Did the dentist miss something?

[Dyfunnie]

I went in for my first cleaning in six years the other day. I was worried that some of my teeth were loose. I asked the nurse about it, she checked them out and said everything was fine. She then cleaned my teeth. It took damn near an hour, and she used that vibrating, water-spraying pick. She went and flossed everything too—something I've never really done. Anyway, afterwards the dentist came in, looked over the x-rays, and marked a few teeth to be watched for cavities for my next visit. He said I might wanna get my wisdom teeth pulled at some point, too. And that was that.

I figured if there was anything majorly wrong he'd tell me. But I'm still worried about those potentially loose teeth: the two upper teeth to the right of my right canine. I've been a heavy smoker for the last five years (both cigarettes and pot) and took horrible care of my teeth for most of that time. I'm terrified they're ravaged by periodontal disease. Hell, I can feel some sort of shifting going on with just about all my upper teeth. On top of that, I had eight years of orthodontic work done before my last visit six years back, at which point my teeth were straight. The three teeth behind that canine have since shifted out of alignment a fair bit. (Now that I'm looking for it, it's very noticeable.) I can't stop checking them in the mirror to see if something is wrong.

Has anyone ever had a check-up where the dentist missed something this big? My teeth and gums don't hurt there, or tingle, but I can *feel* them, y'know? And since my visit the gums behind the tooth I'm worried about have become very soft and mushy. I'm trying to go back to see him again and ask him about it directly, but I'm about to leave on a week-long vacation, and I don't wanna keep worrying about this; it keeps me up at night. Should I go back? Should I get a second opinion? Would it be pointless to see anyone other than a periodontist?

 

[Gordon]

It sounds pretty unlikely from the fairly thorough treatment you have just had that the dentist missed something as dramatic as serious bone loss. Do you remember having a gum check done as part of your checkup? It usually involves something poking about at the necks of your teeth and the dentist calling out numbers to the assistant. Normally 0, 1 or 2.

 

[Dyfunnie]

Yeah, but I had that done by the nurse, so she didn't call anything out, just wrote it down. I forgot to ask about how the measurements were. And I think she went back in partway through the cleaning to check again, but I'm not entirely sure. (I was numb after all, and she kept switching between the vibrating pick and the usual old scraper.)

Is it possible they became loose due to the shifting that has occurred? They've shifted back into my mouth at an angle and the front edges are visibly lower than my other teeth—by as much as a couple millimeters, I'd guess (I don't have a ruler.) Could things have been exacerbated by me switching from, a normal toothbrush to the Sonicare? (I've also been teaching myself to breathe through my nose, as opposed to my mouth, so I've been applying a bit of pressure to the roof of my mouth.)

edit: I'm trying my best not to play with those teeth, but sometimes when I press down on them with my tongue I can feel them pop a bit—which is somewhat different from the feeling of having my presumably-shifting move back into place, as this feels like a vertical movement, not a horizontal one.

 

[Dyfunnie]

Granted, I just brushed my teeth, but I noticed a few red spots on my gum (picture attached), and there's a matching spot (albeit just one, not three) on the gums directly behind the same tooth. Something I should be worried about?

 

[Gordon]

Can you phone them and ask what your "BPE measurements" were?

The red spots are nothing to worry about btw.