What kind of dental work do I need? Confused and nervous to seek help...

[Ryan177]

Basically one of my teeth has kind of rotted, I'm not really sure how to explain it about half of it, well to be honest abit more I'd say maybe 60% of the tooth on the front is a kind of black colour, but the back of it hasn't rotted or anything its just the visible part at the front. I'm not sure what I need to do? I haven't been to the dentist in a looooooooong time, I think about 5-6 years ago. I have social anxiety too so going out itself is a task, aswell as having a fear of dentists, let alone thinking about how to sort this problem out. What do I need? I don't want to get the tooth extracted and then have an implant, I don't think it needs that much... I mean it's only the front of the tooth, can you get fillings for the front? I'm really not sure what I need. I'm going to post a picture of what mine looks like, my camera is bad quality so I'm going to get a pic of google instead.
It's like this but it covers a lot more of the tooth.


http://underwooddentalcare.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/IMG_01891-300x225.jpg

 

[comfortdentist]

Re: What kind of dental work do I need? Confused and nervous to seek help...

I consider this an easy fix. I personally would restore with Activa which is a new tooth colored material. I also see several more in the one picture which usually mean you have more still.
There are two questions though. One is what do you need from a dentist to properly diagnose and treat you? The second is what is wrong with your diet to cause this problem.

 

[Ryan177]

Re: What kind of dental work do I need? Confused and nervous to seek help...

Hi thanks for your reply, the picture above isn't mine, It's just the closest thing I could find on google. I have it on just 1 tooth. So you think I would be able to keep my natural tooth. What is Activa, is it a filling? How long does it stay there for

 

[dancee90]

Re: What kind of dental work do I need? Confused and nervous to seek help...

That is exactly what i have.. Although, 4 of my top teeth are like this! I only just asked yesterday about fillings.

This is called Root Caries (Cavities)... I'm booking an appointment next week to get mine filled in.

Apparently they use a composite filling material so it looks the same colour as teeth.

You're not alone.

 

[Jlharvey913]

UMURaSM9

I'm sorry to hear about your anxiety in this matter and I can't offer much advice on that topic. All I can say is there is no need to be embarrassed in any way, Dentists have seen far worse and they won't judge you or guilt you for allowing your teeth to progress to this stage.

As for your teeth, I had what looks like your uploaded image on a front tooth and they cleaned it out and filled it. I can't even remember what it looked like before and I can't even tell there is a filling on that tooth. Mine was an actual "hole", not just discoloration. If yours isn't actually rotted through it could be even more simple a fix than you realize.

I know in my area many Dentist's will offer a free exam and xrays to new patients, with or without insurance. I'm sure they wouldn't mind discussing the options for your teeth that need fixed. I too put off dental care for close to 5 years but I'm so glad I decided to go back recently before things got even worse. Good luck!