Sharing my story

[LuLa]

I felt like I should share this for my own comfort and maybe so that someone else can learn from what I have to say. I am 27 years old and my teeth have been severely neglected for the last year or so, prior to that I took decent care of them, I am sure it wasnt perfect care but my teeth got attention. In the last 16 months I have gone through some serious problems. Without getting into too much detail, I was in a bad situation where I was trying to get out of a severe domestic abuse situation, and things got really bad. So bad the police got involved several times, paramedics got involved a handful of times, and my life pretty much crumbled apart. I was living in a situation I was completely terrified all the time, couldn't eat sleep drink breath or do really any kind of basic function, and had no where to really go. Without a place to go just leaving and for a shelter was not really an option for me, I was 1 step short of being homeless, but I was determined to not be homeless.

So needless to my health deteriorated pretty badly, across the board, and one of the casualties was my dental health, and I feel like it is perhaps the most permanent. I am unbelievably upset and frustrated. Now that I have my life back under control I am busy trying to regain what I can. So I realized the other day I can feel a gap inbetween a tooth and my gums, then I check the rest of my mouth and I can find at least 2 other teeth like this, 1 not too bad 1 really bad and the one i originally found is kind of in between those. Those are just he ones I found as well. I have to admit I will be grateful if they are just cavities (i had 2 when i was younger and although those upset me they were fixed and nothing more of it came of it). I did still brush, but it was fewer and further between brushing and when I did I rushed it so that I could minimize the exposure I had to people agitating my situation. The fact that all my tooth problems are all along the gum line, I think at least, reflects that I did brush other areas, but was not careful along my gum line. I know ultimately this was my responsibility, but I also was in an extremely bad situation, and when it comes down to it I just lost track of a lot of things, and my teeth where one of those things.

The thing is at this point my mind is racing and I am worrying about the worst. Cavities are tolerable, I am worried about having periodontist or that I would need to have a tooth extracted. I know that these fears are probably overblown. Although I obviously have holes there my teeth are not loose, discolored but not loose, and I do not have gaps between my teeth or triangles. Part of me just does not know how much tooth is below the gum line, so feeling these holes at what I imagine is the bottom of my tooth is scary, but after searching around on here I suspect they are just cavities. The spots have not been painful until earlier this week. But now there is a persistent throbbing pain and it is noticeable, and impacting my ability and desire to eat.

So I called a dentist and arranged for an appointment that is happening tomorrow. I am not so much worried about what they will find, I am certain he his going to spot the holes that I am extremely worried about. What I am scared of is that it is worse than just cavities, I am worried that I have periodontists (although this wouldn't bother me as much as actually losing teeth) and most of all I am worried about losing teeth, or needing dentures.

Rationally I understand that these fears are overblown, but emotionally I am upset and my mind is racing. I'll update once I know more.

 

[Enarete]

Thank you for sharing your story. Hopefully it helped you to sort thoughts and find some peace, writing helps.. you have been throug things that are hard to even imagine and it's very relieving to read that you are doing better now and on the way to take care of your health again.
From what you write it doesn't sound like you were a denture-candidate. You might have found out from the posts here that usually people need less treatment than they thought they would.. so chances are that you just need few fillings. Even gum problems can get solved easily with a good celaning.
All the best wishes for tomorrow. May your dentist be very kind and supportive. Look forward to read how you got on

 

[LuLa]

Thank you,

It was through reading other posts on here that I realized a few things. First that it was probably not nearly as bad as I felt, and going into this I feel like I have a more realistic expectation, rather than a full blown worst case scenario my life is ruined type feeling, and that itself has been really comforting. Also have seen many posts on here of people like me who were worried about the worst case scenario and upset for those reasons, who later followed up with stories about how the dentist found something but that it was not nearly as bad as they feared.

I appreciate the stories from everyone, and your well wishes for today.

 

[LuLa]

Alright so here is my update:

Need 8 cavities filled. With one having what my dentist described as a low chance of needing a root canal. No chance of dentures, no chance of loosing teeth.

Have tooth paste to work on reversing and remineralizing other spots that may become cavities.

Part of me feels really bad I let it get to this point. The other part of me is glad to at least be at this point and working on stabilizing the problem before it got worse.

 

[LuLa]

Alright so current update. I got 2 of my fillings in scheduled to do more this Friday. I have some mild pain in my jaw and it does not hurt nearly as much as I thought it would. I am feeling better about my whole situation as well and I feel like my outlook and perspective on things are improving especially now that work is getting done and the serious problems are starting to be resolved.

 

[Dg6300]

This is great news. You've done very well. You should be very proud of what you've accomplished. You've come a long way. Keep us posted.

 

[Enarete]

I am feeling better about my whole situation as well and I feel like my outlook and perspective on things are improving especially now that work is getting done and the serious problems are starting to be resolved.

Lovely to hear this! Well done and all the best wishes for Friday!

 

[krlovesherkids777]

Hope everything is great on Friday!! Great job taking care of this !

 

[krlovesherkids777]

Hi Lula..

Thinking of you today.. hope all goes well.. Let us know how you are.

 

[LuLa]

I am sorry I didn't follow up to this sooner, I have had a busy week.

Friday I got more fillings done and it went really well. I got more fillings and made an appointment for Monday for the last ones I will need, which was earlier this week. And again I was noticeably feeling much better about myself and funny enough about a bunch of other things that were bothering and worrying me.

During Monday's appointment I got the last of them done and that is that. I go back in 6 months for a check up. Now that it is over I am extremely relieved and feeling much better about myself and what I have been through.

Unfortunately I do not have much time right now and have to run, but I have some thoughts on things that I think I would like to give to people who are in similar situations as me a few weeks ago, where I was stressed, unhappy, unsure, felt really miserable and really was pretty hard on myself. In case anyone reading this needs to make a decision, or will be making a decision soon, I want to give this advice for now. I understand how rough it is to be in that state of mind, fighting with depression, anxiety, and stress. For me the best thing I could have done, and did do, was to get in to see my dentist. My dentist is a great person and extremely supportive and nice, and although I was upset after finding out what I needed done, he helped me with a plan of action to get my teeth back into healthy shape. From there we made the appointments to get them done. With each one completed I was noticeably feeling better across the board on a lot of things that were bringing me down and making me unhappy.

So what I wanted to say and I can not say this with enough urgency because I believe it is important: Actually taking action to correct something was by far the most effective remedy for my depression anxiety and stress.

I also want to thank everyone on here who has been supportive. It did me a world of good and it means a great deal to me.