Is this really terrible?

[MumOfBoys1985]

Hi, sorry, me again ?

I went to the dentist back in September as I had huge anxieties about my teeth. My dentist is lovely and tries to reassure but my anxiety is just out of control. I specifically wanted her to check my root canal tooth as little tooth has chipped off - she said if needed eventually she can patch it up but basically said that the dentist who did the root canal left the tooth too thin so it's not possible to crown it. Meaning eventually I will lose that tooth I guess. So my anxiety is absolutely sky high based on that alone.

Anyway, she checked my front teeth as a little enamel chipped behind and said they look fine, very possible that there is some very early decay but nothing to worry about. I had anxiety because I think they look bad. She said its staining and possibly early decay but really nothing to worry about.

However, because I'm obsessed I can't stop poking, prodding and looking (and obsessively photographing!), I have looked again today and I'm sure they look much worse. I'm petrified of losing my teeth.

I am attaching a photo as whilst I am absolutely mortified, I need reassurance. Do I need to call the dentist next week and get urgent care?? Do they look fine? I'm besides myself with worry at the moment. The large filled one is the root canal one which they have said is too thin to crown - I wonder if to get a second opinion privately on that? I have seen people say they have had a post and crown put on when teeth break to practically nothing, I dont see why there is absolutely nothing that can be done for me, surely there must be something ?

Apologies for the awful, awful photos. I am absolutely mortified and will delete the pics afterwards.

 

[Gordon]

Wish everyone posted photos as clear as that one!

The large filled one is fine, it's not easy to crown it but that doesn't mean it'll self destruct, worst case is that a bit of the outside enamel chips away and the dentist can patch it up with some composite Drilling off the rest of the enamel to crown it would seriously weaken it, so it's best left alone.

There are some shadows between a couple of your front teeth, I can't tell from a photo what's going on, it needs an x-ray and some hands on examination to work out what's happening.

No way you're going to lose them though, worst case is a couple of very small fillings.

You might want to take a look at your diet though, if there is decay there then it's likely to be caused by excess intake of sweetened or acid drinks.

 

[MumOfBoys1985]

Once again, thank you so much Gordon!!! I'm fast becoming your biggest fan here ?

I am slightly reassured that you didn't say they were the most horrific teeth you've ever seen!

I'm really lucky that my dentist knows I'm ridiculously obsessed and just takes me as I am. She did have a good poke, scrape and look round and said that if it was decay its minimal and she has no intention of drilling anything at this point because she would be drilling "good tooth" for a very tiny filling. She did also remind me that if I think rationally (I'm not great at that just recently), I wouldnt know how long its looked that way because its only in the last 6 months that I have actually looked at all. This time last year it wouldn't have occurred to me to even look let alone photograph my teeth. I have always been petrified of the dentist, but I havent been obsessed with my teeth like this.

With reference to my diet - very good point raised. I am, fingers crossed, improving that. So I joined slimming world in 2018 and have lost 6 stone, hugely reduced my sweets/biscuits and sugary food intake. I have recently (the last 6 months) reduced fizzy drinks intake aswell and now have perhaps a couple a week of sugar free but I know its still harmful. I need to work on perhaps having water and not sugar free squash, that can be my next goal. I have reduced my fruit intake because as part of slimming world id started eating huge amounts of acidic fruit and I guess that's just as bad.

My dentist talked me through having 5 (I think she said 5?!) Acid attacks a day - breakfast, snack, lunch, snack, tea - brush teeth. So I am working on that aswell.

Thank you as always Gordon, I really appreciate your reply and reassurance.

 

[Gordon]

You're very welcome. Keep up the good work.

I've seen far more horrific teeth than that, probably the worst one was a 14 year old girl who had literally only black stumps left of all her teeth. We worked out she was getting through 5 2.5 litre bottles of Irn Bru and Cola every single day...

I had no option but to extract all of her teeth and get her into false teeth. She then gave up all the fizzy crap, lost about 2 stones right away and by the time we were all finished with her teeth she was a totally different young lady, better dressed, nice hair do and generally taking care of her appearance.

When I saw her again a couple of years later she was almost unrecognisable, in a good way! So self confident and happy with herself.

So even losing all your teeth isn't necessarily the worst thing that can happen


FWIW I lost nearly 8 stones when I was 19, went from a size 48" waist to a 36", cost me a fortune in clothes but it was worth it