Dental calculus help - Terrified

[Amandapanda7]

Hello all. I’m writing because I am so scared I am going to lose my front teeth. I haven’t been to the dentist in 10 years and I will attach a picture here on the front bottom. I appear to have heavy calculus and I can’t get it off. I made a dentist appt because I am aware It is the only way. Has anyone had experience in removing these, Will my teeth be loose and fall out after or need to be extracted. I am only 29 years old. I brush twice a day I have no idea how it got to this point and am feeling so scared. They don’t feel loose but I’m scared it’s the only thing holding it in place.

 

[Gordon]

The tartar is not holding anything in. Your teeth will not be loose nor need to be extracted.

Get it cleared off, the gums will be a bit inflamed under that lot but a few days of good cleaning will sort it all out.

 

[Amandapanda7]

@Gordon hello. Could you tell me what to expect from cleaning off this tarter at a dentist appt. I am nervous once it’s off my teeth will be loose and need to be extracted

 

[Gordon]

Depends if they're doing it by hand or with an ultrasonic.

If the former, expect lots of pushing, some scraping sounds, some muttered curses and a bit (or a lot) of sweating from the dentist.
If the latter, expect a sort of high pitched squealing noise, (hopefully not from the dentist), lots of water squirting everywhere and a strange sensation of a sort of coldness on your teeth. You'll probably feel little bits of gritty stuff as the assistant struggles to get it up her vacuum nozzle. Or to give it it's technical name, a slaver sooker

Afterwards, your tongue will find all the little gaps between your teeth which the calculus (proper name for tartar) was filling up, which will keep you entertained for hours. On a more serious note, I'd expect to feel a bit of sensitivity around these teeth because of the inflammation to your gums, so expect to be using some sensitive toothpaste for a few days. Massage it into the teeth at bed time with a finger works better than brushing with it but you can do both.

Your teeth will not be loose, unless you don't get the tartar removed, in which case in about 40 years they might well be..

 

[Amandapanda7]

Thank you for the reply and assurance. I have my cleaning scheduled for 4/26. Is this type of condition something that would require dental scaling and root planning? I’m hoping to have it all removed then and not have to wait. Also what about rum recession caused by this, wouldn’t that make teeth loose?

 

[Gordon]

It'll certainly require scaling, which is the process of removing the calculus. I can't say if root planing is required or not without examining you. If it needs done it's not a big deal, basically just like a scaling but a bit slower and with more scraping and water spray.
I'd expect at least a couple of visits to the dentist to get this under control, second visit for a bit of tidying up and checking on your home care.
No idea if there's any gum recession or not, it's possible there is but it doesn't automatically make teeth loose.

What you need to actually cause loose teeth is "Bone Loss" where the body's response to the presence of plaque means that the bone supporting the teeth is destroyed.
This is part of a process called periodontal disease, which is what causes loosening and eventual loss of teeth.
BUT it's a slow process and can take decades to be a problem. You're catching it at a young enough age where it can be controlled.

 

[Amandapanda7]

@Gordon thank you so much, this is really so helpful to me. One last question, if it will require multiple visits what should I expect done at the first one? Will they start to remove it then , she told me I would get a cleaning but they haven’t seen my teeth. So I just don’t know what to expect , or if I would get X-rays too?

 

[Gordon]

It kind of depends on the dentist, how much time they've allocated for your appointment and how they like to work.

On a first visit I'd probably not do any cleaning but I would do a general exam, check gum health and take any necessary x-rays. However if you asked them nicely they might be prepared to get rid of some of that calculus for you as well.

 

[Thankyouforthat]

@Gordon hey! I know this is a little late but I just saw this thread and am experiencing exactly what this user is going through. I just want to say thank you both for putting my mind to ease a bit in the mean time. I just recently realized that what I thought to be my tooth that chipped off… like 2 years ago might not have been my tooth? And I have been treating this area of my mouth so much differently as far as brushing trying to not irritate the area more. But by doing this I think I caused it to build up more sadly. Stll haven’t been able to schedule anything with a dentist yet, because.. ya know fear. but is there anything I can try at home? I saw some tool on Amazon to maybe take away some of it? Obviously I would really like to avoid this any way possible thank you both and have a great day. Hope all is well with both of you.

 

[MagicDuck12]

Whenever ive had a build up of plaque (calculus is its proper name is it? learn something new), a hygienist has used what my kind of not very technical mind thinks as a high pressured water gun type thing that just blasts it all off your teeth, and then it gets taken out of your mouth by the vacuum.

For me, its been a very comfortable thing to get done. Ive only been recommended to have it once a year and it takes maybe 15-20 mins? im phobic but im fine with it, theres no injections or anything, i dont need any pain relief and its just basically being blasted with water for a little bit.

 

[Thankyouforthat]

@MagicDuck12 you really said what I needed to hear. I have thought about just doing that at home with my water flosser but also I JUST found out that this was calculus or build up and not a case of a broken tooth (or atleast I hope not to be). And after doing more research people have really put my mind at ease about going.

 

[MagicDuck12]

@Thankyouforthat its actually a really quite nice experience in a lot of ways it just feels clean and quite satisfying, you can feel bits come off and I almost think "lovely, theres a bit gone"

 

[Thankyouforthat]

@Thankyouforthat its actually a really quite nice experience in a lot of ways it just feels clean and quite satisfying, you can feel bits come off and I almost think "lovely, theres a bit gone"

That’s actually exactly what I was hoping to feel THANK YOU FOR THAT!