New user, old dental problems. Recommended extraction.

[nightowl449]

I'm 28 years old, male.

I've always been anxious and nervous about seeing the dentist, but it's only gotten worse as I've gone further into adulthood.

In January 2013 I had all my impacted wisdom teeth removed by an oral surgeon. In September 2013 I visited a regular dentist for the first time in a few years, and had some cavities filled. Last visit was in December 2013.

Fast forward to last week. I finally made an appointment, and after getting x-rays (horrible experience; I have a horrible gag reflex, an anxiety disorder, and a small mouth. I felt bad for the hygienist to have to deal with me, but she was very nice and probably felt bad for me), I was told that I would most likely have to lose my top two 2nd molars on either side. There was a lot of decay and hardly any root, thanks in part to my impacted wisdom that were removed.

He said, and I quote, "Those two aren't good candidates for anything." That was a real shock to me because I thought my only issues were on the bottom 2nd molars.

Furthermore, my bottom right 2nd molar needs a root canal. The bottom left 2nd molar just has a cavity. The Dr. told me those roots were fine.

My self esteem is at an all time low. I also have a "snaggletooth" on the bottom, in front. Taller than all the other teeth and pushed back. Now I have to deal with the prospect of losing two teeth and possible chewing issues that come with that, in addition to a root canal.

Oh yeah, and here's the kicker. I lose my dental insurance at the end of the month.

 

[Sevena]

Welcome to the forum!

I sympathise! I have a tiny mouth too, plus bad anxiety, and x-rays were never fun. I think there was a bit of crying involved last time

I also had some overcrowding with such a small mouth, and that sure can complicate dental problems a whole lot. I'm sorry to hear about your top molars. It's always a nasty shock to hear about extractions you didn't expect.

Don't beat yourself up though. You don't have anything to be ashamed of. Some of us get pretty unlucky in the genetic lottery, and anxiety issues make it so hard to deal with the dentist. You should be proud of yourself that you've already faced it so many times!

No one wants to lose teeth, I know, but it's better to have, say, 26 teeth and have them all be healthy than to have all 32 and have some of those be decayed and with bad roots. Less chance of infections and pain, and less chance of it affecting your health in other ways.

Insurance issues are a whole other bag of crapnesss though. Can you work out payment plans with the dentist or anything?

 

[nightowl449]

Thanks for your perspective. No matter how crappy I feel about it, there are people in worse situations than mine. It also helped that my dentist seemed compassionate and willing to discuss all my options (I was surprised how long he stayed to talk with me after my xray and cleaning).

In terms on insurance....I'm currently shopping around....some require no waiting period for fillings or simple extractions but most require a minimum of 6 months for root canal and other major services. So I might have to bite the bullet on some of the services, but the doc didn't seem to be in a rush to schedule the extractions so I might be good for awhile.

At any rate, thanks for the welcome. See you around! It's so good to have a space here with like-minded people.

 

[Deck2015]

This might be too personal of a question so feel free to ignore me if you don't want to share....but why are you losing your dental insurance? I'm assuming you're in America? If you're losing your dental coverage due to job loss (for any reason, quit, fired, resigned, retired - doesn't matter why you separate) you always have the option to continue your coverage thru COBRA ...and if you're looking at having a lot of work done, you might want to pay the premiums under COBRA for a few months to get your dental work done...you can cancel COBRA coverage at any time. That way, no waiting periods for new coverage and no pre-existing conditions terms will apply to your situation.

Also, we're coming up on 2017.. for most dental insurance plans (confirm with your own insurance co), that means that coverage/dental benefits will renew on Jan 1st ...so if you've already tapped into the bulk of your available benefit $$ for the year, your plan will renew for full available benefit $$ as of Jan 1. My plan, for example, only offers up x dollars in benefits available for each calendar year. I had some oral surgery done earlier in the year as well as having a cleaning and a few exams....saw my Dentist recently for 2nd annual cleaning and a small cavity fill and I've exhausted my benefits for 2016. I scheduled some work in January since my plan will once again have full $$ available benefits as of Jan 1.

Just some ideas. Most private or group coverage for dental will have pre-existing conditions clauses as well as waiting periods. Some plans won't ever cover treatment for conditions that were diagnosed prior to effective coverage under their plans. Meaning if you saw your dentist on your current plan today and your dentist said you need a root canal, any new insurance you get might not cover that root canal for up to a year, or ever. You faithfully pay for your insurance coverage -- make the most of the benefits.