Lately I've been having dental problems. My teeth seem to be healthy (not weak-walled or cavities) but at least 4 have come very loose in the past 10 months, and had to be extracted.
I currently have another loose one, that will be extracted next week.
My dentist has referred me to a periodontist for further treatment & I'll be seeing him the 2nd week of March.
I had severe perio problems (bone loss) about 10 yrs ago and had an extreme amount of work (some below gum-line, bone-grafts) done (about $ 6-8K), but every tooth that was worked on then, no longer is in my mouth - money down the toilet.
I'm not looking forward to another perio round.

Could this recent tooth loss problem, be due to calcium loss from the medications I'm taking? I recently saw a post here, that mentioned something of that sort, while discussing another topic.

I've been on 4200mgs/day Neurontin for 6 years, then switched to 600mgs/day of Lyrica, in the past 3 years.

I also take Tramadol, Zetia, & Terazosin.
I haven't taken any calcium supplements other than a multi vit.

Could this tooth loss be related to my meds?

I think you should post this at our Dental forum here.

Anything that causes "dry mouth" can be a culprit. Tramadol shows about 5-10% dry mouth in side effects reported. The Hytrin also can cause dry mouth, but it is listed at 1% or below incidence.

However, periodontal disease is common in smokers, because not enough oxygen gets to the tissue. Once the bacteria start to inflame the gums, things break down.

I would get a bone scan to see if your skeleton is affected too.
And Vit D levels done, since Vit D is involved with calcium absorption.

But I think Bryanna would be the one to ask, over at the Dental forum here.

MrsD,
Thanks for the suggestion.
I've just posted over there
(BTW- I started taking 2000 IU of D3 daily, this winter)

She works during the day, I think...so expect an answer later today or tomorrow...

I never smoked....at age 13, I had 13 cavities filled. Most of my teeth are crowns. It is postulated that I have Sjogren's, but if it is primary or secondary is still in dispute, but they can't really 'name' what the primary autoimmune disease is if SjS is secondary.

I imagine that there are lots of reasons for dental issues....disease, meds, diet among them.

I can commiserate with you, altho, I have been lucky that I have not had gum issues....I just keep cracking teeth. I have nightmares that I am chewing broken teeth.

Would a bite splint help?

Sometimes I think strong teeth/weak teeth are the luck of the draw with genes. I never had a cavity until I was 20, and I'm not so sure it wasn't just a dentist who was affronted that nobody had made any money on me yet.

All this tooth talk reminds me of one of my favorite Kate Hepburn quotes: "She smiled to excess, but she chewed with real distinction."

After being on Lyrica for SEVEN months, I had to have NINE root canals, one implant and all of my front teeth capped.

Before Lyrica, I wore orthodontia, for five years. I took very good care of my teeth. Immediately before starting Lyrica, I went to the dentist and my teeth were fine.

They ONLY change made, was my Doctor placed me on Lyrica. I weighed 165 pounds. After seven months, I weighed 260 pounds and lost most of my teeth. So far, I have paid 25K dollars in temporary, restorative dentistry. I am now moving on to my final steps, which will cost another 25K dollars!

Lyrica is a terrible, terrible medication. Beware of taking it and be sure you do the research on all of the other people having horrible side effects of Lyrica. Pfizer is going DOWN!

That is HORRIBLE!

I did a search and found some others reporting the same thing!
But this side effect is not commonly found on Patientsville.com
The ones I saw on Peoples' Pharmacy were ANGRY and severely affected though.

Nothing on PubMed either.

Not many people on askapatient.com either.

Perhaps there is some connection to only certain people?
Some other common factor that happens when Lyrica is present?

Perhaps we will see others from Google coming to this thread!
It is a horrible thing to deal with..loss of teeth like that!

Thank you so much for doing your research! After my bad experience, I have been all over the Internet and have found that Pfizer released this drug, using the general population as the test group.

There is so much information about Lyrica and defective teeth, but you really have to search. Many people never connect the dots and think that their teeth are bad for some other reason.

I have found that when you ask a few questions and find out when they started using Lyrica, a light bulb comes on in their head.

I read about this woman, who was on Lyrica for about nine months and said that there were no signs of damage, until her teeth just started to crack and fall out of her mouth.

That is what my Endodontist said. He called it "Disease X", because the teeth seemed normal, until he started drilling. Then he told me, it was like drilling into an empty eggshell.

It has truly ruined my life. I am in Public Relations and if I show up at a corporate meeting, looking like a Meth-addict, it's not a good thing. I have lost 55 pounds, so that is getting under control, but I still have to spend another 25K to finish the dental restoration.

Thanks again for your concern and your research. If you keep digging, you will see how people blame their dental problems on "other" things, rather than Lyrica.

Take care.

toniolarabi,
I'm sorry for all your problems. I have been taking Lyrica for 3 years (and neurontin for 7 yrs before that). This dental problem (actually periodontal) has only been within the last year, and I had previous perio problems in the past..If you could provide some links about the Lyrica/dental problem relationship, to spare us (me) the frustration of futile digging and wasted time, it would be truly appreciated.
Thanks in advance for your help