Visible cavities in front teeth. At my limit.

[overcoming]

Hi i'm new here. I'm a 22 year old who hasn't seen the dentist since I was 15.Just thinking about my teeth makes me depressed but I feel like i'm running out of options.

I have severe anxiety and am overly embarrassed about the state of my teeth. 3 of my front teeth have visible cavities. two on the bottom have pretty visible black holes in them. And a new cavity has formed in between my two front teeth. And my wisdom teeth have grown in and chipped.

It's gotten to the point that I don't even want to talk to people, or smile. I'm so ashamed i have let my mouth get this bad. I am at the point that i don't know what to do. I want to fix them but i know it will cost a lot of money at this point, which i don't have. I just feel so ugly, i just really want to be able to not be afraid to have a conversation in public without feeling so mortified about my teeth.

 

[Dr. Daniel]

Hi,

Sorry to hear about difficulty. From my experience, some patients are certain they have a cavity (due to dark discolouration) while it is not the case, and a simple polish does the trick. I do not know what your case is but there is a chance it is something very easy to treat.
The biggest problem with dental anxiety is avoidance. Avoiding the dentist helps the fear to become more rooted in. The best way to tackle it is by going to a dentist. I would suggest meeting an appointment just to diagnose whether indeed there are cavities at the front teeth or not, and getting a price estimation for it. If you tell us where you live, surely members of this blissful forum will give ideas on how to overcome the financial issue.
Can you please tell us more about your fear: What are the specific things you are fearful of? How would your ideal appointment be like?

All the best,
Daniel

 

[overcoming]

Thank you for replying.

My major fears are having to get my front teeth pulled, and having the dentist judge how poorly ive taken care of my mouth. Just thinking about the dentist gives me so much anxiety.

I think theyre cavities because theres holes in both teeth right inbetween the teeth

The last time i went to the dentist at 15 i had to get a root canal in one of my back teeth. It was super painful and uncomfortable. It was just a very terrible experience in general.

I live in Florida.

 

[Enarete]

Sorry to hear about your situation and at the same time a huge pat on the back for sharing your story. You might not see it yet, but it's the first step.

You are dealing with few unknowns and these are making your fears worse. You don't actually know, how 'bad' the state of your front teeth really is and you don't know, how much it will really cost. People here are so often really surprised about how much less treatment compared to what they thought was needed.

What I can tell for sure is, that you won't need your front teeth pulled. Dentists went through a hard and long education and one of the main things that they learn is: to save teeth.
I totally get your fear about being judged. This is very common and every dentist who treats nervous patients knows that.

The best thing for you now would be to take it one step at a time. How about having a look around here and read some success stories and some information about the possibilities to tackle the dental fear? And if you feel up to, what about starting to look for a nervous-patient-friendly practice in your location? This would be a good and safe beginning. You do not need to think of actually visiting a practice yet and also the diagnose and the costs can wait, you can think about them later.

All the best for you, keep us updated and again well done for having made the first step by joining the forum

 

[Zoidberg444]

You're in the right place mate.

In fact a lot of people here would probably kill to have teeth as good as yours.

I haven't had a proper examination since 2006. I had a very painful root canal in 2008. I have severe overcrowding. In my upper teeth I have large surface decay on my left outer incisor. A badly chipped and decayed right upper canine both abnormally erupted and bent. Tiny patches of what i suspect is decay in other places on my 3 normal incisors. My two lower canines are bent and stick out with one or two tiny patches of decay on them. I have several spots of decay on quite a few of my other teeth. A bottom right molar (my chewing side) with a chunk broken out of the side and the nerve was exposed and it hurt like hell till it died my upper left molar with a huge chunk missing. Badly decayed. I also have 1 or 2 impacted wisdom teeth and another one that has no room at all to come out and i'll probably need invasive jaw surgery to pull it out if it ever gives bother.

I work night shifts and pretty much hide from the world at this point. Just thinking about them makes me depressed and angry to the point where i think about getting my pliers out my toolbox and pulling them all out. I'm going to get an examination on the 20th. I expect I'm probably going to loose them and be a disgusting 30 year old toothless man but at this point I know I'm due a hell of a lot more agonising pain and not knowing is causing me to only think about my teeth all the time. I think its better to find out and at least have a plan to deal with it. Otherwise you will end up like me in 8 years time!

I suggest having a look round and seeing if there are any dentists who deal with nervous patients or see if they have reviews from satisfied patients. See if you can get an examination and an estimate for what work you need. At least you will have a goal to aim for.

 

[Espokaz]

Please don't wait to go. I took 30 years. Yesterday I finally went. I have very much the same problems you describe plus chip to front tooth. I was convinced I would need loads of expensive treatment but that's not the case. She said it's all cleaning and fillings. She is going to do the work over 2 visits 3 months apart. My consultation cost me nothing. Next week when I'm having an old root removed, clean and front tooth filled is only costing £44. The next visit will be the same. It was not easy walking in there but I'm so happy today. I finally went to bed last night without worrying about my teeth.

 

[Dr. Daniel]

My major fears are having to get my front teeth pulled

I think there is very small chance that will happen. As a dentist I can tell you that dentists prefer to preserve teeth as much as possible, especially when it comes to the front teeth.

having the dentist judge how poorly ive taken care of my mouth.

I think that if a dentist makes such a remark, it would be not only not professional and stupid but also abusive. If you want to be sure to avoid this, I would advise to write an email before the first appointment and say exactly what you wrote in your thread.