Broken teeth and extreme anxiety.

[scaredandbroke]

Hi all, excuse me for the long post, I'm in need of some real support here.

I'm a 23 year old woman, last time I was at the dentist, I was around 13 or 14 years old. My parents were abusive, which is another can of worms, but that led to me never having proper medical/dental care. I carried that into adult hood, everything got worse when my wisdom teeth really started coming through and pushing my other teeth into each other (i'm pretty sure), my teeth started breaking. Now I'd say over half of my teeth are chipped or have a chunk broken off. Probably a quarter of them are broken to the gum line or over half the tooth is missing. I'm lucky the front teeth are only yellow, they are all in tact so as long as I don't smile too wide, people normally can't tell.

So here I am, broken teeth, I can only chew on one side of my mouth and even that can't be crunchy or hard foods for fear of breaking something else. I clean them often now, sometimes I find myself clenching my teeth which leaves me with a sort of pressure type of pain. If I sleep too heavily, I might wake up with a hunk of tooth missing or rattling around in my mouth.

Yesterday I woke up with a piece of filling cracked off a tooth, I've gotten very lucky that most of these can be babied and they don't hurt. Well, today I woke up with a canker sore at the very bottom of my gums, and a toothache on the bottom of the side I chew with. I can't find any pain relief pills like ibuprofen or tylenol, salt water swishing obviously didn't help.

I'm scared of pain, I'm scared of the drilling, I don't have dental insurance, and I make minimum wage. It feels like life has stacked up against me, and I'm ready to roll into a ball and cry.

 

[Laura robitaille]

I'm so sorry you are feeling like this. It's a very helpless and lonely feeling and I can completely empathize. I promise you you're not alone. I'm wondering if you can find a dentist in the area who will work with you on a payment plan? It sounds like you can't put this off any longer. I hope u have found some relief since writing this. I know how it feels when life is stacked up against you. I bet you are stronger than you think though, we are our own worst enemies. I've had a "bad side" that I don't chew on, for about 3 years and now my good side is hurting and I can't eat anything harder then bread . It's hell. I a, also terrified of taking medicine which leaves me little options for pain relief. Anyway I summoned up the strength to make appt with dentist. Terrified, but I don't have a choice anymore . I go tomorrow at 10 and I can't explain how terrified I am. Anyway, for pain relief have you tried sensodyne toothpaste , putting a dab right on the painful area to numb it a bit? Sometimes works. Feel,better......

 

[Suzannah99]

Oh! You poor thing!

As the above poster said - go and see someone - tell them your history and also ask about a payment plan.
Make sure that you do not sit in the chair, you do not lean back - you tell them your history. If they aren't willing to listen you get outta there.

In the immediate meantime there is some stuff which I got in the UK over the counter called orajel - it numbs for a while and helps.

Something else.
I was previously on citalopram which my doc prescribed - an anti- depressant.
I was on it on and off and then on it for a good year. I could not get to see nor talk to a doc but I decided to gradually up the dose over a week to double the dose - I felt worse - but my teeth grinding at night also got a lot worse!!!

I saw someone mention something called 5-HTP - available on Amazon.
It raises serotonin levels - it CANNOT be used if you are on SSRI anti-depressants though.

But I got some, slowly weaned myself off the ADs and tried it - took two tabs and that night I did not grind my teeth. Plus overall I have felt much more calm in general and less stressed than I was on the ADs
I have had 2 nights of teeth grinding since - I forgot to take the 5-HTP the two nights prior.

Teeth grinding really hurts - mine is gone due to 5-HTP.
Not only that but if I had stayed on those ADs I would not have got through what I just have - since August - a broken front tooth, it got infected, going to the dentist, finding out I needed all four front uppers out and dentures.

I am new here and haven't read the link rules but mail me - there is a woman who had all of her teeth removed and dentures at 26 - she has a YouTube channel. Her story is so very inspiring! She started out with the bog standard all she could get - and yes it was tough but OMG she did it! She looked great and learned her way through it.
She is also the same as you - her Mum took her to the dentist just once and never took her back.

You need to do this for you. It's hell when you can't function/live due to your teeth.
Sending you ((huge hugs)).

Someone out there will help you - you need to take a first step - and I had my extractions and dentures 9 days ago. I am pain free.
I was too scared to join this forum when I first saw it but I did take advice on getting diazepam from my doc to help me through appointments.

You are braver than I was - you joined this site.
I couldn't even do that!

So finding and being very honest and open with a dentist is your step two.

There are some quick helps in here but you need real help - please go find that one dentist whose facial expressions tells you he or she is listening and understanding your history.