Snaggletooth

[Flufinilla]

I'm new here. I've been reading so many posts, I feel like it's safe for me to say something.
I'm 38. My gums are receding in places and bleed a lot no matter how much I floss, water pick, swish and brush. It hurts when I eat. My breath always smells bad. I'm always clenching my jaw, causing stress fractures in my teeth and headaches... Caring for super crowded teeth has been a constant struggle. Any slip in hygiene is like instant gingivitis or some other gross oral issue.
Every single dentist I go to sees my mouth as a cash cow because, despite how they look, they're REALLY strong and none are missing. They talked about braces, spacers, redoing the fillings I have (apparently the fillings will shift with braces), shave down the jagged molars and fill/cap them all, more extractions etc etc etc years and years of work and thousands of dollars I don't have.
I really, REALLY want to talk to a dentist about getting dentures or something like that. My insurance will NOT cover tooth by tooth implants.
But, I'm TERRIFIED.
They all seem to think I'm looking for a quick fix for crooked teeth when all I want is a healthy mouth that doesn't bleed and hurt all of the time and to FINALLY nip reoccurring issues in the bud before they start causing seriously bad medical problems.
Any advice??

 

[Flufinilla]

No one??????

 

[Enarete]

Hi Flufinilla ,

it is surely discouraging not to get a reply once you took the courage to post here, so sorry you didn‘t get a reply quickly enough. The replies here are sometimes quick and sometimes it takes a while, depending on how many people read and feel like replying, or how many of our volunteers are around. Sundays, in my experience, are ones of the calmer days

It sounds like your gums are really a struggle and giving you a hard time. Obviously your past dentists haven‘t listened to you in a way you hoped for. Reading your post is seems that you have seen a lot of dentists recently.

The very general advice for pretty much any dental problem is: find a dentist who takes you seriously and is willing to listen to you and work as a team with you. If your gums are bothering you, a dentist should be able to figure out what the problem is and how to take care of things and if there is a dental treatment you prefer, then again this is something to discuss with a trusted dentist.

Two things that weren‘t clear to me: you mentioned having strong teeth that are not missing, but also dentists wanting to do replace fillings, dentures and implants.
The second thing I was wondering: did any of your past dentist come up with an idea regarding your gums?

All the best wishes

 

[MountainMama]

Not a dentist so I can’t offer advice, but just wondered if you were opposed to braces? If the dentists have suggested braces, wouldn’t that mean they think your teeth can be saved? Are the extractions they mentioned related to making room for other teeth and not teeth that are damaged?
I had terrible overcrowding. My canine teeth actually were pushed to the roof of my mouth from being impacted and I had to have four premolars extracted to make room for my teeth to fit comfortably, along with all four wisdom teeth. It was a very long process that took years, and started when I was a teen. My parents were both teachers and didn’t make much money so we did things that were priorities first. I didn’t actually get braces until I was 16. I had spacers and surgeries before that. It can be done slowly, but if your teeth are strong that may be a good option rather than dentures.