I’m 25 and I’ve never really brushed my teeth

[XVTHATONEGUY]

I was never taught the importance of brushing my teeth or having a routine growing up, even though I was often given sugary drinks and foods throughout my childhood. In my later years, I tried to routinely brush my teeth every so often as they worsened or started to hurt. However, I later became homeless among other things, which affected my mental health, so I never really had the energy to brush my teeth and struggled to stick to a routine whenever I did try.

My four top middle teeth (my social teeth, I believe) are generally in an awful condition. It's affecting my self confidence and causing me social anxiety. The majority of my other teeth are either missing, cracked, rotten, full of holes, and only continuing to worsen.

I've very rarely been to a dentist. The last time was over 10 years ago when I was put on a waiting list and had some teeth fixed and others removed, like molars. I should have learned my lesson, but my life dramatically changed, and I automatically fell back into my old habits.

I'm very worried about returning to a dentist, being judged due to my young age and the state of my teeth, or that I'll have to use dentures for the rest of my life. The procedure in general, including injections concerns me. Ideally, I would prefer to be asleep during the process. I know all of this will be very expensive since it's not covered by the NHS. I will save for it, but I kn my teeth will just continue to worsen in the meantime and I know I can’t really do anything about it Just yet.

 

[Gilbo]

I am not a dentist, but I am sorry to hear about your dental problems! I had a similar story growing up. My parents just used to say "You should brush your teeth", but didn't expand on why or how. Neeless to say that I suffered a lot due to this! Especially as I grew up in the 1960's. Anyway, what I mostly came here to say is that I had exactly the same fear as you, of being scared to visit the dentist. I put it off for SO long, but when I finally did manage to pluck up the courage to go, I shouldn't have worried at all! Yes, admittedly some dentists are different than mine and may say something, but they are there to help you now and really don't care about what came before! Just go and have a checkup at least, you'll feel much better about yourself and you'll then know what needs doing and how long it should take. Maybe they'll let you arrange a payment plan or something, but at least you'll know how much it could cost. Good luck!