[jjk91]

There is a great deal of things wrong with my teeth, so I'll try to be as clear as possible.

I'm an orphan and when I was 15 (in 2006), I got small composite resin restorations done. The dentist I went to was flirting with the dental tech assistant, and between that and being creepy in an overtly sexual way, I felt very uncomfortable. I had to yell at him to get his attention because the drill was millimeters away from wrecking my face. When he realized his error, all he said was "Oops, good thing you yelled, yeah?" and he STILL carried on to flirt with the assistant. After it was all done, I ran my teeth over the front of my upper teeth (where all the work was done) and found that he over filled #10 to the point where it felt like it was two teeth welded together at an uneven level. I got home and found that the filling was nowhere near the color of my teeth, and when I tapped the filling (very, very lightly, might I add), the excess that made the surface feel uneven just fell off. The tooth looked fine, and I didn't want to go back, couldn't afford to go anywhere else, so I didn't get it checked.

Fast-forward to 2008 when that same tooth (#10) started acting up, causing me a tremendous amount of pain, and it turns out that when the excess filling fell off, it either exposed dentin or part of the root, which made it infected.

Later that year, I became a ward of the state and acquired medical insurance and was able to get #10 root canaled. The infection was so severe that it spread to #9, and I had to get both teeth apicoectomied (which was done pro bono by the same endo because she felt bad for my situation, being that my insurance covered only one apicoectomy a year).

I then had to get #19 root canalled. The endodontist never told me that I would need the molar capped because he thought my dentist would tell me. Post-treatment, my dentist didn't consult with me regarding my options (to get a restorative filling or a crown) and filled #19. My insurance at the time only covered composite resin for my canines and any teeth in between, but for whatever reason decided to fill my molar with a composite resin filling, even though a crown was covered through my insurance. It would have been a metal crown, but I wouldn't have cared for aesthetics of that tooth, since it's so far back. I think she felt burned that I was starting to see a different dentist (due to her tone when my file showed I was seeing another provider -- only because I moved and needed someone more convenient) and tried to give me something she thought I'd want.

A few months later, I discontinued seeing the older dentist, and had both #9 and #10 crowned by the newer dentist. #10 felt loose because of the extent of the infection. Newer dentist said it would in time stabilize, so I left it at that.

Fast-forward to mid-2011, and I got hit by a car as a pedestrian. The tooth was already very over-filled (I think it fractured because of this, and the problem compounded by getting hit). A few months later, #19 started to act up.

Fast-forward to late 2012, when a fistula formed by #19, and I was in excruciating pain. I had no dental insurance, because after turning 21, Medicaid no longer provides extensive medical/dental. I researched inexpensive ways to treat it, and found colloidal silver which, after three days of use, helped to temper the infection. It was working very effectively but I had a lapse in use because of a pay period shortage at work and couldn't afford to buy it. The infection became worse.

A month ago I went to the ER, got pain meds and strong antibiotics. Somewhere in the middle of using the antibiotics (prescribed for 10 days), I started to feel terrible pain in the roof of my mouth, right by #10. I was already swelling because of my lower jaw problem, and now started to swell a little more because of my upper jaw.

I got #19 extracted a few days ago, and things seem to be settling down for my lower jaw, but something doesn't feel right with my upper teeth. The gums are swollen for my whole left side (from back molar -- #15?) to #10. They aren't bleeding. I have no more pain in my upper jaw, the endo said there was no infection in #10 or any of those other teeth for that matter, so I don't know what's wrong. I have trigeminal neuralgia caused by that first horrible dentist who started all my upper teeth problems, so I don't know if this is partly because of that, but I have increasing mobility with #10. It feels funny when I eat and drink, sometimes when I say certain words or yawn, and #11 is starting to feel a little weird. Again, I am an orphan, I have absolutely no family, have been living on my own since I was 11 with the exception of the one year I was in fostercare when I was 17, and I live paycheck to paycheck to afford bills, rent, and food. I don't know if I could afford it if there was something wrong with #10, but I am preparing myself in the event that there is.

I have to pay for all visits to the endo, so I wanted the advice of the people here to see what recommendations there are in terms of my case. I am only 22 years old, have a job that won't let me have visible missing teeth, I work full-time with no other income, while I finally get insurance through my employer there is a waiting period for extended dental benefits, and there is no one who I can depend on financially. Could #10 have also fractured? If it's not fractured or infected, can I get a bone graft+splint done to stabilize the area above the tooth (it's very dark there in comparison to the other teeth and there is an indent above the incision in my gum from my 2009 apico). I don't know what to do anymore.