T
Tom10
Junior member
- Joined
- Jun 18, 2021
- Messages
- 3
- Location
- United Kingdom
Hi all 
This will probably be quite a long post so please bear with me!
Years of alcoholism have left my teeth in a pretty sorry state. Thankfully, I'm 371 days sober and on the road to recovery. Needless to say this had caused my general anxiety to surrounding the dentist to skyrocket, and by the time I mustered up the courage to contact a dentist in 2016 it had been almost 8 years since my last visit as a teenager.
I was told that while I did have quite a few cavities, my diet (read: alcohol consumption) needed to be addressed before he was willing to do any work. So I had a couple of follow up appointments and, finally, we arranged for the work for to be started at the beginning of 2017.
Then my retina detached. Cue two and a half years of more-or-less successive eye surgeries and medication (which, causing dry mouth, exacerbated my existing cavities) during which dental work was placed firmly on the back burner.
Post surgery and now blind in my left eye, it took me another six or seven months to once again gather my courage and get back in the chair. During this time my lower left first molar, which had been badly chipped for years, broke in half. My next appointment was January 2020, a month before I was scheduled to leave the country for 4 months. I was told that the broken molar would need extracting but that my dentist couldn't fit me in before I left, so he prescribed me a course of antibiotics to take with me as a precautionary measure and scheduled an extraction for July 2020. This dentist, however, was extremely rude and condescending towards me, making a lot of passive-aggressive comments about my then-ongoing struggle with alcoholism. At this point I resolved to have him extract my tooth and then find another dentist with a better bedside manner.
Of course, the extraction didn't happen due to COVID. The appointment was cancelled and never rescheduled, and I stupidly let my fear get the better of me and kept telling myself 'It's fine, it's okay, I'll contact them tomorrow.' And tomorrow became the next day, and the next, and by now I'm no longer on their register.
Which brings me to last month, when the broken molar began to hurt. A LOT. I immediately started the course of antibiotics and arranged an emergency appointment at my nearest practice, where, after having quite a severe panic attack in the waiting room, I was referred to an NHS sedation clinic to have the tooth extracted. The soonest appointment they could offer me was October, but, touch wood, the antibiotics seem to have cleared up the infection. I can't say enough about that practice, they were beyond patient with me and really calmed a lot of my fears, and I'm now on their waiting list as an NHS patient with an approximate waiting time of nine to ten months. Unfortunately private treatment is completely out of my price range, so all I can do is wait to become an NHS patient.
So, my question is: what should I be doing in the meantime to keep my oral health in the best shape? For context I have four upper teeth with decay along the gumline, including quite a large cavity on my upper right incisor, as well as cavities at the gumline on three or four of my lower teeth. This and a chipped lower right first molar from a cycling accident eight or nine years ago that can be a bit sensitive at times. Currently I'm brushing three times a day with an Oral-B electric toothbrush, flossing morning and night and using Corsodyl Daily Mouthwash in the middle of the day. I'll do a salt water rinse two or three times a week too.
I'm aware this comes off as more of a general dentistry type of question, but I'm posting it on this forum because of the sheer amount of anxiety dentistry causes me and I'm hoping that by speaking to some like-minded folks I'll be able to keep the fear from burrowing in too deeply over the coming months.
Thanks in advance everyone and sorry for the slightly digressive and rambling post!
Edit: just to say that actually having typed this out I already feel good, better than I did before, like part of the weight's been lifted off my shoulders by sharing it.

This will probably be quite a long post so please bear with me!
Years of alcoholism have left my teeth in a pretty sorry state. Thankfully, I'm 371 days sober and on the road to recovery. Needless to say this had caused my general anxiety to surrounding the dentist to skyrocket, and by the time I mustered up the courage to contact a dentist in 2016 it had been almost 8 years since my last visit as a teenager.
I was told that while I did have quite a few cavities, my diet (read: alcohol consumption) needed to be addressed before he was willing to do any work. So I had a couple of follow up appointments and, finally, we arranged for the work for to be started at the beginning of 2017.
Then my retina detached. Cue two and a half years of more-or-less successive eye surgeries and medication (which, causing dry mouth, exacerbated my existing cavities) during which dental work was placed firmly on the back burner.
Post surgery and now blind in my left eye, it took me another six or seven months to once again gather my courage and get back in the chair. During this time my lower left first molar, which had been badly chipped for years, broke in half. My next appointment was January 2020, a month before I was scheduled to leave the country for 4 months. I was told that the broken molar would need extracting but that my dentist couldn't fit me in before I left, so he prescribed me a course of antibiotics to take with me as a precautionary measure and scheduled an extraction for July 2020. This dentist, however, was extremely rude and condescending towards me, making a lot of passive-aggressive comments about my then-ongoing struggle with alcoholism. At this point I resolved to have him extract my tooth and then find another dentist with a better bedside manner.
Of course, the extraction didn't happen due to COVID. The appointment was cancelled and never rescheduled, and I stupidly let my fear get the better of me and kept telling myself 'It's fine, it's okay, I'll contact them tomorrow.' And tomorrow became the next day, and the next, and by now I'm no longer on their register.
Which brings me to last month, when the broken molar began to hurt. A LOT. I immediately started the course of antibiotics and arranged an emergency appointment at my nearest practice, where, after having quite a severe panic attack in the waiting room, I was referred to an NHS sedation clinic to have the tooth extracted. The soonest appointment they could offer me was October, but, touch wood, the antibiotics seem to have cleared up the infection. I can't say enough about that practice, they were beyond patient with me and really calmed a lot of my fears, and I'm now on their waiting list as an NHS patient with an approximate waiting time of nine to ten months. Unfortunately private treatment is completely out of my price range, so all I can do is wait to become an NHS patient.
So, my question is: what should I be doing in the meantime to keep my oral health in the best shape? For context I have four upper teeth with decay along the gumline, including quite a large cavity on my upper right incisor, as well as cavities at the gumline on three or four of my lower teeth. This and a chipped lower right first molar from a cycling accident eight or nine years ago that can be a bit sensitive at times. Currently I'm brushing three times a day with an Oral-B electric toothbrush, flossing morning and night and using Corsodyl Daily Mouthwash in the middle of the day. I'll do a salt water rinse two or three times a week too.
I'm aware this comes off as more of a general dentistry type of question, but I'm posting it on this forum because of the sheer amount of anxiety dentistry causes me and I'm hoping that by speaking to some like-minded folks I'll be able to keep the fear from burrowing in too deeply over the coming months.
Thanks in advance everyone and sorry for the slightly digressive and rambling post!
Edit: just to say that actually having typed this out I already feel good, better than I did before, like part of the weight's been lifted off my shoulders by sharing it.
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