Hello all... (long)

[unclepoop]

I am new here, obviously. I have been afraid of everything dental since I was young, like early teens. In the subsequent years, I developed a gagging issue where if I put utensils or a toothbrush beyond certain points in my mouth, I gag. So poor hygiene, no insurance or money and fear of all things dental the resulting years have seen me through a lot of pain. So now with only 3/4 of my mouth filled with tooth pieces (I no longer have any full or fully looking teeth) I am getting pain again and I actually cannot eat anymore. I have to suck on things like crackers or chips. And no because I do not have a wide palate of food I eat or can eat (It is literally easier to name the things I eat than things I will not or cannot eat).

A few years ago, while being unemployed I was able to get some of my health issues looked at and taken care of, including getting some dental work done. Thanks to some anxiety/depression medication I was taking, with only a little trepidation I finally made it to a dentist. The plan was after the first meeting was to rid my mouth of all my teeth (yes all of them were/are bad) and get dentures (not my choice for replacement teeth but better than the pain I have been dealing for for so long.

First appointment had me dry-heaving in a garbage can in the office. Then the tooth extractions started. Well I will say that first real experience in the chair did not help the anxiety. Unfortunately they do not do general anaesthesia so yeah for me. He got a handful of teeth out with no thanks from me with my moaning, groaning and general squirming.

The next and last appointment saw much of the same, but with more dry-heaving and less teeth being extracted. The guy was a butcher in my opinion. I understand that pulling teeth cannot be easy, I understand that my moaning and squirming made things that much harder but I could have sworn at one time he jumped onto my chest and was trying to pull a tooth or piece of tooth from my mouth using two hand and his whole body.

So you can imagine that my fear of all things dental has skyrocketed since then. Now that I am working and am forced to get healthcare (thanks obama) I can no longer get or afford dental work. No way can I go to a dental school, still a lot of money but now with inexperienced students and again no general anaesthesia. The other issues, is not just the dentist, it's the office itself, the chair, the above light, the tools and even anaesthesia all scare me. Even getting general anaesthesia gives me anxiety even if I was taking anxiety medications still. Oh yeah lost the ability to get and afford my medications so the anxiety is in overdrive. I got anxiety just writing this post.

 

[comfortdentist]

So obviously you are in the United States. If you are in a large city then it is easier to find someone but I will say gagging severely may be an absolute contraindication to dentures. I have seen several patients who simply couldn't use them.

As to insurance costs with the new federally controlled insurance market the costs and options are crazy.
Currently I have a pre-obama grandfathered in plan with a high deductible for me(10,000). I have had this policy for many years and it has risen 3x since I first purchased it. Pertly due to general costs and more so do to mandated coverage increases which I didn't need or want. If I didn't have this grandfathered in plan my closest option is one with a 13,000 deductible and far far worse coverage and no ability to go to a good hospital sysytem. Oh the cost would be 3,230/month!

 

[unclepoop]

So obviously you are in the United States. If you are in a large city then it is easier to find someone but I will say gagging severely may be an absolute contraindication to dentures. I have seen several patients who simply couldn't use them.

As to insurance costs with the new federally controlled insurance market the costs and options are crazy.
Currently I have a pre-obama grandfathered in plan with a high deductible for me(10,000). I have had this policy for many years and it has risen 3x since I first purchased it. Pertly due to general costs and more so do to mandated coverage increases which I didn't need or want. If I didn't have this grandfathered in plan my closest option is one with a 13,000 deductible and far far worse coverage and no ability to go to a good hospital sysytem. Oh the cost would be 3,230/month!

Yes, sorry I am in the US. My plan at first was to get rid of these pieces of teeth and rid myself of the pain. My only option would be implants, those all on 4 or whatever they are but obviously they are expensive. All I want at this point is to rid myself of the pain.

 

[m2hwb41]

Have you tried IV sedation? Where I live, it is $400. I haven't tried it because I think it scares me even more than a local anesthesia. I have one molar that is broken, and I have gone to three different oral surgeons and haven't been able to let any of them extract it.

Were any of your broken teeth abscessed? I have read all the dire consequences of living with an abscessed tooth on the net, but on this forum, there are people that have lived with cracked/broken teeth for years, and they are still alive to tell the tale.

 

[unclepoop]

Have you tried IV sedation? Where I live, it is $400. I haven't tried it because I think it scares me even more than a local anesthesia. I have one molar that is broken, and I have gone to three different oral surgeons and haven't been able to let any of them extract it.

Were any of your broken teeth abscessed? I have read all the dire consequences of living with an abscessed tooth on the net, but on this forum, there are people that have lived with cracked/broken teeth for years, and they are still alive to tell the tale.

I have had several abscesses over the years. A couple which were reoccurring. I am scared what the infection of an abscess can do but I have no choice but to live with them. The government in the US has ruined the healthcare system and still does not recognize dental procedures part of a healthy lifestyle. But hey I guess it's ok cause if I were worried about getting an erection, they cover that pretty well.

I would like to try IV or oral sedation, even though I am afraid of being put out, it's more about getting sick afterwards. It's better than watching, hearing and feeling the dentist doing the work. Also I can't afford the sedation and at the time the dentist that was part of the insurance thing I had, did not offer sedation.