Gum disease is causing depression and anxiety

[Arc92]

Hello,

I'm 27 and have been diagnosed with gum disease a year ago- it came as a massive shock as I have never had any problems/ fillings/ braces before and had always looked after my teeth- I had never even heard of gum disease! My gum chart readings were 2-3 and the X-ray showed some bone loss. The dentist was so aggressive and lectured me for about half an hour while I was in tears, I came away feeling devastated and so ashamed.
I now have to see the hygienist every 3 months (luckily she is lovely) and use interdental brushes to clean between my teeth. I have become totally obsessive about cleaning my teeth. Last time I went to the dentist they said there was improvement and the readings are now mostly 1-2.

I recently noticed that my gums have receded and there are now black triangles between my teeth where the gums used to be at the sides of my upper teeth which you can see when I smile or laugh. I'm so self conscious of these and every time I look at my teeth I feel sick and disgusted. I'm terrified of these getting worse and developing along the front of my upper teeth, I also worry about how my teeth will look by the time I'm 40 as I'm so young to have this problem! I worry about the gum disease constantly every single day, I often can't sleep because of it. It makes me feel so worthless and ugly that I often feel like I don't want to exist anymore. Some days I just can't leave the house and I constantly am in tears over it.

I have read about bioclear matrix bonding as a way to close up the black triangles but it doesn't seem widely available and is so expensive. The whole situation feels so hopeless and overwhelming, I feel like it is stopping me from enjoying life. The only person I speak to about it is my partner who is very supportive, but I don't want anyone else to know because I'm so embarrassed. I think that if I go to my GP and say I feel depressed about my teeth she will think I'm crazy as at a glance my teeth still look fine!

Has anyone experienced anything similar? Please help!

 

[letsconnect]

Hi Arc92 ,

I'm not sure if you're still seeing that horrible dentist - if you are, my advice would be to vote with your feet and see someone decent instead! We have some tips for finding a dentist on this page: How to find a good dentist

Even though your gum disease is on the mild end of the spectrum, it could be worth consulting with a periodontist, given your age. The British Society of Periodontology have a search function for members of the general public on their website.

Talking to someone who is highly qualified in this area would likely give you peace of mind and a much better idea of what can be done to make you feel happy with your appearance, and take away the dreadful uncertainty and fear about your situation.

Please feel free to post and vent here as much as you like, and thanks for joining !!

 

[Arc92]

Thank you Letsconnect.

The experience of seeing that dentist was so traumatic I have developed massive anxiety around going to the dentists. I have to take beta blockers before I can walk through the door. I see someone else at the practice now who is much nicer but the thought of seeing a specialist makes me so nervous.

Do I have to be referred by my dentist to see a specialist? Is it available on the NHS? I have a low income and am self employed so it is difficult for me to afford private dental care.

Why is it advisable given my age? Because it is unusual at my age?

 

[letsconnect]

It was more to give you some peace of mind, seeing how you are worrying about what the future holds. I wouldn't think that a periodontist would advise anything other than the three monthly cleanings you're getting already, and whatever home care advice they would think would be best (but I'm not a dentist). Just getting a second opinion from an expert, and knowing how to best keep things stable (and how to best deal with the black triangles) might be helpful.

I'm not sure what is considered "unusual" in terms of age and gum disease - you could ask in the Ask a Dentist section!

Yes you can self-refer, and I don't think this would be available on the NHS (a BPE score of 3 doesn't suggest anything really severe, so it's not NHS referral territory, I don't think?). It really would be more for your own peace of mind and to stop the fears about it getting worse.

 

[letsconnect]

Oh, and I'm glad to hear you're seeing someone else now !!

 

[Arc92]

It was more to give you some peace of mind, seeing how you are worrying about what the future holds. I wouldn't think that a periodontist would advise anything other than the three monthly cleanings you're getting already, and whatever home care advice they would think would be best (but I'm not a dentist). Just getting a second opinion from an expert, and knowing how to best keep things stable (and how to best deal with the black triangles) might be helpful.

I'm not sure what is considered "unusual" in terms of age and gum disease - you could ask in the Ask a Dentist section!

Yes you can self-refer, and I don't think this would be available on the NHS (a BPE score of 3 doesn't suggest anything severe, so it's not NHS referral territory, I don't think?). It really would be more for your own peace of mind and to stop the fears about it getting worse.

Thank you. That is helpful advice. It’s just so hard when you have to pay for everything with dental stuff when all I want is to chat to someone who can explain everything- my new dentist is nice but when I told him how unhappy it was making me he brushed it off a bit. Maybe will try speaking more to my hygienist at next appointment. I just find it difficult to explain how much it is affecting my mental health as i just break down in tears!

Anyway thanks so much for your kind words!

 

[letsconnect]

That sounds like a plan .

I don't think it would be a bad idea to tell your GP about how depressed you feel over this - maybe you could request a referral to a psychologist to help you with the mental health side of things?

 

[Dg6300]

I don’t have any advice (not a dentist), but I certainly send encouragement.

Keep doing the first right thing. You’ll get there.

 

[RJayne]

Hi Arc, from what I've been given to understand scores of 2 are within a healthy range and 3s are only small pockets and it sounds like you've already reduced those, I recently had to reduce some inflammation that looked like scores of three in two places but those were false pockets caused from a little puffiness so the gums came higher up the probe. I'd check with your new dentist if there's actually been any bone loss, did they show it to you on the x-ray?
Also using interdental brushes (like floss) is just good practice and doesn't mean you've got any serious problems to address with them ?
Just one more thing, I wonder if the "recession" you've noticed is just inflammation going down leaving healthy tighter gums, are you sure those spaces were never there before, given they're not at the front, and now you're seeing them because you're focused and sensitive right now?
Obviously you know yourself best, I don't want to imply you're imagining things or to brush off your concerns, I just wanted to offer a little reassurance and maybe your new dentist wanted that too, letting you know they're not worried so you wouldn't be either ?

 

[Bs31]

@Arc92
Hi, I know it’s a old post, but I’m going to the same thing and know how you felt.
I would love to know how you are now and how it ended up going. Thanks

 

[anonfemale]

@Arc92 @Bs31 I am also going through the same thing. I posted a thread about what I am going through today.