All journeys start with the first step

[Mikey Boy]

Not a problem you would do the same for me so it's no problem

 

[blackhound]

Tomorrow I have the deep cleaning for the left side of my mouth. Not really looking forward to this is a bit of an understatement. I'm not afraid of the procedure since I had it done on the right side of my mouth a few weeks ago, but I'm just maxxed out emotionally with going to the dentist. And I have two more major procedures left after the cleaning. It's getting harder and harder to keep moving forward.

After the cleaning I have to get the crown placed on #4 and then get a filling in #29 and a crown on #30. Plus a final spit and polish from the hygenist and impressions for a night guard. Ugh. The snow will be flying before this is all finished.

BH

 

[blackhound]

Tomorrow morning I go in to have the crown placed on #4 which had an RCT back in July. This should be nothing. The crown is being done with CEREC and I've already had 3 CEREC inlays so I know what to expect.

But this is the first time I won't have someone with me. The pesky husband (bless him) has been with me for every appointment up to now but he can't be there tomorrow and I'm scared. I didn't think it would be a problem because the crown placement doesn't really seem 'invasive' to me the way drilling and filling does, but it's scary to be going alone. Yikes.

Nothing else for it except to suck it up and get it done. *exhales*

BH

 

[carole]

Best wishes to you and GOOD LUCK you will do it and it will be fine, let us know how you get on please.

 

[shamrockerin]

I've enjoyed reading your journal, and I wish you the best with the CEREC crown appointment. I hope you'll let us know how it goes.

 

[Kim]

You will surprise yourself and be so much prouder that you did it alone - positive vibes zooming your way hun xoxxo

 

[blackhound]

Best wishes to you and GOOD LUCK you will do it and it will be fine, let us know how you get on please.

As always, the anticipatory fear is worse than the actual event! I did okay. I was pretty scared going in, but everyone there knows I'm phobic and they helped me through it. Hopefully I can do it again on my own.

BH

 

[blackhound]

You will surprise yourself and be so much prouder that you did it alone - positive vibes zooming your way hun xoxxo

Thanks so much.

It went well. I now have a spiffy new crown and can finally chew without worry on that side of my mouth!

BH

 

[Kim]

Whooping it up for you - well done!

 

[blackhound]

I've enjoyed reading your journal, and I wish you the best with the CEREC crown appointment. I hope you'll let us know how it goes.

Thank you. The support means a lot.

It went well! The crown actually looks better than my original tooth!

BH

 

[blackhound]

I now have a spiffy new CEREC crown on #4. I got to play 'find the crown' with folks at work and not one person could find the new crown! It looks so incredibly natural. It is sitting right next to a 30 year old crown on #3 and boy, it makes that old crown look just like what it is, an old crown. But I shouldn't be dismissive of #3 crown because it has served, and continues to serve me right well. No fuss since the day it was placed.

I have one last major bit of work to be done. I saved the scariest for last. The grand finale. #29 needs a 2 sided restoration which is basically nothing at this stage of the game. But #30? Ugh. Needs a crown. The up side is that it will get the same glamour girl treatment from CEREC that #4 received. The down side is that this is the TOOTH OF DOOM. Treatment of this tooth is what began my phobia. Obviously it was the clown of a dentist who caused the thankfully temporary parasthesia and not the tooth who was responsible, but I have a bad association in my head with treatment on this tooth.

#30 has been filled, refilled, and bonded back together when a cusp chipped off. It is just loaded with amalgam and now there is some decay around the edges and it just can't be reworked anymore except for a crown.

I had hoped that after having success with an IANB shot on the other side of my jaw I wouldn't be as skittish about this one. But I think that is a vain hope. This side of my jaw is where the trouble happened, and it happened with this tooth.

But there's no stopping this train now. November 6th (Election Day here in the States!) is D-Day.

BH

 

[jellyfish]

Congrats on your new crown! And I hope 30 goes well also we'll be rooting for you on election day!

I definitely feel you re: exhaustion with dental work. I am still dealing with things a year and a half after starting my fiasco. One of my crowns needs adjustment due to a sharp overhang, and has been bothering me for months - even though it is a ridiculously minor appointment I just couldn't bear to pick up the phone and call because the thought of going to the dentist AGAIN was repellent (and I forgot to ask at my regular hygenist appointment). Only now that I got past the 12-month follow-up at the endodontist was the annoyance of the crown enough to trump the reluctance to make an appointment...

 

[shamrockerin]

I have one last major bit of work to be done. . . this is the TOOTH OF DOOM. Treatment of this tooth is what began my phobia. Obviously it was the clown of a dentist who caused the thankfully temporary parasthesia and not the tooth who was responsible, but I have a bad association in my head with treatment on this tooth.

I know what you mean about a "tooth of doom." I have a molar (don't know the #) that was filled when I was a teen, only to cause me extreme pain and sensitivity for a year, to be treated with RCT, crowned (by a horribly insensitive dentist), to have the crown break off at the gumline and now 12 years later is beyond saving.

This tooth, or rather all the treatment that went into "saving" it is what caused my phobia. I know it needs to be extracted at some point, but I cannot even bear the thought of anyone doing anything else to it, let alone pulling it out.

I finally said this to my dentist in my letter, and he hasn't mentioned anything about pulling it since. I think now that he knows how that tooth is associated with my fear/distrust, he is going to save that bit for last.

I am glad to read that your last appointment went so smoothly, and I wish you the best of luck with your next appointment.

 

[blackhound]

Congrats on your new crown! And I hope 30 goes well also we'll be rooting for you on election day!

I definitely feel you re: exhaustion with dental work. I am still dealing with things a year and a half after starting my fiasco. One of my crowns needs adjustment due to a sharp overhang, and has been bothering me for months - even though it is a ridiculously minor appointment I just couldn't bear to pick up the phone and call because the thought of going to the dentist AGAIN was repellent (and I forgot to ask at my regular hygenist appointment). Only now that I got past the 12-month follow-up at the endodontist was the annoyance of the crown enough to trump the reluctance to make an appointment...

I haven't been dealing with 'stuff' nearly as long as you have and I'm way past ready for it be over. I just keep repeating to myself ..... one. more. time. At least for anything major. I still have to get impressions for a nightguard but I don't even think of that as 'dental' because there won't be grinding, shaping, cementing, and my jaw won't be numb.

I seem to remember something about you are going to getting an implant? Have you gone down that road yet? Only reason I ask is that when I had to decide whether I wanted to RCT, crown lengthen and crown #4 or get an implant I went with the RCT and crown process even with all the potential downsides of an endodontically treated tooth.

I don't know anyone who had implants except my mother and they were an unmitigated disaster. She had them a couple of years and they all failed. I feel like they are heavily marketed as a no fuss, no muss solution for just about everyone! But reading about them on the internetz (SO IT MUST BE TRUE!!) there are a lot of caveats. It sounds like if you have really good prep work and really good bone and really good anatomical structure you can breeze through. The flip side are all the articles about bone grafts, sinus lifts, working around the mandible nerves, lack of integration.

I keep thinking about my situation with periodontal disease and bone loss, WICKED sinus trouble (my maxillary sinuses are DRAPED over the roots of my molars making allergy season a special tooth throbbing experience), and my freakout fear of nerve damage. And while I already made my decision about #4, #3 has been crowned for close to 30 years, #30 is getting a big old crown in a few weeks, #2 can't stand any more restoration unless it is a crown. You get the drift. I figure sooner or later one of these big back molars might have to go down the implant road and with my obsessive fear of anything dental that MIGHT HAPPEN (facepalm) I'd be happy to hear about any personal experience you might have had if you were willing to share.

BH

 

[jellyfish]

Somehow I keep getting into some mode where I hit backspace and I lose the whole post. Anyway....

I was ready for the whole thing to be over after the first month. Hahahaha.

I seem to remember something about you are going to getting an implant?

Not yet, so I am probably not much help... I do know people who have had implants and are very happy with them, as well as people who had nightmarish experiences.

Both of my second mandibular premolars (20 and 29) are congenitally missing. Right now, I have retained baby molars in both spots, but the baby molars are cracked, the nerves are dead, and the roots are almost completely gone. Every dentist I have had has told me to get implants. Every dentist except for the Evil Dentist told me to keep the baby teeth as long as possible and not let anyone try to pull them - this I am happy to do. However, the baby teeth are looking really bad, and several dentists have told me in the last year that they are not going to last long.

My choices are bridges that would damage virgin teeth, or implants. After I got the paresthesia, I started researching it and ran into all the literature on paresthesia from mandibular implants. Then I read most of the case studies on osseonews (a website where dentists post implant cases that they need help with or have screwed up), so I have a real good idea of what can go wrong . Given the sheer magnitude of problems that I have had stemming from simple filling replacements, I don't want to think about how bad implants could get. When the time comes, I am going to be super picky about what dentist I see, and probably make them crazy with weird demands to avoid paresthesia (like getting a CBCT and not having an IAN block so I can scream if they drill too close to the nerve ).

One thing I read is that second molars aren't that important, and you don't need to get them replaced. So maybe you don't need to worry about #2? You could also ask your dentist about the best way to keep your crowns as long as possible. I have become super-paranoid-brushing-flossing-person because I want to keep my 3 newly rct'd first molars as long as possible, and it seems like recurrent decay under margins is a good way to lose a crowned tooth.

 

[blackhound]

One thing I read is that second molars aren't that important, and you don't need to get them replaced. So maybe you don't need to worry about #2? You could also ask your dentist about the best way to keep your crowns as long as possible. I have become super-paranoid-brushing-flossing-person because I want to keep my 2 newly rct'd first molars as long as possible, and it seems like recurrent decay under margins is a good way to lose a crowned tooth.

Good advice.

I hope I have good crown retention karma because the crown on #3 has been there for 30 years. *crosses fingers* But that could be because the tooth is still live underneath it and not as brittle as an RCT tooth.

Because of my perio problems I'm a flossing, waterpicking person and I have 3 month recalls for cleanings so hopefully that will help the longevity.

One question I have with implants is just how much bone can they regrow? I have some nasty bone loss back in the molar areas and they say they can graft and regenerate some bone but what does that really mean in terms of quantity. One of the reasons I went for the RCT/crown option on #4, even though the back cusp had snapped below the gumline was that I already have a juicy bone defect in that area so the amount of bone that had to be removed at the back of the tooth was almost nonexistent. Which isn't good however you look at it.

I guess I'll find out just how magically they can grow bone if I ever have to go down that road.

BH

 

[jellyfish]

The bone grafting stuff sounds pretty complicated, it seems to depend on multiple factors, including more general health issues as well as dental issues. Sometimes they use some kind of synthetic? animal? graft material, but they can also take it from other areas of your jaw or something. Depending on the case, sometimes they graft at the same time as placing the implant, and other times they graft and then wait a few months before doing the implant (or regrafting if it didn't work).

I have been told that I don't have any bone loss, so I am hoping to avoid the grafting if possible. I am really afraid of having a vertical root fracture in the rct'd teeth, but I don't know of any way to avoid that. Two of the rct's are maxillary (#14 and #3), and the whole sinus lift thing just sounds ugly. Also, I am in my mid-30s, and given the statistical lifespan of a rct'd tooth (15 years?) I may be looking at whole lot of work when I turn 50. Guess I should start saving money now....

 

[blackhound]

I have been told that I don't have any bone loss, so I am hoping to avoid the grafting if possible. I am really afraid of having a vertical root fracture in the rct'd teeth, but I don't know of any way to avoid that. Two of the rct's are maxillary (#14 and #3), and the whole sinus lift thing just sounds ugly. Also, I am in my mid-30s, and given the statistical lifespan of a rct'd tooth (15 years?) I may be looking at whole lot of work when I turn 50. Guess I should start saving money now....

At least you have bone! BTW, I checked out OsseoNews.

Since I've already seen 50 in the rear view mirror I'm hoping this RCT will hold out to the end!

What I definitely see in my near future is a visit to a periodontist for LANAP. One of the side benefits apparently is that the procedure can stimulate bone growth. That would definitely be a plus.

BH

 

[jellyfish]

BTW, I checked out OsseoNews.

Yeah, maybe I shouldn't have mentioned that one.... it has made me really cautious about picking a dentist for procedures, that is for sure ! But reading a lot of the comments and arguments on some different cases has been very helpful in understanding a lot of the issues with implants, and having realistic expectations of the process, moreso than the vague promotional webpages put up by dental offices.

It would be great if my rct's could hold out too....I know it is possible, but I don't think I should count on getting fifty years out of them though. Maybe the implants will be better by the time they give out, at least.

LANAP is the laser treatment, yes? I don't have gum problems, but my officemate is in the middle of having a bunch of gum grafts. He says it isn't that bad and only hurts for a little while afterwards.

 

[blackhound]

Yeah, maybe I shouldn't have mentioned that one.... it has made me really cautious about picking a dentist for procedures, that is for sure ! But reading a lot of the comments and arguments on some different cases has been very helpful in understanding a lot of the issues with implants, and having realistic expectations of the process, moreso than the vague promotional webpages put up by dental offices.

It would be great if my rct's could hold out too....I know it is possible, but I don't think I should count on getting fifty years out of them though. Maybe the implants will be better by the time they give out, at least.

LANAP is the laser treatment, yes? I don't have gum problems, but my officemate is in the middle of having a bunch of gum grafts. He says it isn't that bad and only hurts for a little while afterwards.

I was glad you mentioned OsseoNews! I'm one of those people who wants more information, not less, even if it is hair raising! Implants seem to be marketed as a one size fits all solution to hopeless teeth and I just don't buy it. I've seen write ups that say you shouldn't place an implant with active periodontal disease. Others say that folk with perio disease who have tooth loss are the majority of implant users. I can't figure it out.

LANAP is the laser gum treatment. Kills the bacteria, seals the pockets and allows genuine reattachment. They can dramatically reduce pocket depths and stimulate bone growth. Lots of new advances with gum grafts too. They no longer have to shave the roof of your mouth. There are all kinds of ways to do it with your platelets and other type of grafting materials.

And yeah, with how fast dental procedures are advancing I figure by the time I need some implants it will be a newer, better process.

As an aside, the perio doc that I am planning to use offers the option of zirconium posts instead of titanium because the zirconium are ceramic. Apparently he has some holistic reasons for offering that and also practical ones because having a titanium screw in your jaw makes the use of the laser for perio work an unacceptable situation.

BH