• Dental Phobia Support

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But You're Too Young for Dentures!

Actually I have a browser tab open to this page pretty much all the time on my laptop (when it's turned on). But a little time goes by and there's nothing new here so I forget to check it.

I'm glad my journey through this has helped and is helping others. One of the most annoying things for me when I went through it was that it seemed most people didn't remember or were too proud to document the minor annoying, uncomfortable, embarrassing or painful steps along the way.

Like how your jaw joint can ache for weeks afterward from the over-closure, or that you kind of have to relearn how to not drool. Both of those sound worse as I write them here than my memory of them, but I didn't know what to expect and it was depressing and frustrating to have yet another problem crop up.


There will be days when eating noodles will a massive, soul-crushing challenge. Those days will suck. (Just remember, small bites, chew carefully, and - another tip you don't see - cut your noodles short. I once got half a dozen thick Asian noodles down my throat with food in my mouth too unchewed to swallow. Trying to combat your gag reflex in a restaurant is just one more challenge you don't need.)

There will be days where you manage to bite your lip hard enough to really hurt. Those days aren't fantastic, but after the initial struggle to chew anything properly it's kind of a nice problem to have.


In my opinion there's two drawbacks to dentures.

1. Bone loss. You've heard all about it, and probably read about it. It is what it is, and if you can afford implants it's not that tough to avoid.
2. Adhesive. Man I hate scrubbing that off my gums every night. Those Seabond adhesive pads eliminate 99% of that, but they make your dentures fit tighter so if you've got a snug fit they won't be comfortable.


But compared to trying to always smile with your lips closed or worrying about whether you'll break another tooth the next time you eat pizza... it's no contest.


Honestly, I think that once I get implants I'll like my dentures better than natural teeth. Dentures don't get cavities.
 
SPEKTYR...Once again I appreciate all that you write..I like knowing the good, the bad and the ugly. I've read alot about the drooling thing..guess I'll keep something near. Ouch on the jaw..but I figure that comes with the territory..I almost kinda sorta dread the two wisdom teeth that have to be pulled. One wisdom is upper left..the other is lower right...man I'm in for in for on both sides :giggle:
I hope to eat spaghetti soon when I have my surgery on the 18th..I knew I'd have to cut up like feeding to an infant.
Keep us..ok me informed...
Marcelle
 
Spektyr, if I'd known you still checked in, I would have thanked you much sooner. I appreciate knowing the bad along with the good, too. I don't like to sugar-coat things, and I appreciate honesty.

I don't know how many times I thought back to your victory over a twice-baked potato as I've made each of my own small victories. Tonight I won out over a fairly tough Louisiana Hot sausage. Victory is grand! :jump:

Thanks again, for all you've done for me and who knows how many others.
:cheers:
 
Cielo @ Spektyr...just wanted to say AMEN on the thanks :)
Marcelle
:grouphug:
 
If you've ever made your jaw sore by chewing gum for much too long, or irritated the joint itself by any means, you'll have a pretty good idea what the joint pain I'm talking about is like.

It's definitely not nothing, but I'd put it on par with a mild to median headache. (In fact, it generally gave me a headache as well.) Annoying and inconvenient, but compared to the ache of having a couple teeth pulled it's no biggie.


Just keep in mind that it all gets better. Sometimes it gets better, then worse, then better again, but the overall trend is improvement.

And keep your eye on the benefits. For example, I'm one of those annoying bastards that likes to crunch up the ice cubes in his drink. Well now I don't have to pace myself to avoid the pain of freezing my teeth! In fact, cooling off the dentures is strangely pleasing.

So now I can be annoying faster than ever before! hehe
 
Oh, that just reminded me of another quirk of dentures - you'll find it very easy to burn your mouth for awhile after you get them.

You know how when you put something too hot in your mouth you can kind of move it around like a game of Hot Potato to keep from burning yourself? You probably won't be able to do that with your dentures, at least not at first. Your oral dexterity will suck for awhile.

Plus, I think the incisors play an important role in detecting the temperature of food you're about to put in your mouth, so you're also a lot more likely to put food in your mouth that is a lot hotter than you think it is. So be careful.

It would seem like the dentures would actually provide some protection against severe temperatures, but they really don't. So file that one away for later use too. (Right next to the "being careful with acidic foods" one. Remember, it's easy for an acidic tomato or similar juice to get trapped between your palate and the upper denture and it can "scald" the roof of your mouth a bit.)
 
SPEKTYR...What about soft drinks ie. coke
Marcelle
 
I'm going to check out the seabond stuff....I hadn't heard of it. Thanks ;)
 
celle54 - you mean "Mother's Milk"? Hehe.

Soft drinks are probably a significant contributing factor to me being here in the first place. I'm not blaming them, there's more to it than any one thing, but I'm sure it didn't help.

I drink a LOT of soda. I drink straight from a 2L because it gets annoying to constantly refill a glass.

I haven't noticed any drawback or problem with soda so far. And the upside of dentures is that as long as my GP tells me my bloodwork looks good there aren't any doctors telling me to cut back.
 
celle54 - you mean "Mother's Milk"? Hehe.

Soft drinks are probably a significant contributing factor to me being here in the first place. I'm not blaming them, there's more to it than any one thing, but I'm sure it didn't help.

I drink a LOT of soda. I drink straight from a 2L because it gets annoying to constantly refill a glass.

I haven't noticed any drawback or problem with soda so far. And the upside of dentures is that as long as my GP tells me my bloodwork looks good there aren't any doctors telling me to cut back.


oh thank god!:yay::yay::yay:, i'm a total soda fiend, i almost always have a can of soda on hand or a 2 liter sitting next to me at the computer (well, until recently that is), although i was kinda hoping you'd say soda was a problem because i need to back off of it :ROFLMAO:
 
Well soda isn't good for you, there's no arguing that.

I just simply don't care enough to quit. Yet.

And it definitely contributes to dental problems.


But in terms of dentures... there is no real issue with drinking it. From what I understand it can't really even stain them so long as you keep up with your cleaning.
 
SPEKTYR....I have given up my coke..after my one and only I decided it did not taste so good..now my choice of drink: TEA :)
Marcelle
 
I hope i can do the same, I've been addicted to caffine for years... started at 5 years old with full cups of coffee (bad mommy :oops::giggle:) and then managed a coffee shop for 2 years... during the coffee shop it was constant 20 ounce cups of coffee, chai tea and espresso. (boy do i miss that)

Thankfully, i've cut back on caffine a good bit in the past 2 months. I'm down to 2-4 cups of coffee a day and mostly caffine free soda. I'll never be able to go without my coffee, but it'll be good to know that i've cut back.

I'm worried about staining my dentures.. I dont know if that's really possible, but if it isnt dont correct me! It's my driving cause to cut back!! XD
 
GOODMORNING GLOBBY......sorry just feeling soooooooooooooooooo great today!!!!!!! I feel sooooooooooooo good!!!! lmbo :)
I have heard both yes and no on the staining..either ways brushing the dentures will keep them nice.
I have no understanding why my need of my coke or coffee has disappeared..well maybe cause everything tastes really different for now.
I have had nooooooooo craving or headaches due to not drinking either.
Tea seems to be my cup of choice :) Don't ask why cause I dont know either :)
I was like an alcoholic when it came to my cokes..I would kill for my first can in the mornings and then back it up with my cup of coffee.
Please don't take me wrong ok..I really did alot of praying too before my surgery cause I knew the process and then the no cokes or coffee and biting my finger nails were going to be really rough on me and I had to ask for that help cause I knew I couldn't do it on my own. :)
I know you will make it!!!! We're all here for you, to back you up and help anyway we can..
big ole thursday mornin hugs to ya
Marcelle
 
Bumping up Spektyr's journal for some of the new forum members.
There's a lot of good information in here!
 
Thanks Cielo!:)...and indeed Spektyr!.....although half an hour later I'm a bit behind with the hosework again!:rolleyes:
It is really helping to read all your journals,cheers.x
 
I was cleaning out my email storage and noticed the "Thanks for registering" thing that the forum sends when you sign up, and figured I should swing by and see how things are going.

First off, it really means a lot to me that people are getting something positive from my experience.


So where am I - metaphysically-speaking - these days?

I'm in a pretty good place. I still have the "immediate permanent" dentures that I started with. They do the job pretty well, it'll probably be 6-12 months before I need them refitted and I'm thinking of simply getting a new set made at that time. I never really liked the aesthetic of this set because the teeth are just a bit smaller than my original teeth were and I think my smile would look better with something closer to that size.

It's annoying enough that I look forward to getting it changed, but not enough that I can really justify spending money on it until I have a "real" reason to. Like how I would like to get a new car, but there's absolutely nothing wrong with the current one (aside from it not being new) so it wouldn't make any kind of sense to actually go through with it.


I don't really have a lot of new pearls of wisdom. I don't remember if I mentioned L-Lysine before. In case I haven't, get some. If you don't wear dentures it's great stuff to have, if you do you really, really need it. It's not super-cheap but then no vitamins really are.

Any time you get a sore spot from rubbing, a cold sore, anything of that nature, use Lysine for a few days and you're fixed up. If you've ever had a cold sore under or next to your dentures you know what I'm talking about - you can't cure that fast enough.


Oh, and a humorous note: if you have a computer that has a webcam and you think you'd like to try that facial recognition thing (I recently got a new laptop that has it built in) keep in mind that wearing or not wearing your dentures will make a big difference. My computer will not recognize me no matter how much I try to make my face look normal if I don't have my teeth in. Which is kind of cool when you think about it - that difference is enough to fail the test so it's pretty unlikely anyone would be able to trick it.

I could probably create another login for sans-teeth if I wanted to, but I can also manually enter a password to bypass the camera stage.
 
Nice timing! I just signed up so I could post this.

I just wanted to say thank you for writing your blog about this. I read the whole thing tonight in one sitting. I especially love all the little asides about what you could and couldn't eat and how you dealt with certain problems. I'm sure those will be of great help to me eventually.

I'm 32, also in the Bible Belt, and I'll be facing a pretty similar ordeal myself soon. It's really good to know that I'm not the only moderately young person out there going through this.

I'm also really glad you said having dentures were better than having the (bad) teeth you had before. That helps a lot. Even after problems with eating and fitting and soreness, it's good to know it does pay off in the end.

Thanks again! :)
 
I remembered something else - I had been concerned about the claims that having your teeth pulled changes the shape of your face and makes you look older, sooner. I thought that perhaps if a denture wearer wore the dentures overnight that this might reduce that effect by cutting out more hours per day that the facial muscles weren't supported around the mouth.

That all may be true, but I tried it about a month ago and found it really isn't a great idea for me. For one thing, the usual "morning mouth" effect is amplified if I have my dentures in. For another, I would need to waterproof the pillow if I did it frequently. Maybe with more regular experience I might not drool as much, but ultimately it's just a hassle.
 
Hey all,
Just wanted to say how good and informative this has been to read for me!
I'm 27 and just facing having partial dentures.
I've already lost the majority of my teeth and am having a few more extractions at the moment but as I have about 16 or 17 still good teeth in total the dentist refuses to take them all out as I'm "too young". After serious thought I can see his point.
I'm very nervous about what I'm facing but after having gone through years of toothache and misery at the missing teeth I know whatever happens it has to be an improvement. For cosmetic reasons/pride alone I'm looking forward to being able to smile at the small minded people who didn't understand :)
You've been inspirational and sometimes its just nice to know you're not alone so thank you!
Sarah x x x x
 
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