Frustrated and wanting to cry

[MTucker2]

The summer before 8th grade, my front tooth was knocked out in an accident. My dentist at the time came in, in the middle of the night, and put my tooth back in with bonding holding the two teeth together. When that bonding broke, he placed new bonding on both teeth, since they were chipped in an "n" shape, and sent me to get a root canal on both of them. The guy that did the root canal was very rough with me, and didn't put any of the ointment on my gums before he shoved the needle in and he yelled at me every time I tensed up from the pain. Once he finished the root canal he didn't do anything to protect the teeth, since a root canal leaves them brittle. Well, as time went by I had constant pain in the tooth that had been knocked out, but nobody would tell me why. More time went by and I had a baby, and he head butted me in the mouth. This knocked my tooth loose, but it firmed up until he did it again at the age of 3 in a tantrum. After that I went to a dentist again, a new one since I was on DSHS insurance after I had him. That dentist told me that I had gum disease and that it was fractured below the gum line since my gums were being eaten away. Then he said that there was nothing that could be done. It was going to fall out. My son is 9 now, and I have a second son. Well my baby hit me in the mouth with his head, and my tooth raised up and stuck. I pushed it back down half expecting it to fall out, but it didn't. Then a couple months ago he hit me in the mouth when I was putting him to sleep and it did the same thing. This time though it was extremely loose and I couldn't bite a hamburger with it. I went to my new dentist and they sent me to a denture place. When I went in, I paid out of pocket for a partial that would clasp around my teeth. He took one impression and that was it. Well when my dentist pulled my tooth, I put my partial in to realize that it doesn't clasp my teeth, but hits in the middle of them instead. Also it curves down so that it rests at the bottoms of my teeth. I can't close my mouth or chew with it. I went back in to talk to him about it, and he said to just put poligrip on it and that my teeth are just too big to close my mouth. I am so frustrated and always want to cry. I can't say my S's properly any more and it feels like a huge wad of gum on the roof of my mouth. Is this normal? I always thought that they were supposed to curve with the roof of the mouth, and fit the mouth they were made for no matter what the teeth are like. Is there anything that I can do? I can't afford to pay for another partial. I am trying to save for an implant, but that will take a long time. Can somebody please help me?

Sorry this is so long.

 

[LittleLynnie]

I can certainly relate to part of your situation, because my son caused me to lose my first tooth too (I've since lost them all, but I'm in my late 50's and had 19 root canals and failed bridges that led to the rest of my losses). My son had been sitting on my lap and arched backward to slide off. His head slammed into my mouth, and while it was painful at the moment, it didn't last more than a few minutes. About a month later though, I had excruciating pain and went to the dentist. He told me that the tooth was cracked and had to come out, and asked me if I'd banged it recently. I then remembered my son's head hitting it, and knew that that was the cause. I ended up getting a partial (flipper) like you are describing, and have to admit that it was really hard to eat with, even though I believe that it was a good fit. I eventually saved up enough money to get an implant and that was about 25 years ago. I don't know much about the DSHS, but I can't believe that they weren't/aren't able to provide you with a partial that fits well. Can you go back and insist that they do so? Is that allowed on the DSHS? It may always be hard to eat with a partial, but it should feel like it fits, even though it takes a while to get used to having that big chunk of plastic up against the roof of your mouth. It definitely should clasp onto your other teeth properly, so maybe you should make that the main gist of your complaint if you call them back.