T
Toothanxiety
Junior member
- Joined
- Dec 20, 2022
- Messages
- 7
- Location
- United Kingdom
Hello, new account here. I just wanted to post my experience and get some feedback maybe similar experiences etc...
(It's very long, I talk way too much and add too much incoherent detail, I'm sure if you have ADHD you can relate lol)
It all started when I hit my face very hard as a reckless kid, I had a gappy smile already as I was losing my baby teeth.
The fall didn't seem like it did any damage at the time, there was no pain or indicator of something wrong with my teeth.
Until a few of my front adult teeth had refused to erupt for months and months and months, the dentists left it for a long time (there was hesitation to operate). I was the only kid in class left with the most obvious gaps in my mouth.
I still don't know a lot about the technical reason why this was happening but I'm guessing the trauma had caused them to be impacted in some way??
But anyway, I had surgery. It was my first and only time I've been fully sedated and that was a horrible experience in itself. I can tell why surgery is last resort, it was very rough on my tiny mouth. But after some time and healing, I had front teeth. The gums took a while to look normal.
The problem was my adult teeth that I was relieved to have looked as though they were already worn out. Yellowish, Pretty large white spots, misshapen canines etc...(Any idea why this happened?)
It took a while for me to stop feeling insecure over the yellow discolouration and shape. I didn't even have a chance to prevent it, it was very sad!! Braces helped a lot with speech though.
I got a few cavities and fillings during that time also (around 4) but afterwards, things were solid for a good decade. No problems, I was always complimented on keeping on top of them (I know due to the bad start in the enamel game, I have to be extra extra careful)
That is until 4 years ago, my mental health took a nose dive. I still brushed my teeth but I abandoned the floss. I wasn't brushing with purpose more of a mechanical absent minded routine, majority not the full 2 minutes and barely everything.
One of the reasons for that decline was my gut is giving up on me. It happened quite suddenly, I just can't eat very well at all, my bowels just refuse to work, I no longer even feel hunger. Imagine feeling full all the time , 0 appetite. I have even forgotten to eat , that's how low priority food has become.
I have frequent blood tests, something is always off. Inflammation, anaemia, deficiency this, that. My blood sugar had even spiked so high, they thought I had diabetes but it went right back down and never happened again!! What??!
Doctors have no clue, I was upset about this at first but its OK. I found a lot of people on the internet who share their bowel issues are an enigma to their doctors also, everyone gets pushed into the IBS category despite being so different. Clearly more research needs to be done.
But anyway teeth. Stomach and teeth have a closer relationship than I had anticipated. During 'IBS' flare ups, I have bad acid reflux, at night I often wake up to the taste of vomit mixed in my saliva (possibly washing my teeth with stomach acid all night) , I threw up the most this year. At one point multiple times a week consistently.
Plaque built up very far down my gum behind my lower front teeth that I had never seen plaque build up that severe before. When I saw that, I was snapped out of something. Few weeks ago, I looked at my teeth properly, I realised I never really ever looked at them.
My gums specifically on my lower teeth are so thin and pale purple, 2 teeth got slightly longer.
I booked an appointment immediately, luckily I have a good NHS dentist I managed to secure an appointment for 2 weeks time. At the time, I had no pain, not even any bleeding when brushing, no bad breath but after constantly googling gum recession, bone loss etc... I started to feel a dull pain in my lower teeth. Was it anxiety? Was it just bad timing and bound to happen with how much of a mess they were in?
The day before my appointment the pain was the worst, it was like a tugging as if I pulled a muscle in my teeth or something. Specifically the pain was starting in the 2 that looked longer and radiating outwards.
The dentist told me honestly, my gums are bad, what happened why haven't I come for 4 years?? They took off the plaque as I cried ashamed of myself. They took an X ray, I asked them about my bones as well as other stupid questions about whether my face will collapse inwards at age 30 (I'm 20). I think my crazy eyes and heavy breathing kind of scared them into telling me it's not bad, it's 'to be expected with my age, not as bad as you think'....normally you'd expect 0% bone loss though?
I think I have size 3 pockets, they poked my gums with a sharp object and called out the number 3 and some 2s. Not sure what those mean.
After the cleaning was done, my teeth were alarmingly actually visibly whiter but I was horrified to find a little black triangle in those 2 pesky front bottom teeth. My gums looked almost ripped up, very very sore. They were beating like a heart and radiating through those front teeth. I had to wait for a follow up a week later.
During that week I was petrified I had pulpitis or something as google was telling me because my front 2 bottom teeth hurt to touch. I flossed and brushed with special toothpaste but I still didn't bleed at all (my gums never once bled despite having gum disease, so weird)
So a week passed by and the little black triangle was looking more like a scalene triangle, I noticed my gum had gotten a little taller and thicker and the gap was smaller (I thought gums never come back??), my teeth also felt loose after the scaling, they hurt any time I even moved my mouth to speak but during the end of the first week that pain was going away and they didn't feel loose as much.
So i saw the dentist again for the follow up and she instilled more fear about my white spots saying "they will decay so easily", as if I had a choice in terms of getting them in the first place
Shouldn't have fell on my face as a kid!
So that brings us to today, 2 weeks from the scaling. My bottom gums are still beating (the beating isn't painful), they dont bleed, every now and then I get a dull ache in them like a headache but in your gums. My 2 front bottom teeth tingle and sometimes hurt. When I brush, one particular canine sort of clicks forward a little, not visibly (I've tried pushing them, they dont budge visibly) but I can feel it move, tense a little.
During all of this, the past month, I've been grinding super hard from the fear and constant google searches about root canals and extraction and implants and even gum disease linked to miscarrying or premature babies etc...So now my molars who have never hurt before, feel super sensitive and I'm afraid they'll feel weird like this forever (got an impression, a night guard coming in 2 weeks)
I'm afraid I'll see no end to this dental nightmare that all begin within just one month!! Even-though things are physically hurting less , I'm petrified I'm going to lose my front lower teeth or my molars have been ground too much!!! This happened so suddenly, I don't trust my mouth anymore. It's making me eat even less in irrational fear of getting food on them.
Anyway, thanks for reading my rant if you have, I'm sorry for ruining your day :s
(It's very long, I talk way too much and add too much incoherent detail, I'm sure if you have ADHD you can relate lol)
It all started when I hit my face very hard as a reckless kid, I had a gappy smile already as I was losing my baby teeth.
The fall didn't seem like it did any damage at the time, there was no pain or indicator of something wrong with my teeth.
Until a few of my front adult teeth had refused to erupt for months and months and months, the dentists left it for a long time (there was hesitation to operate). I was the only kid in class left with the most obvious gaps in my mouth.
I still don't know a lot about the technical reason why this was happening but I'm guessing the trauma had caused them to be impacted in some way??
But anyway, I had surgery. It was my first and only time I've been fully sedated and that was a horrible experience in itself. I can tell why surgery is last resort, it was very rough on my tiny mouth. But after some time and healing, I had front teeth. The gums took a while to look normal.
The problem was my adult teeth that I was relieved to have looked as though they were already worn out. Yellowish, Pretty large white spots, misshapen canines etc...(Any idea why this happened?)
It took a while for me to stop feeling insecure over the yellow discolouration and shape. I didn't even have a chance to prevent it, it was very sad!! Braces helped a lot with speech though.
I got a few cavities and fillings during that time also (around 4) but afterwards, things were solid for a good decade. No problems, I was always complimented on keeping on top of them (I know due to the bad start in the enamel game, I have to be extra extra careful)
That is until 4 years ago, my mental health took a nose dive. I still brushed my teeth but I abandoned the floss. I wasn't brushing with purpose more of a mechanical absent minded routine, majority not the full 2 minutes and barely everything.
One of the reasons for that decline was my gut is giving up on me. It happened quite suddenly, I just can't eat very well at all, my bowels just refuse to work, I no longer even feel hunger. Imagine feeling full all the time , 0 appetite. I have even forgotten to eat , that's how low priority food has become.
I have frequent blood tests, something is always off. Inflammation, anaemia, deficiency this, that. My blood sugar had even spiked so high, they thought I had diabetes but it went right back down and never happened again!! What??!
Doctors have no clue, I was upset about this at first but its OK. I found a lot of people on the internet who share their bowel issues are an enigma to their doctors also, everyone gets pushed into the IBS category despite being so different. Clearly more research needs to be done.
But anyway teeth. Stomach and teeth have a closer relationship than I had anticipated. During 'IBS' flare ups, I have bad acid reflux, at night I often wake up to the taste of vomit mixed in my saliva (possibly washing my teeth with stomach acid all night) , I threw up the most this year. At one point multiple times a week consistently.
Plaque built up very far down my gum behind my lower front teeth that I had never seen plaque build up that severe before. When I saw that, I was snapped out of something. Few weeks ago, I looked at my teeth properly, I realised I never really ever looked at them.
My gums specifically on my lower teeth are so thin and pale purple, 2 teeth got slightly longer.
I booked an appointment immediately, luckily I have a good NHS dentist I managed to secure an appointment for 2 weeks time. At the time, I had no pain, not even any bleeding when brushing, no bad breath but after constantly googling gum recession, bone loss etc... I started to feel a dull pain in my lower teeth. Was it anxiety? Was it just bad timing and bound to happen with how much of a mess they were in?
The day before my appointment the pain was the worst, it was like a tugging as if I pulled a muscle in my teeth or something. Specifically the pain was starting in the 2 that looked longer and radiating outwards.
The dentist told me honestly, my gums are bad, what happened why haven't I come for 4 years?? They took off the plaque as I cried ashamed of myself. They took an X ray, I asked them about my bones as well as other stupid questions about whether my face will collapse inwards at age 30 (I'm 20). I think my crazy eyes and heavy breathing kind of scared them into telling me it's not bad, it's 'to be expected with my age, not as bad as you think'....normally you'd expect 0% bone loss though?
I think I have size 3 pockets, they poked my gums with a sharp object and called out the number 3 and some 2s. Not sure what those mean.
After the cleaning was done, my teeth were alarmingly actually visibly whiter but I was horrified to find a little black triangle in those 2 pesky front bottom teeth. My gums looked almost ripped up, very very sore. They were beating like a heart and radiating through those front teeth. I had to wait for a follow up a week later.
During that week I was petrified I had pulpitis or something as google was telling me because my front 2 bottom teeth hurt to touch. I flossed and brushed with special toothpaste but I still didn't bleed at all (my gums never once bled despite having gum disease, so weird)
So a week passed by and the little black triangle was looking more like a scalene triangle, I noticed my gum had gotten a little taller and thicker and the gap was smaller (I thought gums never come back??), my teeth also felt loose after the scaling, they hurt any time I even moved my mouth to speak but during the end of the first week that pain was going away and they didn't feel loose as much.
So i saw the dentist again for the follow up and she instilled more fear about my white spots saying "they will decay so easily", as if I had a choice in terms of getting them in the first place
Shouldn't have fell on my face as a kid!So that brings us to today, 2 weeks from the scaling. My bottom gums are still beating (the beating isn't painful), they dont bleed, every now and then I get a dull ache in them like a headache but in your gums. My 2 front bottom teeth tingle and sometimes hurt. When I brush, one particular canine sort of clicks forward a little, not visibly (I've tried pushing them, they dont budge visibly) but I can feel it move, tense a little.
During all of this, the past month, I've been grinding super hard from the fear and constant google searches about root canals and extraction and implants and even gum disease linked to miscarrying or premature babies etc...So now my molars who have never hurt before, feel super sensitive and I'm afraid they'll feel weird like this forever (got an impression, a night guard coming in 2 weeks)
I'm afraid I'll see no end to this dental nightmare that all begin within just one month!! Even-though things are physically hurting less , I'm petrified I'm going to lose my front lower teeth or my molars have been ground too much!!! This happened so suddenly, I don't trust my mouth anymore. It's making me eat even less in irrational fear of getting food on them.
Anyway, thanks for reading my rant if you have, I'm sorry for ruining your day :s
I hope I'll end up posting a success story when it's all over
