Front tooth decay

[baileys]

Hi all
Im taking a brave step and booked a dentist appointment for later on today.....im shaking already.

I last went 5 years ago and had a lot of work done but stupidly ive not been back since and i know i need quite a lot of work done again.

What worrys me the most is one of my front teeth.....its got a huge hole in it at gum line and i really dont want it removed, does anyone know how much a tooth is decayed before they remove it.

I know its a bit of a daft question but that is my worse fear because i really dont want to loose it. Anyone had a badly decayed front tooth and have it saved. Thanks

 

[Dr. Daniel]

Hello

Great to hear you are going forward in the direction of treating your teeth and dealing with your dental fear
This is the right track

It is difficult to answer without seeing your tooth. A photo of your tooht might be helpful.

Modern dentistry has so many options for treating teeth and keeping them healthy for many years.
If the nerve of the tooth is not affected from the decay, so it would end up with a white filling. If the cavity is close to the nerve than it is needed to a root canal treatment.
Is the fear of extraction is your only fear or is there any other fear that prevents you from going to the dentist?
If the the decay is too big, it might be needed to put a crown.

all the best

 

[baileys]

Hello

Great to hear you are going forward in the direction of treating your teeth and dealing with your dental fear
This is the right track

It is difficult to answer without seeing your tooth. A photo of your tooht might be helpful.

Modern dentistry has so many options for treating teeth and keeping them healthy for many years.
If the nerve of the tooth is not affected from the decay, so it would end up with a white filling. If the cavity is close to the nerve than it is needed to a root canal treatment.
Is the fear of extraction is your only fear or is there any other fear that prevents you from going to the dentist?
If the the decay is too big, it might be needed to put a crown.

all the best

Thanks for your reply.

My fear of the dentist started as a child, my mum would take me every six months. I remember worrying for at least a month before every appointment and not being able to sleep so as soon as i left home at sixteen i never went to the dentist again until five years ago(im now 50), i had a lot of teeth removed and have a partical denture. I dont really know what my fear was as i had perfect teeth.....fear of the unknown i think and scared to tell anybody my fear.

I still have all my front teeth, although i have quite a few fillings in them so although i wear my denture most of the time i dont have to if i dont smile too broadly but one of them is decayed quite badly at the gum line and ive read that the decay can go beyound the gum line and cant be saved and i really dont want it out, i told myself that i wouldnt let my remaining teeth get in a bad state but i have, i feel like ive let myself down.

I lay in the dentist chair waiting for the pain, it never really happens but im waiting for it, i shake all though the treatment. Anyway i will find out in a few hours what can be done, i hope he can save it.

Thanks again for your reply

......the tooth is still whole and the bottom and back of tooth are fine its just about a quarter of the front at the gum line that is decayed but i dont know how much decay is under the gum.

 

[Dr. Daniel]

ive read that the decay can go beyound the gum line and cant be saved

This is not necessarily true. If the carious is very deep under the gum line (like 5 mm) then there is not much to do about it. But if it is a moderate sub gingival carious, there are many ways to treat carious even if it is under the gum line. Let´s take the worse case scenario: the carious is 5 mm under the gum line and the dentist says the tooth is hopeless. It does not mean that the tooth needs to be extracted immediately. You can deal with it later. What you do need is to know what is the tooth´s situation. First a check up to gather information, than you can deal with the treatment itself, but you don´t know what the treatment is.


You can tell the dentist you are afraid of the unexpected and unpleasant surprises (I don´t mention pain because nobody wants to feel pain and it goes without saying that you deserve a painless dental treatment), and also ask the dentist before doing anything to say what you are about to feel, what is he or she about to do. This way you will be more prepared and less surprised.

 

[baileys]

This is not necessarily true. If the carious is very deep under the gum line (like 5 mm) then there is not much to do about it. But if it is a moderate sub gingival carious, there are many ways to treat carious even if it is under the gum line. Let´s take the worse case scenario: the carious is 5 mm under the gum line and the dentist says the tooth is hopeless. It does not mean that the tooth needs to be extracted immediately. You can deal with it later. What you do need is to know what is the tooth´s situation. First a check up to gather information, than you can deal with the treatment itself, but you don´t know what the treatment is.


You can tell the dentist you are afraid of the unexpected and unpleasant surprises (I don´t mention pain because nobody wants to feel pain and it goes without saying that you deserve a painless dental treatment), and also ask the dentist before doing anything to say what you are about to feel, what is he or she about to do. This way you will be more prepared and less surprised.

Thank-you......I will let you know the verdict later

 

[baileys]

Thanks for your replys today Daniel.......he is talking about doing root canal on that tooth, there is a bit of a problem with the gum aswell.
ive got to go back Monday so i presume we will sort it out then. The only problem with it is that the denture i have is supported by my front teeth and he doesnt want to change the shape of my tooth because it may not fit then. He said it was a really good metal denture so he doesnt want to change it.

He was running two hours late so i had a long wait.
I feel totally knackered and drained after today.......thank god for wine.