S
sunnylikesunshine90
Member
- Joined
- Jan 21, 2016
- Messages
- 80
- Location
- Central IL, USA
Quick recap for those who haven't seen any of my other posts: I have a lifetime of dental neglect under my belt, combined with some awful dentists and medical issues that seem to compound the pre-existing dental issues. I don't think there is a single tooth in my mouth that doesn't have some sort of advanced restoration done to it.
It has been several months since my last post and....well, my mouth is still in a really bad state. With my layman's eyes, I know of at least nine teeth that will, at the very least, need bigger fillings (all at the gum line) if not root canals and crowns.
Anyway, I went in back in the spring of 2017 after having some tooth pain. I declared that I was done - that financially, I couldn't afford to keep doing fillings in the hopes that it would fix the issue and I couldn't keep stressing out over when the next tooth was going to fail. I wanted my remaining teeth pulled and to get dentures, as my Mom is/was willing to help cover the costs.
My dentist straight up refused to do this, citing my age (I'm 27) and saying that he wanted to try and save my teeth at all costs ("all costs" is apparently thousands of dollars of work that I cannot afford)
He talked me into having my teeth cleaned and said we would proceed from there. At the cleaning, I requested to be numbed and spent the entire time essentially being chastized by his hygienist for needing several numbing shots (After something like 6-7 shots, I still wasn't completely numb. Her exact words were "Well, maybe if you start taking care of your teeth, you won't need this next time. Nobody should need numbed for a simple cleaning!" What a witch.).
This did not help my already pretty severe dental phobia (especially considering I had written in my file that being lectured for things like that worsened my anxiety), and I found myself avoiding the dentist again.
Within the last month or so, I've noticed five teeth with severe decay (four are weird spots near the gumline that give me electric shock-like zings whenever you touch the spots, and one is a visible hole near the gumline) and another tooth that has simply crumbled (It had had a large cavity, but nearly half the tooth has now broken off). I'm in pain whenever I eat - I never know which tooth will hurt, but I know that at least one of them will. I'm terrified that I'm going to wind up getting an infection and becoming seriously ill.
While aware the implants are the best option, I cannot afford them (and I don't qualify for loans or anything of that sort). I'm literally fed up - I just want these teeth gone and to get dentures so that maybe I will be able to eat a meal without pain.
However, I'm also terrified to go back to my dentist, lay my cards out on the table again (I nearly cried last time) only for him to once again shoot down my request and insist that he wants to save them. Unless he's going to cover the costs for each filling, root canal, crown, bridge himself, I cannot afford it, no matter how much he insists it's for the best.
I guess my question is this:
Have any of you been in this position? How did you convince your dentist to pull the teeth and get you dentures?
(also thanks for letting me rant)
It has been several months since my last post and....well, my mouth is still in a really bad state. With my layman's eyes, I know of at least nine teeth that will, at the very least, need bigger fillings (all at the gum line) if not root canals and crowns.
Anyway, I went in back in the spring of 2017 after having some tooth pain. I declared that I was done - that financially, I couldn't afford to keep doing fillings in the hopes that it would fix the issue and I couldn't keep stressing out over when the next tooth was going to fail. I wanted my remaining teeth pulled and to get dentures, as my Mom is/was willing to help cover the costs.
My dentist straight up refused to do this, citing my age (I'm 27) and saying that he wanted to try and save my teeth at all costs ("all costs" is apparently thousands of dollars of work that I cannot afford)
He talked me into having my teeth cleaned and said we would proceed from there. At the cleaning, I requested to be numbed and spent the entire time essentially being chastized by his hygienist for needing several numbing shots (After something like 6-7 shots, I still wasn't completely numb. Her exact words were "Well, maybe if you start taking care of your teeth, you won't need this next time. Nobody should need numbed for a simple cleaning!" What a witch.).
This did not help my already pretty severe dental phobia (especially considering I had written in my file that being lectured for things like that worsened my anxiety), and I found myself avoiding the dentist again.
Within the last month or so, I've noticed five teeth with severe decay (four are weird spots near the gumline that give me electric shock-like zings whenever you touch the spots, and one is a visible hole near the gumline) and another tooth that has simply crumbled (It had had a large cavity, but nearly half the tooth has now broken off). I'm in pain whenever I eat - I never know which tooth will hurt, but I know that at least one of them will. I'm terrified that I'm going to wind up getting an infection and becoming seriously ill.
While aware the implants are the best option, I cannot afford them (and I don't qualify for loans or anything of that sort). I'm literally fed up - I just want these teeth gone and to get dentures so that maybe I will be able to eat a meal without pain.
However, I'm also terrified to go back to my dentist, lay my cards out on the table again (I nearly cried last time) only for him to once again shoot down my request and insist that he wants to save them. Unless he's going to cover the costs for each filling, root canal, crown, bridge himself, I cannot afford it, no matter how much he insists it's for the best.
I guess my question is this:
Have any of you been in this position? How did you convince your dentist to pull the teeth and get you dentures?
(also thanks for letting me rant)