• Dental Phobia Support

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20yrs old and need 17 fillings!!!!

A

angie101

Junior member
Joined
Aug 10, 2009
Messages
4
i finally plucked up the courage to go to the dentist the other day ,after 10 years, as i couldnt stand to look at my teeth anymore.

when i was about 10 i had to get a tooth pulled and had a bad experience about a year later i notices a black hole in my back bottom tooth. i knew id need a filling and was too scared to tell my parents coz i knew theyd make me go see the dentist. anyways over 10years with my fear and embarrasment growing and my teeth getting really really bad i finally decided to go before they get any worse.

so yesterday i went to the dentist, had my x rays done and he told me that i need 17 fillings!!!!!!!:o i hate that ive let my teeth get this bad!!!:cry: i also can only afford to get them done under local aenesthisia..17 fillings really is alot and im so embarrased and worried. he told me that average amount of fillings for someone my age is 3!!. thats the embarrasing part!!:redface: the thing im worried about is that after the fillings what if i need more like a few years later?? im definatly gonna take really good care of my teeth once theyre fixed but if i need more fillings im afraid that ill hardly have any tooth left and theyll all fall apart and ill need dentures by the time im 30!!!

i know im probably just being silly but does anyone have any advice please!! im so so worried that ive ruined my teeth for life!!!:cry:
 

:welcome: I'd get a second opinion if you can possibly bear to...just to be on the safe side. If you do really need that many then you have saved your teeth by going along not ruined them..if done properly the restorations will likely last for years, so don't beat yourself up too much.

Has the dentist at least shown you on x-rays where the cavities are etc? Are you convinced you also need them? Also space out your appointments so if the quality of work is not great, you can go elsewhere instead. It would be a lot of teeth to let 'one bad dentist' cock up in one go.
Sorry if this sounds negative..it's not meant to be, just ensure you are not being taken for a ride warning, especially if the dentist is being paid per procedure.
 
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i finally plucked up the courage to go to the dentist the other day ,after 10 years, as i couldnt stand to look at my teeth anymore.

when i was about 10 i had to get a tooth pulled and had a bad experience about a year later i notices a black hole in my back bottom tooth. i knew id need a filling and was too scared to tell my parents coz i knew theyd make me go see the dentist. anyways over 10years with my fear and embarrasment growing and my teeth getting really really bad i finally decided to go before they get any worse.

so yesterday i went to the dentist, had my x rays done and he told me that i need 17 fillings!!!!!!!:o i hate that ive let my teeth get this bad!!!:cry: i also can only afford to get them done under local aenesthisia..17 fillings really is alot and im so embarrased and worried. he told me that average amount of fillings for someone my age is 3!!. thats the embarrasing part!!:redface: the thing im worried about is that after the fillings what if i need more like a few years later?? im definatly gonna take really good care of my teeth once theyre fixed but if i need more fillings im afraid that ill hardly have any tooth left and theyll all fall apart and ill need dentures by the time im 30!!!

i know im probably just being silly but does anyone have any advice please!! im so so worried that ive ruined my teeth for life!!!:cry:

I am under 30 and having to get full dentures, it wasnt that I didnt take care of my teeth they have just always been bad.... I wish you the best of luck in getting your mouth fixed!!! if you can afford it save your teeth!!!!!!:welcome:
 
hey thankyou for your advice!

The dentist did show me the xrays and pointed out some larger cavaties and some really small ones which i could hardly even see. he said most of my cavitites are smaller and that i just have a few larger ones but i was really shocked when he said 17!! i think that most of mine are actually between two teeth if you know what i mean and i was thinking that if i find a laser dentist then i probably wont even need fillings on some areas but im not sure.

does anyone know anything about laser dentistry or had laser dentistry done and in some cases is it possible to avoid having fillings done on the really really small affected areas????
 
does anyone know anything about laser dentistry or had laser dentistry done and in some cases is it possible to avoid having fillings done on the really really small affected areas????

You could try looking into minimally invasive dentistry options like air abrasion in general. They can't be used in all cases, certainly not for the larger cavities.

The small ones are the ones where maybe no two dentists would take the same approach... if you are convinced by the explanation you have been given, it would seem reasonabke to proceed with your exisiting dentist. The next question to ask is what type of restoration and why...amalgam versus composite etc.

I am not aware of any posters who have used laser treatments, they are not however widely available.
 
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thanks brit for your advice. it makes me feel less nervous now.

I am getting all white fillings as my dentist doesnt do the other ones but i was going to go with all white anyways.

im also worried about getting filllings, because i have to get some on my front teeth, that the fillings wont be as strong as normal tooth and i have to be really careful about what i bite into incase the filling at the front will break off. how strong are composite fillings?? i just cant at this moment imagine what theyll feel like or how theyll look!!! when i had my first set of teeth i had fillings in the back but never in the front!!
 
Just wanted to let you know that I had huge cavities in my two front teeth about 40 years ago as well as root canal work on the same teeth. The fillings I had were the same color as my teeth and held up the entire 40+ years!

Sally
 
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