• Dental Phobia Support

    Welcome! This is an online support group for anyone who is has a severe fear of the dentist or dental treatment. Please note that this is NOT a general dental problems or health anxiety forum! You can find a list of them here.

    Register now to access all the features of the forum.

Here we go

T

Tayzyboy

Junior member
Joined
Apr 15, 2022
Messages
5
Location
Korea
First time poster.
I'm up late the night before heading to the dentists for 6 teeth removed - all 4 lower incisors, a molar and an upper wisdom tooth. With more on another visit.
So - I was browsing the net and came accross this forum - seems a good place to express!

I'm a UK guy living in Korea, we moved here last year during Corona,
I've not been to the dentist since a kid, now I'm in my 40s and until 2 years ago, I thought my teeth were fine. Sure I had the odd bit of bleeding, but thought nothing of it. Brushed every day, never had to go for a filling.

During corona, I had an abcess in a wisdom tooth - had to get it removed on an emergency visit as it was so painful.
The dentist briefly said my bone was receding a bit so I should get it checked when I can after corona lockdown.
Of course, we then moved to Korea - and it got ignored.
Had another issue with another wisdom tooth a few weeks ago - agian in severe pain - so I went to a Korean dentist and they did a full xray...

All my bone has receeded on my bottom jaw due to gum disease. They want to remove all except my lower canines and first molars!. Xray showed all my other lower teeth are "floating" in soft tissue only.... I also have a huge cavity below the gumline on my top canine, which I knew nothing about.
Because of this - they say I cant get implants either on the lower jaw.

I'm pretty S*** scared about tomorrow, and coming home with no bottom front teeth. Suddenly feeling very old.
Also worried about lips / face sagging etc...

Thanks for the opportunity to release my story - it helps!
 
So - turned out they wanted to do a mold of my mouth today. 2 more weeks to sweat :(
 
So, I went back today - 4 front bottom teeth taken out, the next ones trimmed to a pin for a bridge.
They gave me about 5 injections for the numbing - slightly more painful than the ones I had for my wisdom tooth extraction.
There was a little pain as they went to town on my bottom canine, felt a lot like sensitive teeth when you eat icecream. Another couple of injections - it wasn't fully numb by the end, but enough that it was almost down to a "discomfort" level. The smell of the grinding was unpleasant too.

However the extraction of the 4 front ones was nothing, didn't feel anything. They were sewn up - didnt feel anything. Then they put temporary bridge on .
Got some strong pain killers and antibiotics. I'm a bit floaty right now, but yeah - I'll say it wasn't a pleasant visit, but I survived...

They tell me my canines might not be strong enough for the permanent bridge too - so thats more gum work to see whats going on there... sigh...
 
Keep us posted how you're doing. It's a lot to go through but you'll come out the other end.
 
Not sure whether any admin can move this thread into "journals"?? - its morphed into that.

Went to check my mouth out today, the dentist told me to go to his next door neighbor dentist (in Korea there seem to be 10 dentists per street) As yesterday he couldnt scale the teeth well enough and they were awful... Seems he specialises in extraction/bridges/implants.

So off I went next door with an undecipharable korean note from the first dentist. It was all understood and within 10mins I was in for a deep scaling (I think). Some pain, like the sensitive pain you get when eating icecream... But for me pain is not the biggest fear - for me its the whole losing teeth/getting old thing... so I coped with that ok.

No pain after - a bit of blood, but I'm home now.
Another visit booked with dentist2 for more deep scaling in a week
Another visit booked with dentist1 for stitches removing in 2 weeks

On the good side, I have zero pain around the 4 extractions or bridge - so thats something!
 
I hear you about the getting old/losing teeth thing. I worry about that all the time. But nothing we can do, I guess, but go forward. On the bright side, I've been worrying about it for 40 years (I'm older than you) and it hasn't happened yet.
How are dental prices in Korea?
 
@champ . Luckily I get the state national health due to my wife being Korean. So its very cheap! . Had 4 teeth out and temporary bridge, about $30 including the drugs.
Deep scaling about $25.
Implants are pricy though - but I think still less than UK/US - about $800 each from what I hear
So much cheaper than back in the UK - and I think a better service - its certainly quicker!
 
Back
Top