J
jordan22
Junior member
- Joined
- Nov 7, 2021
- Messages
- 14
- Location
- Everett, WA
Well, I guess I might as well just get the whole story out there. I'll be 29 in a few months, and starting at around age 16, I've basically been on my own. My mom had a major stroke and became disabled, and around that time my dad developed a major drug addiction (luckily he has been clean for a few years now). The dentist basically went down about 100 spots on the priority list, and it stayed that way basically up until last year. I got a wisdom tooth pulled in 2020 that was really bothering me, and they took out the molar next to it as well since it was completely sideways and had a cavity. No reason trying to rescue it. Otherwise, last October was the first time I had been to the dentist in probably a decade.
My dentist last year gave me a regular cleaning, and I got one root canal and the tooth next to it got a deep filling that also needed a crown. They scheduled me again in 6 months for a cleaning, which I put off since I hadn't...vibes with the dentist very well, for lack of a better phrase.
I scheduled with a new dentist last month, and I've had 2 appointments with her now, next one is in a week. I cried at that appointment because I needed so much done. I've had 2 more deep fillings/crowns. One will most likely end up being a root canal because it's aaaaaalmost at the root, but I'm hoping maybe it'll hold out. One of the crowns the last dentist placed has a gap between it and my tooth so that needs to be replaced, I believe she said that one was on the tooth with the deep filling, and jostling the tooth like that will probably turn it into a root canal. I'm getting ANOTHER root canal next week with the endodontist that comes to her office, and then I believe #15 is iffy. They might be able to pull off a deep filling or root canal or whatever, but she said they might need to pull it. Ugh, ugh, ugh. Not even 30 and I have a mouth full of crowns. Makes me want to cry every time I think about it.
I also got a deep cleaning, which was weird to me. Less than a year ago I just needed a simple cleaning, now I need a deep cleaning even though this is the most consistent I've been about brushing/flossing in my life? Ugh.
I also got a referral to an orthodontist, since a lot of my problems can be chalked up to my terrible bite and crowding. Some of the teeth were inevitably gonna go south since it's so hard to clean them. I had the consult with him last week, that's the part that kind of raised my spirits a little, but did open a can of worms.
I've always been insecure about my teeth. I've got a pretty big overjet, and a crossbite. I wish that had been able to be fixed when I was a kid, but... Whatever. I'm trying to let it go and just do what I can now. Hard to let go of so many years of being so insecure, though. The orthodontist wants me to do Invisalign over traditional braces, since I'm going to end this all with about 5 or 6 crowns, and I guess it's hard to stick the brackets to crowns and they're more prone to falling off.
I went into the appointment armed with all my internet research totally convinced he was going to tell me it was jaw surgery or nothing, but nope. He did offer that as an option but I was like "nooooope" when he asked if that was even something I wanted to pursue, and he crossed it out pretty quickly. It won't be exactly perfect with just orthodontics, but I'm fine with that. He seemed confident we can still get it looking great, and a lot healthier. So once I'm done with this saga of dental work, I'll start that process. Cautiously optimistic?
Until I start thinking about my mouth being Root Canal Central, all my crowns and fillings and ugh. It just makes me feel awful. Plus, any twinge of pain or weird feeling sends me spiraling into a dental version of health anxiety. I just wanna get this all over with. I wanna look nice. I want my mouth to be healthy. I don't wanna have to endlessly worry about the health of my teeth.
I just hope I can make it through all of this still intact. I hope it's not too many more dental appointments. I hope, I hope, I hope. At least the dentist and the orthodontist both have payment plans, I'm sure I'll be in debt to them for a long while.
My dentist last year gave me a regular cleaning, and I got one root canal and the tooth next to it got a deep filling that also needed a crown. They scheduled me again in 6 months for a cleaning, which I put off since I hadn't...vibes with the dentist very well, for lack of a better phrase.
I scheduled with a new dentist last month, and I've had 2 appointments with her now, next one is in a week. I cried at that appointment because I needed so much done. I've had 2 more deep fillings/crowns. One will most likely end up being a root canal because it's aaaaaalmost at the root, but I'm hoping maybe it'll hold out. One of the crowns the last dentist placed has a gap between it and my tooth so that needs to be replaced, I believe she said that one was on the tooth with the deep filling, and jostling the tooth like that will probably turn it into a root canal. I'm getting ANOTHER root canal next week with the endodontist that comes to her office, and then I believe #15 is iffy. They might be able to pull off a deep filling or root canal or whatever, but she said they might need to pull it. Ugh, ugh, ugh. Not even 30 and I have a mouth full of crowns. Makes me want to cry every time I think about it.
I also got a deep cleaning, which was weird to me. Less than a year ago I just needed a simple cleaning, now I need a deep cleaning even though this is the most consistent I've been about brushing/flossing in my life? Ugh.
I also got a referral to an orthodontist, since a lot of my problems can be chalked up to my terrible bite and crowding. Some of the teeth were inevitably gonna go south since it's so hard to clean them. I had the consult with him last week, that's the part that kind of raised my spirits a little, but did open a can of worms.
I've always been insecure about my teeth. I've got a pretty big overjet, and a crossbite. I wish that had been able to be fixed when I was a kid, but... Whatever. I'm trying to let it go and just do what I can now. Hard to let go of so many years of being so insecure, though. The orthodontist wants me to do Invisalign over traditional braces, since I'm going to end this all with about 5 or 6 crowns, and I guess it's hard to stick the brackets to crowns and they're more prone to falling off.
I went into the appointment armed with all my internet research totally convinced he was going to tell me it was jaw surgery or nothing, but nope. He did offer that as an option but I was like "nooooope" when he asked if that was even something I wanted to pursue, and he crossed it out pretty quickly. It won't be exactly perfect with just orthodontics, but I'm fine with that. He seemed confident we can still get it looking great, and a lot healthier. So once I'm done with this saga of dental work, I'll start that process. Cautiously optimistic?
Until I start thinking about my mouth being Root Canal Central, all my crowns and fillings and ugh. It just makes me feel awful. Plus, any twinge of pain or weird feeling sends me spiraling into a dental version of health anxiety. I just wanna get this all over with. I wanna look nice. I want my mouth to be healthy. I don't wanna have to endlessly worry about the health of my teeth.
I just hope I can make it through all of this still intact. I hope it's not too many more dental appointments. I hope, I hope, I hope. At least the dentist and the orthodontist both have payment plans, I'm sure I'll be in debt to them for a long while.