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Can extraction diminish my brain function or lower my IQ

Thank you. Difficult to judge the quality of research if you're not in the field. And I'm not a scientist. Much appreciated.

Even if you are in the field - as far as I heard there are some PhD people who struggle with interpreting statistics (my statistics-teacher says).

Anyway, what had happened to you is more important that the article and I am really sorry for that. I can't even imagine what you are dealing with right now, but I can feel the sense of overwhelm and loss just reading your posts. It is hard for me to believe that you can't make any complaint.. :(
 
imedpub.com is a predatory publishing site for "junk science". The journals are not actually peer-reviewed as advertised and often contain mistakes. It's part of OMICS Group Inc. You can read an article about them here:

https://www.ctvnews.ca/health/firm-...-junk-science-ordered-to-pay-us-50m-1.4367762

A serious journal would never have published this piece of research (?) which appears to have involved some mice (though the authors don't mention how many mice exactly). They then rather incongruously turn their attention to someone else's study of patients with Parkinson disease which found that Parkinson patients on average had more missing teeth, presumably because of loss of motor function and reduced ability to perform oral hygiene. How exactly the mice and the Parkinson patients are linked is unclear. It's almost like one of those random text generators...

Honestly, you've got nothing to worry about on the IQ front :)

Yes, this. The "research" has no real evidence as there are so many other factors, such as genetics and environmental influences. There was also a really small sample size for a study like that, to draw conclusions from. It is more of a correlation rather than a cause-effect relationship.

For the record, I have 11 missing teeth, including my wisdom teeth.
 
Even if you are in the field - as far as I heard there are some PhD people who struggle with interpreting statistics (my statistics-teacher says).

Anyway, what had happened to you is more important that the article and I am really sorry for that. I can't even imagine what you are dealing with right now, but I can feel the sense of overwhelm and loss just reading your posts. It is hard for me to believe that you can't make any complaint.. :(

What would I complain about? She was trying to save me the pain of return visits. That's why I guess I am projecting the anger onto myself. If I wasn't so pathetic, I could have told her 'no other teeth' but I wasn't making any sence by then. Anyhow, she's got an "anything else" clause from my husband, so nothing I can do. But no, I would NEVER have consented to that and I am finding it ever more difficult to let her touch me now.
 
...as if I don't have enough emotional problems around my teeth or lack of them, in the process of looking for a forum like this one, yesterday, I stumbled on some very credible looking academic articles suggesting that tooth extraction can change the brain, basically improverishing your intellect.

I was expecting one wisdom tooth out and woke up to six gone. Four were stolen from me when they had barely grown in because my vain mother thought I shouldn't have a brace. So, I am now missing 10!!!

I'm in a bad way. Facing one was my worst nightmare but SIX!!!! I feel I've been robbed of my face, my ability to eat, speak (I refused to speak for a fortnight after), every last scrap of my self confidence, not to mention my sexuality - I can never even kiss my husband ever again. I've lost everything that made me, me. Have they stolen my part of my capacity to think, too? I have to know.

(And no I did not consent to any other than one wisdom tooth! I was a child and not even spoken to about the first four and was so busy literally banging my head on the wall before hand on this occasion, they deemed I did not have 'capacity' and took my husband's consent with any "and anything else clause". I would never have consented to five more which were not loose and not hurting me.)

Have you heard of this research? Is it credible?


Thank you all. My looks, like everyone's, will fade with age, but I couldn't abide damage to my brain. I'm a linguist not a scientist, and I am not claiming to be a genius, but I kinda like the fact that I can think and study. I do feel reassured the last vestige of me, the way I was, might still be intact. :) Just need to be able to talk properly now. No point in being a linguist, if you can't actually talk to anyone.
 
I am not sure how recently you had the teeth out, but I have lower molars missing on each side (plus like Mountain Mama had four premolars out as a child for orthodontic reasons) and it has made no difference at all in terms of kissing or intimacy. My partner doesn’t even think about my teeth, he doesn’t see the gaps and nor does anyone else. To be fair, I probably wouldn’t have wanted to kiss him immediately after the extractions when my mouth felt bloody and raw, so if your extractions were just recent, it will get better!

Again, like MM, I have an excellent degree, plus postgraduate diploma, and honestly don’t think these teeth being absent has made any difference to my IQ.
 
No, my husband does care but I do. This was two months ago now. I feel as though I am rotting inside. I'll never let him kiss me again :(
 
No, my husband does care but I do. This was two months ago now. I feel as though I am rotting inside. I'll never let him kiss me again :(

Oh, gosh, I thought you were going to say it was on Friday or something, I really hope you are getting some psychological support to help you deal with what's happened to you, and to move forward. I suspect that on this forum alone there is a large number of people who have missing teeth, and who are going about their lives, including romantic relationships, with no issues. I actually just asked in my office, and of the four people who are in here right now, three of us have had teeth extracted, so it is a really common thing. (I had no idea my colleagues had missing teeth until asking today, and likewise they didn't know I had - I honestly think there are SO many people who have lost back teeth but we just don't realise!) All the very best going forward.
 
My wife has had 8 molar teeth extracted... I've had 5 out. I think we still function pretty well :)

What would I complain about? She was trying to save me the pain of return visits. That's why I guess I am projecting the anger onto myself. If I wasn't so pathetic, I could have told her 'no other teeth' but I wasn't making any sence by then. Anyhow, she's got an "anything else" clause from my husband, so nothing I can do. But no, I would NEVER have consented to that and I am finding it ever more difficult to let her touch me now.

Unfortunately, it doesn't work like that, if I can explain a bit?

If you'd told me "No other teeth" then that's absolutely fine, but it would have meant that you received no treatment at all under GA... if it comes to a GA, then all decay has to be cleared out by the end of the GA, since it's not possible to do root treatment or large fillings under GA, then that means a lot more extractions than if GA isn't required. Otherwise it's a potentially career ending move by the dentist. Patients can't give consent to negligent treatment, leaving decayed teeth after a GA is negligent...
 
My wife has had 8 molar teeth extracted... I've had 5 out. I think we still function pretty well :)



Unfortunately, it doesn't work like that, if I can explain a bit?

If you'd told me "No other teeth" then that's absolutely fine, but it would have meant that you received no treatment at all under GA... if it comes to a GA, then all decay has to be cleared out by the end of the GA, since it's not possible to do root treatment or large fillings under GA, then that means a lot more extractions than if GA isn't required. Otherwise it's a potentially career ending move by the dentist. Patients can't give consent to negligent treatment, leaving decayed teeth after a GA is negligent...

Is that UK or USA? Not sure I understand that at all. Don't get where root treatment or fillings come into it at all. No one was talking about them, whatever they are. I had NO tooth decay.

To be honest, I don't know why they were removed. They were not decayed. I had one wisdom tooth that was loose due to a repeated abscess. THAT wasn't decayed either. In fact, I seem to have inherited incredibly strong teeth from my father. I had a few minor fillings after my son was born and otherwise by 54, nothing. No decay.

The dentist did tell my husband afterward why, but I'm not capable of hearing it. I do not stomach any awareness of the body at all. All I know, is that they were not loose, were not hurting me and did not need filling even. She says she was just trying to "save me more visits". But, I didn't want them gone and in fact I am not coping with them gone. I'm in a far worse psychological state now than before, to the point where this is life threatening.

I think if anyone had said there was any danger of taking any other tooth, I would have just run and kept on running. I would have refused consent with my feet.
 
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UK.
Not trying to get into an argument with you, but there has to be some reason to remove the extra teeth. Logically the reason would be that they were decayed badly enough to be beyond filling or that you had serious gum disease.
 
Oh, gosh, I thought you were going to say it was on Friday or something, I really hope you are getting some psychological support to help you deal with what's happened to you, and to move forward. I suspect that on this forum alone there is a large number of people who have missing teeth, and who are going about their lives, including romantic relationships, with no issues. I actually just asked in my office, and of the four people who are in here right now, three of us have had teeth extracted, so it is a really common thing. (I had no idea my colleagues had missing teeth until asking today, and likewise they didn't know I had - I honestly think there are SO many people who have lost back teeth but we just don't realise!) All the very best going forward.

Actually, as time goes on, it's getting harder. And no, our local MH service is rubbish so I'm getting no support at all.

I'm having to keep going back to the dentist over the construction of these plates and the melt downs I am having each time are worse. With the last one I cut off all my hair and ended up in A and E. I am a mess over this. My husband was cross about my hair. He wants his wife back. But I think she's too damaged by this to ever come back.
 
UK.
Not trying to get into an argument with you, but there has to be some reason to remove the extra teeth. Logically the reason would be that they were decayed badly enough to be beyond filling or that you had serious gum disease.

No, I'm grateful of the time. Not trying to argue either.

But whatever the reason was, had I had any inkling there could be more than that one, mental capacity or no mental capacity, it wouldn't have happened, because they wouldn't have caught me.

I hate myself for getting out of bed that morning. If I had been stronger, more with it I could have prevented this.

I know I can't blame her, that why all the anger is directed at myself.
 
I am so sorry to hear about the mental health provision in your area being cut. You sound very distressed, so I wanted to link up the Samaritans website here just in case they might be of use to you. They have people available 24/7, and offer a phone and email service.
https://www.samaritans.org
 
Bless you. Yes, I know it. Doesn't help much.

It's not cut, although it is stretched. It's just rubbish. They promise support then don't deliver. They promised me they'd work with the special care dentistry before hand, then didn't. They seem to have ignored the dentist when she rang to say she was concerned about my mental state. They ignore me most of the time. Their response to my husband when he was trying to tell them I'd tried to throw myself under a lorry when I left the hospital after the extractions, was and was still banging my head on the wall was "so, what do you want me to do about it?"

Think I'm on my own with this one.
 
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Bless you. Yes, I know it. Doesn't help much.

It's not cut, although it is stretched. It's just rubbish. They promise support then don't deliver. They promised me they'd work with the special care dentistry before hand, then didn't. They seem to have ignored the dentist when she rang to say she was concerned about my mental state. They ignore me most of the time. Their response to my husband when he was trying to tell them I'd tried to throw myself under a lorry when I left the hospital after the extractions, was and was still banging my head on the wall was "so, what do you want me to do about it?"

Think I'm on my own with this one.

I am so sorry that you can't get help. That just makes me so sad that you are struggling so much and feel completely helpless.
 
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