a picture of my teeth and my concerns.

[fearfulteefies]

please no judgement. this is taking a lot for me to post here. i used to have perfect teeth. braces, the works over the years...you name it. during the pandemic, i had a lump appear over my "fang tooth" (the one that looks long on the top row) and when it burst, my tooth started to do this. because i was not only terrified of the dentist but COVID as well, i let it go. i lost a tooth in the front on the bottom during this time as well - and everything just snowballed from there.

i am sharing a picture of my teeth for a dentist to look at to see if anything can even be done. i don't know that i want to get them all pulled - i have a fear of all of them being pulled. a partial i can deal with. but i have so many teeth (4-5) that are extremely wiggly and one on the front bottom is ready to pop out within the next few days.

i had severe tooth pain for the past two weeks in a back molar that is now gone which has forced me to have a come to jesus moment knowing i need to call some dentists in my area to see who i am comfortable with, etc. i will be doing this tomorrow morning (monday) and making an appointment hopefully.

for the dentists on this forum that may be reading - i understand i can't ask you to examine me over the internet.... but just from this picture and knowing i have extremely loose teeth in some areas, does it look as though my mouth can be saved without having or needing all of them to be pulled? i want my smile back so bad and cry thinking about it all the time.

also - can anything be done about gums like mine? my gums on the bottom are horrible. no bleeding at all, but they are so low. my top ones are nice and light pink - bottoms are inflamed, deep red/purplish and receeding badly.

 

[Gordon]

It doesn't look like they're all hopeless, hard to say for sure from a photo but mostly they look like a bit of TLC will bring most of them back into reasonable shape.

Well done on recognising you have a problem and taking steps to fix it, not hiding your head in the sand till it's too late.

 

[fearfulteefies]

@Gordon i appreciate you taking the time to at least take a look. sadly i feel like it's already too late but also understand that can be my anxiety talking.

weird question for you -- i only have 22 teeth. i had all 4 of my wisdom teeth pulled 22 years back when i was 18 years old, and i have had 3 extractions and 3 fall out on their own. i have heard you're supposed to have 32-33 teeth but not sure i have ever had that many. is that normal?

i would totally call my old dentist with my dental records, but he is in prison right now for attempted murder and no clue how to retrieve my records since his office has long shut down. (not kidding, and a huge reason why it feels so many of his old patients now have dental anxiety)

 

[Gordon]

You're supposed to have 32 permanent teeth, but not everyone has the full quota, seems that the numbers are reducing over time. You get the odd person with extra teeth too.

Old dental records are interesting but not a lot of help in most cases, so I wouldn't worry overmuch about that. Sounds like a fairly interesting story regarding your former dentist...

 

[fearfulteefies]

@Gordon interesting indeed. he was a wonderful dentist, but apparently 4 years before he planned to retire, he started to have issues with his wife (who was the receptionist at his practice) and one night, he just blew up and strangled her. she was hospitalized but luckily made it through. it was hard for me and my entire family seeing his picture in the paper. he didn't even look like himself.

again, appreciate you taking the time with the picture of my mouth. i do have one other question. i know you are likely busy so apologies...

i am a very hard sleeper and sleep on my right side. ie. the right side of my face is on the pillow - i am a stomach sleeper. something i have noticed is that my teeth started to get this way about 6-7 months into the pandemic and it was all downhill from there. my husband mentioned it to me not long ago that he is curious if my being a hard sleeper has anything to do with this. he will wake me up some mornings telling me, "your face is slammed into the pillow, it worries me sometimes" - but he says he wonders if me sleeping so hard on that side of my face can also be some of the case of my teeth being loose there. (all my problematic teeth/loose teeth are all on one side - the side i sleep on)

^ weird question, i know. but it doesn't hurt to ask.

 

[Gordon]

Sounds like a horrible sequence of events. I never could understand husband and wife teams in dentistry, they're quite common but I would hate being married to my co-worker.

Anyway, moving on. No, I don't think your sleeping habits have any bearing on your tooth issues. I can see them causing some TMJ problems but that's a whole different ball game.

 

[fearfulteefies]

@Gordon appreciate you weighing in