M
MountainMama
Well-known member
- Joined
- Jul 1, 2018
- Messages
- 2,593
Thank you for your kind words, but I do not feel heroic. All this dental stuff was thrown at me at once and it was sink or swim. I have two young kids so I had to swim. I have struggled a lot, but finally am on the other side, with the worst of it over with.Wow MountainMama. I've just read your whole story and can't nearly believe all that you've gone through! You said right at the beginning that you have trouble getting numbed up for dental work, which makes me wonder if you may have red hair? As that is a well known cause for needing more anaesthetic than most!
It's good to see that you could still get treatment during the whole 'Covid-19' thing, as here in the UK, I don't think that a single dentist is working anymore and not since mid-March, except for emergency surgery that is.
As I am 'between dentists', I can't get treatment anywhere anymore, not even for an emergency! Our '111' service, a kind of phone and online helpline for anything medical and dental tried to help me, but all I could get was one more course of antibiotics, which have dulled my root-canalled tooth pain just a bit. I love the way they said to me at the end of the call, "I'm sorry, but there really isn't any help out there for you while all this is going on." Great. I may as well be stuck on the moon!
I'm still having trouble with my tongue/tooth-gap problem and wonder if I'll ever get used to it? You said it took a couple of months for you and I'm coming up to that. I can handle it for one or two days of the week, but then seem to slip backwards into NOT handling it at all! I use a night-guard sometimes, but try to do without it. I think I could really do with something like the 'flipper' you mention. I know what such a device is, though I don't think it's used much over here. I'm sure it would solve most of my problems for a while, especially as I now believe that my first molar on the right upper side (the RCT I mentioned earlier) will probably have to come out too!
I'm amazed at how much work you get done in the US, we have our NHS service, which is a lot cheaper than going private, but they apparently only do as little work as necessary to keep your teeth in a basic, healthy state. I will either (eventually) need one or two bridges, or, if I can manage to raise the funds for them, a couple of implants, to hopefully put me back to 'normal', whatever that is! Although I will need to break into a private pension and raid that, as I no longer work, having had to give up working to care for my disabled partner.
I think what people have said, that you are courageous or heroic has some truth to it. It's the way things are thrown at us, whether we can handle them or not, that is the real proof of our strength! I have cancer too, but the problem I have had with my teeth since last October, is the real test of my 'mettle'! Only time will tell if I am strong enough to handle both of them. If the dentists ever go back to work that is!
From your story, you sure sound like a hero!
I think you are right that the US does more intervention work, but we pay so much for it! I am lucky that we have been able to afford it, although we have gone into debt to do so. I have had to stop working during this Covid nightmare, but thankfully my husband has a good job (for now).
It sounds like US dentists are not as restricted as to what they can do. The American Dental Association put out “guidelines” and the state governors called for closures, but the dental offices have the freedom to decide what constitutes an emergency. They are just required to follow strict guidelines with only one patient at a time, sanitize everything, and lots of protective gear.
I am sorry you are going through what you are. It will get better but the uncertainty is what bothered me the most. I don’t know if I would have handled things as well if my mess had been in the middle of the Covid crisis!