• Dental Phobia Support

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getting dentures at 23 years old

G

globby

Well-known member
Joined
Sep 3, 2009
Messages
127
Ok, after reading Cello, Cielo and Spektyr's journals, I've decided this might help me. My teeth on the other hand is currently objecting to me reading and posting in this forum.

Now, Many may ask "Why dentures already!!!!!!!!!! You're barely an adult!!!" but it's come to the point that I need them do to my neglect to get my braces treatment finished due to an abusive and harassing dentist/ortho.

I do want to note, that while this post will be excruciatingly long, it'll be as painful for you to read as it will be for me to write because im currently holding a rag to the right side of my face with my dominant hand and typing with my left, and constantly running to the bathroom to rinse my mouth out due to this pesky infection on top of thrush... so.. there... we're even! LOL

When I was 12, I had braces put on. Four years later I stopped going to my dentist/orthodontist because the jerk would sit there holding my mouth open to the point of pain for up to 2 hours while talking on the phone about his latest or upcoming vacation with a friend and in the times he actually payed attention to me, he was constantly yelling at me. He would tell me to wear elastics one way, then I'd go for the follow up the next week and he'd scream at me saying "You're supposed to be wearing them this way, are you trying to mess up your own ****ing teeth?!" (yes, this is the way he spoke to me) then I'd follow his instructions again and lo and behold, at the weekly follow up, he hits me with the same line. Week after week of being harassed for his mistakes and him not knowing what he wanted me to do and I put up with it... every single week. Finally, a few weeks later, my father goes in for a procedure and the man ended up slicing my fathers tongue open. That was my breaking point, no more dentist for me.

By now I was 16, not brushing regularly, and refusing to see ANY dentist. This continued until I moved out of my parents house at 19 and moved in with my wonderful boyfriend. A boyfriend who just so happens to be a smoker and I ended up falling into that habit too... ever since then things went horribly wrong.

First, I noticed that while eating a twizzler, a tooth up and broke. Only problem was... It was still connected to the wire of my braces. I remember it so vividly, going into the bathroom of the warehouse my boyfriend was working in, picking the elastics off one by one, and watching the broken tooth fall into the sink. I then preceded to pull out the wire in tears. (Pulling off the wire supposedly was the right thing to do according to a recent dentist who told me that keeping it in could have caused extremely bad infections in parts of other broken teeth being held in place be the wire.)

After that, teeth started chipping off, breaking off or even shattering altogether over the next 3 years.

Around the winter on 2007, two of my lower right molars followed suit. This was my first experience with extreme dental pain. My boyfriend and i had been evicted from his apartment and were living in a room for rent with no car so we had to take the public transit everywhere. I will never forget the looks on everyone's faces as i cried in pain for and hour long trip.

From then until now, things have only gotten worse...... much worse. In my mouth I have more exposed pulp and nerves than teeth. And that doesn't say much considering at least 4 teeth are completely decayed down to the gumline or further.

Now, the reason i didn't go to a dentist sooner wasn't fear anymore, the constant pain cured that. It was the fact that no one would see me until the braces are off and orthodontists refused due to extreme risk of further injury.

Finally, one day at work, all hell broke loose. I was on the ground in front of a full building of customers screaming in pain. One of my teeth had enough. My boyfriend was called to take me to the hospital. Until then, I had never thought there could be a pain that serious without dying, and over the years, I've built up a very high tolerance for oral pain

When I got there the pain had somewhat subsided and the nurse or doctor or whatever decided to tell me what I already knew. "Your teeth are decayed." While trying my hardest not to kick him and scream "no s*** Sherlock"

He then gave me percocet and ibuprofen to deal with the pain and penicillin for the infection, Followed by a list of dental clinics to call for help after hearing my sob story about being denied care from everyone i tried.

So, the percocet did exactly what I expected it to do, nothing. It didn't do anything for my after surgery pain for a hernia operation, wouldn't help now either. Tried calling the clinics to get in ASAP to have the tooth pulled and was denied. "we don't have any appointments until 2 months from now" And when I promptly responded that thats fine, just as soon as possible, I'll make one for then, they told me they don't schedule appointments for that far in advance, I'd have to call Monday. Call Monday, get the same response.

Finally, after talking to a customer from work who i've bonded with over medical issues and things (hugely in fact that i was the only one working that would listen to her sob for 2 hours about her husband dying. She was devistated, screw my job, she needed someone to listen.) and we got to talking about teeth, she only has her four top and bottom front teeth left and was dealing with a similar issue as me. She gave me the card to a really nice dentist who actually took me in and looked at my teeth and gave me more bad news. She couldn't help me. But whats different about her, She took the time to tell me why and to go try the clinic again. Only, She gave me the reason they kept giving me the runaround. For this specific dental clinic, You must first be a patient or be calling in an emergency appointment.

So, after weeks of trying to get an appointment again they either didn't answer
the phones or told me they didn't take patients with insurance or that there are no appointments available.

a week later, the end of June, I ended up in the hospital again and the doctor said "the pain sounds like nerve damage and judging by the looks of my mouth, it's not surprising" He then told me to call the clinic again and that they lied to me about insurance line. This time i was prescribed vicodin and ibuprofen for pain. Again, vicodin didn't work.

I finally got a hold of the dental clinic, told them that i was told to follow up with dental clinic from the hospital (which are both run by the same company) and they saw me. Granted they misunderstood my followup, it still got me in.

When i got in there, i almost made the young DMD cry when she looked at my teeth, she seriously started to tear up because of my age. After looking at my xrays, it was evident to even me that my mouth was to become an oral liquidation sale... Everything Must Go!!! What wasn't apparent to me though, was what the hell was causing this pain exactly. Looking at the xray, it seems that all of my wisdom teeth are slightly impacted and the exposed nerve pushing into the tooth for the one, and the lower one pushing into the other teeth causing a banded tooth to start collapsing was the culprit.

I still have yet to find a pain med to work. they just gave me a script for ibuprofen (because that's the only pain med that still has any effect on any pain in my body anymore) and for more antibiotics.

She also had me fill out consent forms for IV sedation and wisdom teeth extractions. Now, the people at the reception desk are rather cold at the clinic but the dentist and oral surgeon i talked to were wonderful, and what's even better.. The price of getting iv sedation and full extractions INCLUDING wisdom teeth? only $195. Thank god my grandmother could send me a check to use because the payment must be made up front at the time of scheduling the appointment(which is very understandable)

I'm now scheduled for the full mouth extraction on October 6th. Everyone at work is excited for me, my family is excited for me and thanking god i'm finally doing something about my mouth. From what I've been told by my General Practitioner, It's amazing that the infections never moved to my bloodstream.

While waiting for this appointment though, I've made another trip to the hospital because it seems a nerve is damaged on the other side too, but that one's just annoying, but when they hit at the same time, i wanted to die. And I got bad news. Due to my teeth being so bad and the fact that i can get on a whole month eating a single meal, I've most likely developed anemia, I need to get the blood work today before I go to work.

But back to my teeth, I made another visit to my doctor to set this up and was given more pain medications and antibiotics. I've now developed thrush from being on penicillin 2 times in the past month, so he gave me a prescription for Nyacin, I still have a really BAD infection at the same time so he gave me cleocin, one of the strongest antibiotics out there, and Dilaudid for pain.

Now, if you dont know what Dilaudid is... I envy you. Dilaudid is one of the strongest pain narcotics out there. It is a derivative of heroin and is supposidly 8 times stronger than morphine. AND YET... it does not phase the pain.

I'm not sure how the hell I'm going to survive until the 6th, and then dealing with phantom pain which i've already been noticing from some other teeth, the nerve damage, the pain from the antibiotics. I love what antibiotics do, but i hate the fact that they agitate the infection to kill it.... and the causing of thrush... my mouth's so dry, and the more water i swish, the dryer it gets, I've been mixing up my swishing though. when it acts up, i swish water for the first 4 times it acts up, and then salt water for the 5th and heavily diluted alcohol free mouthwash on the 6th, then repeat, it seems to be working but for the past 5 hours, due to the nerve, i've been swishing water only and my tongue is soooo dry, and i cant even suck on an ice cube because my teeth are that sensitive :(


Ok, while typing this, it's taken me 3 hours (mostly 1 handed) and the nerve pain acted up 7 times.... i think it's time for me to attempt to get some sleep, i'll update tonight (it's 4am here) or tomorrow for more information on what's getting done, how and why.
 
Sorry for double posting so soon, but i figured i'd add what few pictures i took about a month ago.
Now, taking pictures of the inside of your mouth is harder than it looks... but i think these suffice
Erm, i think the date on my camera was wrong, because im almost positive i took those sometime after january of this year, but at the same time, they are much worse now, so maybe it was that long ago Actually, from the first picture i can see they're old... the 2 molars on the right side are half gone now.

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Aw, Globby. I'm so sorry you're suffering like you are, and so young, too.

You're going to feel like a whole new person once those teeth are gone. And once you get your dentures, you'll have your whole life ahead of you with a wonderful new smile.

I'm sorry you have to wait so long to get started. The waiting is the worst part of it all. I hope you can find a way to manage the pain in the meantime, nobody should suffer like that.

Did you ask your dentist about using the mouthwash with the thrush? I got thrush after my first fifteen extractions, it's not fun. I did saltwater rinses several times a day, but couldn't get it under control. I called the dentist for a script for Nystatin which he phoned in to the pharmacy for me. It still took over a week after that to clear it up.

Try to get enough nutrition to boost your immunity while you're waiting. If you have trouble eating, I'd suggest getting some Ensure or a similar product. Eating yogurt or taking a probiotic will help keep your natural bacteria in balance. I let myself get run down in the beginning and I think it set me back a little in healing. The fatigue was unreal. You can help keep that from happening now, before your body is having to deal with the trauma of having your teeth extracted.

I wish you the best, and I look forward to the day you can post back here again with news of how good you feel!

Welcome to the forum! :welcome:

:grouphug:
 
My general practitioner gave me a script for nyastin (i never spell that stuff right XD) i swish it for about 5 minutes before swallowing. I'd love to be able to do salt water, but at the moment, salt water bugs the damaged nerve and mouth wash REALLY bugs the damaged nerve and agitates the thrush, regular water helps the the damaged nerve, SOMETIMES helps the thrush, othertimes makes it hurt more and does nothing for the infection and mouthwash is the only thing that helps with the infection irritation, it's driving me insane, but its a necessary evil to deal with, holding a rag with very slight pressure over the cheek with the infected spot seems to help well though.

As for nutrition, i cannot eat any solid foods so i've been doing Boost nutritional shakes (i need to get more tomorrow XD) they actually taste pretty good and it's helping with my low blood oxygen saturation due to malnutrition THANK GOD! lol.

the thrush has calmed down a good bit tonight thank god, but now my tongue and roof of my mouth are starting to itch, but i can deal with that.

Thanks for the concern, and i'm trying to stay optimistic until the extraction appointment, although it's hard when all 3 pains act up at once.
 
Ok, after taking some time to think about it, I'm starting to wonder if the dental clinic really doesnt offer immediates, or if i just misunderstood them. I realized tonight that it would be impossible to take imprints of my teeth due to A) The braces still being on (sans-wires) at the time of extraction and the number of holes in my teeth would make that utterly painful and would end up pulling out most of my teeth with it! lol


I've also noticed a lot of fear about going around in public with no teeth. I've already come up with my solution to that knowing that i'll have to go atleast 7 weeks without any and actually, having this infection has helped.
I am a very talkative person at work and have become close to many of the customers, and many of them have seen me in pain and asked what was going on with my mouth. Tonight i held a rag around the infected area for some pain relief and many more asked me about it.
My current approach is that the more people that know about it in advance, means the less people who look at me funny.

I also realized something incredibly funny, Halloween is coming up, and i'll have no teeth at all during it. That gave me the perfect costume idea if they let me dress up at work (blockbuster video)... I'm gonna go as an old toothless geezer! i'll wear suspenders, my pants up high, etc it'll be GREAT!
and it will help ease me into the embarrassment with a sense of humor and get others to hopefully feel a little more comfortable about it!

My co-workers on the other hand are going to tease me mercylessly as they've always done which has helped me with my constant self esteem issues i've had since i was younger, i've learned to laugh about my mistakes and my hardships in life making them easier to deal with!
 
globby,
I'm so sorry you have gone through this. I cannot do anything about your pain just sending really good thoughts your way and hope you heal fast:)
I still can't believe your ortho, you and your dad should've reported him! And then all those doctors who refused to treat you!!! There is no way you live in the states but even if you don't I just can't believe you kept being turned away over and over again. You should be very proud of yourself for not giving up on dentists.
I hope your dentures work out for you, let us know how it goes.
 
globby,
I'm so sorry you have gone through this. I cannot do anything about your pain just sending really good thoughts your way and hope you heal fast:)
I still can't believe your ortho, you and your dad should've reported him! And then all those doctors who refused to treat you!!! There is no way you live in the states but even if you don't I just can't believe you kept being turned away over and over again. You should be very proud of yourself for not giving up on dentists.
I hope your dentures work out for you, let us know how it goes.

Yeah, we should have done something about the dentist/ortho, but he was the only one who took my family without insurance, so we kinda just "took it"

As for being refused treatment, i researched it and dental work like that they can refuse to treat. What really bugged me is that dentists refused work until the braces are/were off which makes no sense with the fact that people with braces still can go get fillings and things from dentists.

I really need to find a way to deal with the damaged nerve issue with the impacted wisdom tooth. It acted up twice at work tonight but thankfully wasnt full force. Anyone have any ideas? I looked at the suggested tips in the DIY section, but those are things that i dont think would help me. :(

As for the infection, i think the antibiotics are working, but this infection must be worse than i expected. I'm 4 or 5 days through the treatment and i still dont notice too much of a difference. And i cant wait until i'm done this course because this thrush is annoying. It's not painful anymore but still icky XD
 
Globby...I am glad to see you started your journal. It helps to talk thru your problems and most of all to have folks lift your spirit as much as they can.
I send you healing hugs and hope the pain lets up where you can function.
((((GLOBBY))))
Marcelle
 
Well, came to visit my mothers who's hell bent on getting me to get real food in my stomach other than nutritional shakes, so last night i had pureed shephards pie and this morning i had milk gravy, scrapple maple syrup and potatoes in the blender... having flavor in my diet is so nice.

Atleast i'm getting an early preview on what i'm going to have to eat after the teeth are pulled.

30 days and counting!!
 
GLOBBY...you are brave..pureed food..:sick: I don't think I could go that far.
You are from the UK..not sure what shephards pie is. About a week out from my surgery I'm gonna go stock up on stuff to eat.
I was told about a nutrient drink called Boost thats now used more than the Ensure. I got some Ensure and I just could not drink it. Me and anything that resembles milk just dont get along. I can taste the creme even in 2% milk. I hate choc milk too. Maybe with getting the upper denture thats gonna fit the roof of my mouth I'll not taste anything and it'll be good. LOL
I am counting myself..12 days till D-day.
Hugs :grouphug:
Marcelle
 
So Globby, you'll have to share with us what all you try in the blender. I've done pizza and orange chicken (separately) in the food processor, and it was fantastic! I'm not afraid to grind up anything that goes together any more. :)

Kudos to your mom, too. It's great that she's available to help you out. Nutritional shakes are one thing, but "real" food will help keep your strength and spirits up.

One more day closer!!
 
GLOBBY...you are brave..pureed food..:sick: I don't think I could go that far.
You are from the UK..not sure what shephards pie is. About a week out from my surgery I'm gonna go stock up on stuff to eat.
I was told about a nutrient drink called Boost thats now used more than the Ensure. I got some Ensure and I just could not drink it. Me and anything that resembles milk just dont get along. I can taste the creme even in 2% milk. I hate choc milk too. Maybe with getting the upper denture thats gonna fit the roof of my mouth I'll not taste anything and it'll be good. LOL
I am counting myself..12 days till D-day.
Hugs :grouphug:
Marcelle

Actually, i'm from the US, i live in DE. Sheppard's pie is pretty much a clean the fridge leftover. You mix left overs together, and cover it with some mashed potatoes and bake it for until the mashed potatoes become drier and slightly crisp and almost golden brown around the edges on top.

It's a hillbilly thing, my family originated in west virginia (well, back then it was all still virginia XD)

I did find that if your teeth become so bad before you can have them pulled, apple cinnemon cheereos with a little milk in the blender so you can chop it up and then add a little more milk when the cereal is chopped to kind of whip the milk makes an AMAZING milkshake! and you get the nutrition from the cereal!!!

Yeah, back home now, but now, i have plans to go stay with my mother after the surgery for a few days while recovering. I dont get to see her nearly enough now that i live in DE and she lives in upper baltimore county MD and i dont drive (personal preference, i dont even have a license.)

I'll post everything that we end up blending, we decided last night's spaghetti would probably look a little gross blended up and because i have to blend up everything to be sipped through a straw to avoid the damaged nerve in the impacted wisdom tooth, we didnt know what we would add to it to make it thinner. I also wasnt in the mood for all that acid lol.

Tomorrow i'm going to call the clinic to see if there's been any cancellations so that i can get rid of these teeth faster, the pain from these nerves is a royal pain in the bu.....erm.... mouth! :p:meanie:
 
Hi, I just wanted to wish you the best of luck also....and I hope they can find you that cancellation. :hug2:

Also, a bit of useless information lol....here in the UK shepherd's pie is made from minced lamb, in like a gravy with vegetables and then with mashed potatoes baked on top. You can do the same thing with minced beef, only that is called Cottage pie :p. I ate a lot of it when I had my new partial denture and recently extracted teeth it was excellent! xx
 
Globby....What we do with left overs..we make a pot of soup, if it can be made LOL
I was thinking I can eat spaghetti..just take a fork and mash it up but not to much...just can't have the mmmm mmmm good garlic bread.
My count down days are now to 10..a week from this coming Friday.
Hubby takes real good care of me..he's had to have plenty of practice..seems like as this body gets older something just has to break down..and I am younger than hubby LOL and nothing ever seems to break down on him.
I hope you can get a closer date..Keep us posted.
biggggggggg hugs to you
Marcelle
 
Celle, if you're getting cold feet by any chance, maybe we could switch dates?! i cant wait to get this done and over with HAHA:yay:

im down to 27 days as of 43 minutes ago! everyone at works so excited that i wont be in pain anymore and half of them are counting it down as well, including my boss!

Tonight I think i'm gonna take it easy and just do a "cereal shake" as I'm getting into the habit of calling them. I have Cinnamon Life, Multigrain Cheerios and Rice Krispies. Question is, which should i try next XD. Also, anyone think adding yogurt might make it creamier? I'm kinda afraid to try it lol


Whep, possible change of dinner plans, seems the boyfriend decided to put on a can of crab soup, maybe i'll let that cool and try to eat it.

OOH,i figured i should add some information about my first post. I talked to my father (whom of which, i dont speak to often ever since my parents divorce and why they split) and I finally told him exactly why i stopped going. Although he yelled at me for not telling him sooner, it felt good to explain because i knew my father had already had a personal hatred against this dentist. I also spoke to my fathers side of the family during their labor day cookout and many of them were undoubtedly proud of me for finally doing this. Apparently, although I rarely see many of them (once every 1 or 2 years maybe), many of them have been speaking to my grandmother and had heard about how bad my teeth were getting and that i was going to be getting my teeth fixed finally.

Although it was kind of annoying having to explain that i needed a full mouth extraction and full dentures, they all told me about them getting their dentures (they are all in in their upper 60's to lower 80's) and how it was nothing to be afraid of and how nice it was.

What helped me the most tho, was when my fathers aunt talked to me about it. She herself had gotten dentures in quite the same way that i will be getting them, without immediates, while her husband had immediates. So, From what she told me, i have an idea of how the results may differ as either Celle or Cielo have mentioned wondering in another journal.
I was told that while the pain is roughly the same between the two in somewhat different ways, She was almost immediately able to eat regular food again as opposed to waiting for the gums to heal with immediates. So it seems that while i wont be able to enjoy as much food as you right away, I should have less time adjusting to having them and chewing again due to the lack of pain from the pressure on the healing gums!

So, once this is done, i'll let you know for certain, but for now...27 days and counting!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (not including the day of the surgery because im gonna make sure i sleep until right before i have to go!)
 
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GLOBBY....Goodmorning..I am now 9 days and counting to D-day :)
I think i'll keep my date with the surgeon..LOL
Last night I slept very well without taking a pm unlike the other night when there was no sleep.

I am glad to see that you are connecting with family..afterall they are all we have and if they're dysfunctional its ok too..
I am extremely close to my mom..I lost my dad when he was just 36 to a heart attack and a few yrs ago my step dad died from brain cancer. All of daddys children have outlived him..I am the oldest at 55.

I have a cousin that just got dentures and I've been intouch with her actually to see what its going to be like for me LOL.
I have an online friend thats having his oral surgery and dentures on the 16..
Not many folks to talk to about this...but thankgoodness for this forum huh.

Looks like its gonna be one of those days LOL..I was reading your post and got just a few lines down when WHAW..the darn wheel on my chair broke..now I've got to run over to the hardware store and get another one and put it on.

Huggers..off to the store I go
Marcelle
 
No real update here, still got 25 days of waiting :(

Sorry I haven't been around much, these past few days i've been relatively pain free which has been a godsend, i was able to eat some semi-solid food (aka soggy cereal) this morning and yesterday morning.

But, as great as it is to be pain free, it made me forget to take my antibiotics! i missed a day and a half, and i started to feel the fight against the infection when i took one this morning :(

Back to having what fun i can with friends in online games while not having to hold a compress to my face XD
 
Hi, Globby. You don't have to have monumental news to update. Sometimes it's the really mundane things that people like to read. I know I do. :)

I'm glad you're feeling better, but you've GOT to take those antibiotics. Can you put them somewhere that you'll see them and remember? I know! Set up your computer or cell phone to remind you. It's important that you take all of them to get the infection under control. You have all this time waiting for your appointment, you can at least use the time to fight the infection, right? The less infection there is going in, the more comfortable you're going to be during and after your appointment.
/lecture ;)

You're going to feel SO much better with those teeth taken care of. I wish you didn't have so long to wait. :hug2:
 
Morning GLOBBY!!! I can identify with not taking your med when feeling better but thats when its most important.
I am glad to hear your semi pain free and thats got to feel absolutely wonderful when feeling so bad so long. Take your meds..enjoy your friends and have some fun and I look forward to hearing how things come about when you have your surgery.
I am counting down..like Cielo is going to let me forget LOL...5 DAYs!!!!!
Healing hugs
Marcelle
 
So, i programmed a count down in my cell phone..
as of the time i'm posting this (give or take a minute) I'll be in for my extraction in 19 days, 7 hours, and about 23 minutes!!!

I cant wait. I just wish it would come sooner, i've started getting more brave and eating cereals, but sometimes i forget i cant chew anything and just cause myself pain.. not fun :(
 
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