healed around and it hurts a bit (feels more itchy than pain). But 400 mg of Advil takes care of the pain for the whole day compared to me popping 600 - 800 mg of Advil every 5-6 hours to deal with the pain. I think my jaw just needs time to heal on its own too - there was so much swelling there that I think the area is just sore and needs time to rest.

That crowned tooth that had that red ring around it is still pretty and pink I don't think anybody really ever noticed it when I smiled - just me knowing it was there - so I'm happy that its healthier. I haven't started flossing or brushing the sides of my teeth on that side of my mouth - I have to see if I can or if I have to wait for my dentist to okay me. I seriously cannot wait to floss that side again - I've gently used my tooth brush or my Water pik (set on 1) to get some stuck food out, but it's just soooooo gross now that I've been flossing daily to know there's pieces of food stuck in between my teeth and I'm NOT allowed to touch them

Next appointment is Thursday at 9 am - hubby might be off that day so maybe we'll do something fun afterwards. I'm happy I chose the morning time, that way I can get it over and get on with my day!

Day 9 continued...

Just some pictures to show my progress (front teeth only - jaw is hurting too much and can't really get any good pics inside my mouth)...

<-- side of mouth, just had a stitch come out. There is redness but it's from where the stitch was, not the normal redness I've been having around the top tooth (had RTC and crown put on 10+ years ago) to the left of my upper canine tooth.

<-- Comparing my gums and teeth to how they looked in March, THIS IS AWESOME! I wish it didn't take 3 months to happen, but I'm happy with the results so far. I still have problem spots (mostly in my molars- my front teeth have never given me much problems, but we're coming along).

<--- Bottom gums. There's more redness here, but I think my teeth were worse off on the bottom than on the top. Since the deep cleaning treatment, swelling has gone down a lot and my teeth do look a lot bigger. I'm wondering if I'm going to need gum grafts down the line to "shrink" these bottom front teeth. I still have concerns that the gums are so receded that my bottom teeth are going to break or become loose. Dentists haven't said anything to me about this though.

Just wanted to share that at this point I'm taking about 400 mg of Advil around 5 or 6 pm on work days. My jaw joint hurts when I yawn or after talking/eating, so that by that time every evening I seem to need something to help the pain.

The stitches are almost all gone, but I can tell there's some swelling in my gums still - I'm thinking until the stitches are completely out my gums are not going to stop swelling (normal reaction I'm assuming with having something stuck in the gums) and I'm too much of a chicken to try poking the stitches to come out (although I did poke one with my tooth brush but I could tell it was pretty loose). The most annoying ones are the ones in the roof of my mouth - my tongue touches them and there's a small pinch of pain since my gums are trying to heal around them. So... I'm just trying to be patient with those.

Tomorrow is my check up on my gum flap surgery and I have no clue if the dentist will be happy with my results or not. My gums feel kind of loose around my crowned tooth and to me, my gums seem a lot higher than before the treatment. I'm happy I went through the procedures, but I just threw $1700+ at this procedure and I hope it will actually HELP my gums and teeth. If the dentist isn't happy, I really don't know how I'm going to take it.

Granted... I'm a bit stressed out right now. The place we are renting might go up for sale - so the landlord is offering us to buy it (which we could do I think) or to move out. After talking to my parents and a good friend of ours, we will probably look into buying this place, but I have never bought a house before.

We just don't have the money for the down payment - we can maybe get $3000 easily, but that's it unless our landlord might be able to give us 2 months to put it together (which we could totally get a payment of $5 to $6k set up). I feel so awful now about putting all of this money towards my mouth. My hubby has made comments that it is annoying that I have to get all of this work done, but he knows I have to do it. Just makes me feel really shi*** about myself.

I have another appointment later this month to look at my gums - after that I know I will need two or three more appointment this year. I just do not have the money right now.... and this is all making me just want to skip out on the dentist. I was so doing so well - I just can't justify putting this much $$$ into me.

I was in and out in 5 minutes. LOL They didn't have my chart, so I had to explain what I had done and that it was just a check-up. *sigh* But I didn't have to pay anything for the check up so I won't complain too much. Healing looks good, but she said the top of my mouth looks "raw" and inflammed, so she said to do salt water rinses for a few days.

They called me in my car driving home needing to schedule my permanent crown to put on, but I'm so stressed out about the mortgage topic right now that I told her "Sorry, I will call you tomorrow with my schedule." I seriously can't think about putting more $$$ down on my mouth when I'm dealing with this drama.

Do you still have the credit card available? If you stop now you don't want it to be worse. Also remember that if it does get worse it gets more expensive. Keep up the great work - you are doing awesome and momentum is on your side. Call tomorrow and schedule the crown. You know that is the best thing to do for yourself. Be a bit selfish. Your health and well being is the most important thing.

sleeplessinseattle said:

Do you still have the credit card available? If you stop now you don't want it to be worse. Also remember that if it does get worse it gets more expensive. Keep up the great work - you are doing awesome and momentum is on your side. Call tomorrow and schedule the crown. You know that is the best thing to do for yourself. Be a bit selfish. Your health and well being is the most important thing.

Click to expand...

After 24 hours, we have a better plan in place. My personality works like this: I'm a planner. I will freak out (non-stop tears, can't sleep, can't eat) if there's a major issue (like possibly being kicked out and homeless with a husband and 3 cats/2 ferrets) and I do not have a plan b.

So I had to spend all night worrying about my dental appointment - because that's what I always do, even over the stupidest things that I've had done before- plus if we should/would/could buy this apartment. After pulling money together and being accepted to get a mortgage, we realized there's NO WAY I can pull $15k together in a week without borrowing from family, getting rid of our retirement funds, etc. Then I read up that you'll have issues with getting a mortgage if you use your credit cards. So yes, I still have the Care Credit, but I freaked and didn't want to use it. I have money in my checking, but I still have to make 1 credit card payment and a car lease payment with it.

I have a big phobia about money and I know I can put it on a credit card, but I'm tired of spending money on ME. I want a safe place for hubby and me and our pets.

We found an apartment complex that has a nice place, 2 bedrooms (we've been missing having 2 bedrooms), will allow all of our pets to join us (the lady we talked to said as long as they don't cause trouble and we pay a small payment for them, it's not a big deal - she has pets, she gets it). So we put an application in for a credit check/background check (where we work, where have we lived, have we committed crimes, etc - I'm a teacher, so I know I'm safe) and we have to wait to hear back either Friday or Monday about if we will get an apartment. If someone will give us a mortgage, then I'm pretty sure they will rent to us.

I'm pretty sure that I will keep going to this dentist and location. My place has other locations, but I'm not sure if any of them are closer, but I'm going to look into it and see if I can have them send over my records. I'm still the type that prefers NO CHANGE.

So... I will go back, I'm just putting it on my back burner (I also have a summer project to work on on Monday and Tuesday next week so my brain is kind of full). If anything, I'm due in on June 23rd for a perio. maintenance check up, so I can always just schedule it then once things have calmed down a bit. So while my gums are taking their sweet time to heal (it's my fault though - I haven't been doing the salt water rinses they've been telling me to do - hate the stuff taste wise), I'm at least happy that my gums are a prettier shade and have stopped bleeding while brushing and flossing