Hi Irene,

I am in the dental field and can offer you some information here.

It sounds like you have not had regular dental care for quite some time. So usually this means that at this point there are several problems occurring at one time and many of which are at the hopeless stage. When this happens, it is best to take into consideration the whole picture and not just one area of your mouth because any residual infection from teeth that are not being cared for will prevent the areas being taken care of from healing properly. Which means you will find yourself having one dental problem after another.

Although it can be overwhelming to think about dealing with the whole mouth at one time..... in the long run, it may be the easiest, least expensive and certainly the healthiest way to go about doing it.

A note about dental implants..... aside from the expense for a minute .... dental implants are a risky option for people who do not have a healthy jaw bone. Anytime there is lack of dental care and teeth have been let go for years... not only do the teeth break down but the jaw bone deteriorates too making it not really ideal for holding implants. In many of these cases, in preparing the bone for the implants, extensive oral surgery needs to be done when removing the teeth and diseased bone. Then sometimes more surgery to attempt to build up the bone. These cases work out best in people who have NO medical conditions, take NO medications, do not smoke, and have a very nutritious diet. Generally people who have a lot of dental problems are not in the above category. So if you have not been informed about those things prior to now, then know that they need to be taken into serious consideration.

Regarding removable dentures....... The advantage to having full removable dentures at your age is that you most likely have enough supportive bone to hold dentures comfortably. Whereas in another 5 years or so, you may not.

I know none of this makes you feel better, I'm sorry about that. Your situation is severe and intuitively you know that it is best to deal with it now rather than later. So due to the extent and the longevity of your dental problems along with the financial burden of trying to afford the exorbitant costs of dental implants, your best option may be to consider extraction of your teeth and having removable dentures made. You can only do what you can do... and no more than that. So think of what you can honestly afford to do to improve your dental, physical and mental health and let that guide you.

You will be okay. This journey is not a quick one but many people have taken it and the outcome turns out okay.

Bryanna