NeuroTalk Support Groups - View Single Post - Bryanna

Bryanna · 02-21-2010, 01:03 PM

Hi Bob,

Thanks for explaining your dental history in detail. It is pretty much as I had suspected it to be. The periodontal treatment that you had several years ago may have been of some help, but only temporarily because of the lack of dental care in the years afterwards to help maintain some stability. Your smoking habit also impeded the healing process which made the surgery only somewhat successful if at all. Perhaps you should have been better informed at that time of what the outcome would be if you didn't have continued dental care and kept smoking. More times than not this information is not presented too well by the dentist or his staff and the patient leaves thinking they're situation has been cured.

Your description of how your dentist has been treating you is very typical when a patient is reluctant to loose their teeth to a denture. This does not mean that there are any healthy teeth worth keeping, it's just a way to pacify the patient for a very limited time. The problem with this scenerio is that your perio disease is out of control which has caused your teeth and jawbone to become infected as well. This situation is not healthy and may be contributing to other health problems.

Again from your description of your dental and smoking history, any periodontal treatment that you have to retain your existing teeth is not going to cure your perio disease. I know the thought of losing your teeth is scary but you need to realize that you are hanging onto infected teeth that are going to affect your overall well being and you are going to lose them anyway. Since you are use to wearing a partial denture..... going into a full denture will not be much different.

I hope this information is helpful to you. Sometimes we need to re-evaluate what it is that we're holding onto...... because the alternative can often be more rewarding in the long run

Take care.... keep us posted!

Bryanna

Quote:

Originally Posted by nide44

Bryanna,
My dentist is the one who referred me to the periodontist, after I told him that I had had perio treatment, and bone grafts 10 yrs ago at the Faculty Practice at U of MD.

He's just been pulling my teeth (about 6 of them) in the past year.
I went to him because he's located just a few blocks from my home, and was recommended by my barber when I had 2 teeth paining me severely. He suggested partials, as I had other teeth that had been pulled over the years, and the 2 uppers he took were in the back, leaving me little to chew with. He made molds and had flexible partials made for me

I hadn't been to a dentist in at last 5 years and mine had moved away to another city (Annapolis MD). I live in Baltimore and didn't have a dentist since he moved his practice.

While in Ireland this past June, 2 front bottom teeth were bothering me (in the front this time) and I was forced to go to a dental clinic in Galway. They splinted the teeth and gave me an Rx for antibiotics to see me thru until I got back to the states. when I came back, my dentist pulled them and my plates went out to have 2 teeth added.
Around the Holidays an upper behind the canine was sore & loose & he pulled that one - plate went out to have another added.

Now I have another upper on the opposite side (also behind the canine) that is sore and loose. He sent my plate out to have another added, and will pul this one as sooon as the palte comes back from the lab, one day next week.

His procedure is to pull the tooth and then puts the plate in, immediately - rather than packing the socket with gauze. Its been a successful procedure the last 2 times, as I'm a smoker (I know- I gotta quit - SOON, its given me emphysema... I've just found out in tha past 60 days) and it protects the socket. I cut down on my cigarettes & leave it in for at least 24-48 hrs and eat soft foods for 2 days.
But he's not shown any desire to treat the cause - just has said that I have to see a periodontist again.

I didn't know of any, so he gave me a business card for the one that I've made an initial consult appt. on 3/10.
You may be right. further perio work might be useless and I'd be better off having done with it. After this extraction next week. I'll only have 8 uppers left of my own. The bottom plate replaces 5,.
I'm not insured for dental (altho I could try to bide-my-time & wait until next Dec to sign up for Medicare supplemental & dental) and am not in a position to rape my retirement fund for thousands that would be just throwing money down the tubes. It might be more economical not to go to expensive, extensive perio work and just get full dentures (and all that implies). Implants are financially out of my league.

(And I don't wish to do 'Gabby Hayes' impressions
no teeth, no plates, just gums )

Sorry for the long post, but I haven't discussed this with anyone, and as I typed, it just became "War & Peace". Just venting, I guess - losing any teeth is a very personal issue with me and a little upsetting, if not a bit traumatic. Losing these many in a short period is unsettling, to say the least.