B
badmouth
Member
- Joined
- Jul 28, 2016
- Messages
- 48
- Location
- PNW
Let me first apologize for the length of this, I want to get in all the details as they may be relevant. Also a bit of a rant. If anyone can shed some insight onto this situation I would be so thankful!
This all started about the beginning of March, when I jumped from a tricyclic that I had been taking for 35 years at a low dose. Not sure if the withdrawal from that is relevant, but I suspect it is. I noticed that the teeth in the upper left quadrant of my mouth seemed to feel "funky" at the roots and I couldn't stop bothering them. Of course "bothering them"--tapping, gnashing, pushing, tonguing etc...only made the situation worse. As this gradually become worse, after about a month I finally bought a OTC bite guard which seemed to help protect them.
I have a fair amount of dental phobia, so I put off going to the dentist for another month, until the situation was becoming unbearable. I was wearing the guard 24/7 at that point. He found an abscess at the root of #14 and I was sent to an endodontist. After starting a root canal (on a crowned tooth), he discovered the root was cracked and I was back to the dentist for a removal.
The removal went fairly well, I also got some kind of graft for the bottom of the sinus. At this point I assumed the saga would resolve--ha. But healing seemed to go very slowly, and #13 began to bother me quite a bit. My gums seemed very inflamed and I was started on amoxicillin, which did seem to help the gums clear up, but they were back to burning soon after the prescription ran out. By two weeks later I was still miserable--back to the endodontist for another exam, then back to the dentist for a bite adjustment which helped quite a bit.
But my mouth was still bothering me--all the teeth in that quadrant seemed quite unhappy at this point. Back to the dentist for a full exam, X-rays, photos, measuring pockets, rough cleaning etc...The measuring made my gums blow up for two days, it was awful. Now the dentist is recommending a deep root planing to be done in two visits. As well as a custom mouth guard at $600.
So right now I have about $1,500 into all the exams, removal, grafting, x-rays, etc..and I'm looking at about $7K for an implant. Root planing is about $1,200--I just can't afford all these costs and I have no insurance, I am desperate to avoid the root planing if at all possible due to cost and general misery I will have for several days.
At present I wake up every day and my teeth are just slightly irritated (in the one quadrant only). I'm chewing gum all day long because that is more pleasant and socially acceptable than wearing a bite guard. Despite that my teeth become more painful as the day wears on. By the end of the day they feel dreadful, my gums in that area are on fire, and I'd just like to pull the whole lot. They feel like they don't belong in my mouth, wrong shape, size etc.. I have to take a painkiller to go to sleep, the cycle continues...I can't figure out--am I bothering the teeth because they are irritated (and why?), or do I have uncontrollable bruxism (due to withdrawal?) that is keeping my teeth and gums irritated constantly?
Cosmetically my teeth look fine, very white and straight and well proportioned. I'm 53 but in very good physical shape, no medical issues at all and no medications now. My diet is excellent--low-carb paleoish, very little sugar or grain, lots of vegetables, no caffeine, alcohol or smoking. I would go grain-free in a heartbeat if I knew that would help. I brush with a sonicare and use a water-pik almost every night.
What is going on with my mouth? My dentist doesn't seem to have any good answers. I can't continue on like this, the constant misery, there has to be something I can do to make this situation better! Any suggestions or ideas are very much appreciated.
This all started about the beginning of March, when I jumped from a tricyclic that I had been taking for 35 years at a low dose. Not sure if the withdrawal from that is relevant, but I suspect it is. I noticed that the teeth in the upper left quadrant of my mouth seemed to feel "funky" at the roots and I couldn't stop bothering them. Of course "bothering them"--tapping, gnashing, pushing, tonguing etc...only made the situation worse. As this gradually become worse, after about a month I finally bought a OTC bite guard which seemed to help protect them.
I have a fair amount of dental phobia, so I put off going to the dentist for another month, until the situation was becoming unbearable. I was wearing the guard 24/7 at that point. He found an abscess at the root of #14 and I was sent to an endodontist. After starting a root canal (on a crowned tooth), he discovered the root was cracked and I was back to the dentist for a removal.
The removal went fairly well, I also got some kind of graft for the bottom of the sinus. At this point I assumed the saga would resolve--ha. But healing seemed to go very slowly, and #13 began to bother me quite a bit. My gums seemed very inflamed and I was started on amoxicillin, which did seem to help the gums clear up, but they were back to burning soon after the prescription ran out. By two weeks later I was still miserable--back to the endodontist for another exam, then back to the dentist for a bite adjustment which helped quite a bit.
But my mouth was still bothering me--all the teeth in that quadrant seemed quite unhappy at this point. Back to the dentist for a full exam, X-rays, photos, measuring pockets, rough cleaning etc...The measuring made my gums blow up for two days, it was awful. Now the dentist is recommending a deep root planing to be done in two visits. As well as a custom mouth guard at $600.
So right now I have about $1,500 into all the exams, removal, grafting, x-rays, etc..and I'm looking at about $7K for an implant. Root planing is about $1,200--I just can't afford all these costs and I have no insurance, I am desperate to avoid the root planing if at all possible due to cost and general misery I will have for several days.
At present I wake up every day and my teeth are just slightly irritated (in the one quadrant only). I'm chewing gum all day long because that is more pleasant and socially acceptable than wearing a bite guard. Despite that my teeth become more painful as the day wears on. By the end of the day they feel dreadful, my gums in that area are on fire, and I'd just like to pull the whole lot. They feel like they don't belong in my mouth, wrong shape, size etc.. I have to take a painkiller to go to sleep, the cycle continues...I can't figure out--am I bothering the teeth because they are irritated (and why?), or do I have uncontrollable bruxism (due to withdrawal?) that is keeping my teeth and gums irritated constantly?
Cosmetically my teeth look fine, very white and straight and well proportioned. I'm 53 but in very good physical shape, no medical issues at all and no medications now. My diet is excellent--low-carb paleoish, very little sugar or grain, lots of vegetables, no caffeine, alcohol or smoking. I would go grain-free in a heartbeat if I knew that would help. I brush with a sonicare and use a water-pik almost every night.
What is going on with my mouth? My dentist doesn't seem to have any good answers. I can't continue on like this, the constant misery, there has to be something I can do to make this situation better! Any suggestions or ideas are very much appreciated.