I'm new to this forum stuff and don't even understand what a thread is. I suppose I'll pick it up as I go along. Thanks for your helpful info. I tried to write a reply to byanoceanbreeze but the program would not allow it. I'm not sure what I'm supposed to do to be allowed to reply or if replies are strictly your department. ... Some basic background. I am a smoker. My dentist is particularly uninformative even when I think to ask a question or have any issue that he doesn't feel needs resolving. Very frustrating! I had moderate gum disease at the outset. No loose teeth. No bone loss was mentioned to me by my dentist. I'm not sure that he even examined me for bone loss or what kind of exam would be involved in determining if there was bone loss. The only dental visits I have had over the last 20 years were to address painfully decayed teeth. Never went for regular treatment/prevention. Over the last 20 years I have had three extractions and two root canals with crowns, no cleanings, no deep scaling as was once recommended. When I presented myself to this dentist it had been over 5 years since last visit to any dentist and I had one molar that had rotted and broken off below the gumline. I had lived with this tooth in this condition allready for 2 years.
I told this dentist that I would like to get full set dentures rather than the even more costly proceedures involved in repairing and restoring what existed. He said he could do the extractions and place the permanent dentures as a same day procedure. What little bit of homework I had done on dentures lead me to believe that this was the most recommended approach to full mouth dentures. While sitting in his exam room a video was playing that promoted a sort of snap on denture with four to eight implants to attach the denture to the mouth. When I expressed that I would prefer to have that kind his answer was that I was not a candidate for those because I am a smoker. No more or no less explanation than that. The subject was closed. He moved on to tell me what he would do and a very brief description of the process, with the usual disclaimers that the timing of progress is different for different people and that of course the solution to all my current and future problems would be to quit smoking.
The swelling, bleeding, and pain that I had after the extractions was shocking! Even in this dentist's experience my situation was "unusual" and he had not had a patient with the same experience I was having. Three days post extractions I still had quite a bit of bleeding. The swelling was so severe I could not have smoked a cigarette (yes I tried). The swelling went from the top of my neck all the way to my eyes, including pressure behind the eyes. I had considerable bruising to my face as well. Co-workers and family alike told me I looked as though I had been beaten to near unrecognizability. No joke, no exageration. Though he had planned on removing the dentures the next day (a Friday) to examine the gum progress he knew with one look that would not be possible so he set me up to look at them again on the coming Monday (post extraction day #5). Over the weekend there was no way of doing any salt water rinses that he would normally have recommended because the swelling was too severe for me to attempt to remove the dentures. That excruciating visit on day 5 he did get them out and instructed me to remove them twice daily to do the salt water rinses. And to continue wearing the ice pack that originally was only recommended for the first 2 days. I wore the ice pack for six days and ten nights (it had just become too inconvenient to continue to wear it at work - 2 jobs). Another "unusual" aspect of my progress was that I kept re-swelling. By day 8 when I was able to say I think the swelling and pain are getting a little better, it was short lived. With no apparent trigger or consistancy the swelling would go right back up for 2-8 hours before I would sense it coming back down. By day 14 the bruising to my face finally began to turn from black to greenish but friends and co-workers still claimed that they could not see that the swelling had diminished. By day 20 they thought they finally could. It is now 5 3/4 months post extraction. The swelling is gone. The reswelling is gone. In fact the gum has shrunk so far down that there is almost nothing left on the lower for a denture to hold on to. I still have three socket holes on the lower right that just WONT close. I use salt water once daily and listerine 2-3 times daily. I use a denture soak at night but put the top ones back in for sleeping. I don't know where to get a zyletol rinse. Any suggestions? I have six very small ulcers that I can't get rid of and others that come and go with different small adjustments made by me at home and made by contuing shrinkage of the gums. Sorry for the TMI background book but I don't know how much is helpful in getting more accurate advice. Thanks for your help.