T
TraumatizedinNOLA
Junior member
- Joined
- Sep 17, 2018
- Messages
- 5
I've long been terrified of the dentist, which eventually cost me my teeth. Right at a month ago, I bit the bullet and let a highly rated dentist in my area pull my remaining 19 teeth and give me immediate upper and lower dentures. It was devastating at age 32, but there was really nothing else left to be done.
I haven't had any problems with the upper. I had the teeth on the upper right quadrant pulled 3 years ago and wore an acrylic flipper, so I was already used to the palate and all.
The lower has been an unmitigated disaster. When I went in for my 24 hour checkup, I told him it didn't fit properly and was pulling my jaw to the right. He gave me an antibiotic for swelling, never even took the denture out of my mouth, and sent me on my way.
I was in his office almost daily for adjustments for the first 2 weeks, and each time he wouldn't even look at the pressure sores, just grabbed the denture, shaved off a touch, and put it back in my mouth. At my insistence, I've also had 3 soft relines done. Every time I have a reline, I have to spend 2-3 hours with an emery board afterward filing all the excess reline material off the front of the teeth.
Two weeks ago, I went in for another soft reline and adjustment, which finally got the thing to more or less seat right. I then headed out of state to visit friends who have no idea I have dentures, and I managed to keep it a secret. I was in agony the whole time, but I have a super high pain tolerance so I just dealt with it. Fortunately the last reline managed to keep it tight enough that I didn't have to deal with adhesive during my trip. Meanwhile, during the trip I developed full-blown TMJ symptoms (popping, clicking, jaw locking so badly I have trouble opening my mouth enough to put food in, and a strong deviation to the right). Still struggling with those symptoms.
Since I got back a few days ago, I literally haven't been able to wear the lower. Now that the swelling is about gone, I can say with 100% confidence what I thought was the case on day 1. The lower denture is not the same size or, more importantly, shape as my mouth. At the back of the teeth, the denture is heavily curved. My mouth is not. So there's a huge gap at the top, and then the bottom edge curves back directly onto the bone. Literally every time I bite or chew, all of the forces are pushed directly into that edge. I have a row of pretty bad pressure sores/ulcers right along that bone. In addition, the left side of the denture is huge and wide and open. I have a layer of soft liner in it right now that's at least a half-inch thick, and it's still floating right off my gums. Also, the bite is not aligned. I can chew on the left OR right side of my mouth, but not both simultaneously. And now I guess I'm due for another reline, because the whole freaking thing is now floating freely. I can't use adhesive because the spaces are too big, there's no actual contact points for the adhesive to cling to.
The dentist has not done a single pressure test or bite test. He doesn't even look in my mouth. Meanwhile, he's told me there's nothing else he can do because "if I cut it back any further, you'll lose suction." He wants me to put up with it for another 5 months until he's ready to make my perms.
I'm at the end of my rope. My extraction sites are healed up just fine, and when I can stand the pain I can eat pretty much anything. But the stupid denture is not and never will be the same size or shape as my mouth, and my dentist is pretty much calling me crazy.
Oh, and on top of everything else, the office owes me money. They billed the entire bill to my credit card AND got paid for half of it by my insurance. So they've got 1700 of my dollars tied up.
What do I do now???
I haven't had any problems with the upper. I had the teeth on the upper right quadrant pulled 3 years ago and wore an acrylic flipper, so I was already used to the palate and all.
The lower has been an unmitigated disaster. When I went in for my 24 hour checkup, I told him it didn't fit properly and was pulling my jaw to the right. He gave me an antibiotic for swelling, never even took the denture out of my mouth, and sent me on my way.
I was in his office almost daily for adjustments for the first 2 weeks, and each time he wouldn't even look at the pressure sores, just grabbed the denture, shaved off a touch, and put it back in my mouth. At my insistence, I've also had 3 soft relines done. Every time I have a reline, I have to spend 2-3 hours with an emery board afterward filing all the excess reline material off the front of the teeth.
Two weeks ago, I went in for another soft reline and adjustment, which finally got the thing to more or less seat right. I then headed out of state to visit friends who have no idea I have dentures, and I managed to keep it a secret. I was in agony the whole time, but I have a super high pain tolerance so I just dealt with it. Fortunately the last reline managed to keep it tight enough that I didn't have to deal with adhesive during my trip. Meanwhile, during the trip I developed full-blown TMJ symptoms (popping, clicking, jaw locking so badly I have trouble opening my mouth enough to put food in, and a strong deviation to the right). Still struggling with those symptoms.
Since I got back a few days ago, I literally haven't been able to wear the lower. Now that the swelling is about gone, I can say with 100% confidence what I thought was the case on day 1. The lower denture is not the same size or, more importantly, shape as my mouth. At the back of the teeth, the denture is heavily curved. My mouth is not. So there's a huge gap at the top, and then the bottom edge curves back directly onto the bone. Literally every time I bite or chew, all of the forces are pushed directly into that edge. I have a row of pretty bad pressure sores/ulcers right along that bone. In addition, the left side of the denture is huge and wide and open. I have a layer of soft liner in it right now that's at least a half-inch thick, and it's still floating right off my gums. Also, the bite is not aligned. I can chew on the left OR right side of my mouth, but not both simultaneously. And now I guess I'm due for another reline, because the whole freaking thing is now floating freely. I can't use adhesive because the spaces are too big, there's no actual contact points for the adhesive to cling to.
The dentist has not done a single pressure test or bite test. He doesn't even look in my mouth. Meanwhile, he's told me there's nothing else he can do because "if I cut it back any further, you'll lose suction." He wants me to put up with it for another 5 months until he's ready to make my perms.
I'm at the end of my rope. My extraction sites are healed up just fine, and when I can stand the pain I can eat pretty much anything. But the stupid denture is not and never will be the same size or shape as my mouth, and my dentist is pretty much calling me crazy.
Oh, and on top of everything else, the office owes me money. They billed the entire bill to my credit card AND got paid for half of it by my insurance. So they've got 1700 of my dollars tied up.
What do I do now???