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How to overcome the fear and shame of having 2 rct teeth at the age of 17?

D

Dreamyslw

Junior member
Joined
Sep 10, 2019
Messages
1
Location
Recife
(sorry for my English)
2 years ago I discovered 2 infected teeth (+ lots and lots of huge fillings) and since then I have been feeling so depressed. I know this is stupid, because there are much more important things to worry about. I feel smaller and usuless. I also think I have been 17 years with very poor dental hygiene and this makes me feel dirty and ashamed. I don't know anyone with 2 rc at this age and don't know what to do. Now I am 19 and trying to improve but I still feel terrible and ashamed. I've tried lots of things to feel better, but I can't stop comparing and feeling guilty.
 
No regrets. Just lessons learned! We all have a past. Always ask yourself “and then what”. So, you didn’t take great care of your teeth....and then what?— and then you become more conscious and proactive about it!
 
By 19, I'd had at least 5 root canals. Nothing at all to be ashamed about. I hope that you can get the work done soon, and then it will be behind you.
 
Dear Dreamyslw,

sorry to read you feel this way and well done on getting on track with oral hygiene. I wished there was a quick fix in terms of "do this and you will stop feelings ashamed", sadly things do not work this way. If you take a look around here, you will find an immense number of people who are ashamed of the amount of dental work they needed or need and the topic of age is very often linked to it. I think we had also few posters here who needed dentures by your age.

Anyway, I was wondering who do you compare yourself to because people do not know what other people have in their mouths and if you think, all people around you have natural teeth with no work on it, you can't be more wrong. I have seen kids in the age of 8-12 who needed root canals. If it helps, my first root canal was at the age of 16.

All the best wishes and remember that you are not your teeth :)
 
Try to think ahead to what you hope to have this year, next year, and the future.

As the others have said, lots of people have root canals for various reasons at various ages. Even people who have always had good oral hygiene can have teeth that need lots of work. My husband has pretty bad genetics with teeth. His mom needed lots of work done while in high school. My husband has always been fanatical about cleaning his teeth, but still had a root canal at 16, and three more before he was out of college.
 
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