That was a bit unpleasant...
 

Just got back from the dentist.

I had 1/4 of my amalgam fillings removed. (3 amalgams) Not because I'm terrified of the mercury in them (I am terrified), but because they were going bad (amalgam cracks teeth).

Getting some of the mercury out of my mouth is just a happy extra.

I had them replaced with composite fillings. My mouth is STILL numb, and I really hope that it wears off soon.

What freaked me out was that the dentist told me that the toughest amalgam to remove was the largest ever chunk of high mercury amalgam she's ever removed from someone's mouth. I'm surprised I have any tooth left in that tooth after she dug out that amalgam.

She told me that she could tell how much mercury was in my mouth by the color of the fillings, they were really discoloring my teeth apparently. The composite filling helps change the color of my teeth back to white...so I'm thrilled about that, with so much amalgam in my mouth, my teeth have been seriously ugly since I was younger.

I'm a little worried that some of the mercury could have gotten into my system during the removal. (there's a chance any time you have an amalgam removed) So, I'm scared that I'll have some sort of horrible exacerbation now. I think I'll be scared of that for a few days.

The dentist said that it turned out great, and she thinks this is the best time for me to be having all the work done on my mouth. She was worried if I waited a few years, I'd have more spasticity and that I wouldnt ever be able to open my jaw big enough for them to do any more work.

I'm waiting till summer time to get the next 3 fillings removed and the cracks in the teeth repaired. I dont want to do too much of this all at once, just in case a bunch of mercury gets released.

The dentist told me that she does believe amalgam is bad, and she refuses to put it in people's mouths. She said that she couldnt promise me that removing the amalgam would improve any of my MS symptoms, but that it may help a little bit. Plus, my mouth will be healthier now once all the teeth are repaired.

I'm not looking forward to next time. Apparently one of the nerves in my teeth is dying, so that one's going to be expensive. Today's teeth had to be done immediately, because I guess she thought a tooth was in imminent danger of coming apart.

I'm just happy that 3 of my ugly teeth look better now, and I cant wait (but still not too enthusiastic about it) for the next batch of teeth to be fixed. My teeth will slowly start to look good for once.

It is a good thing that your teeth are improving!

Congratulations!:)

-Vic

Oh my gosh, Erin, I am literally sitting here wincing and champing down my teeth! Blech! How cool that you're able to do it, my insurance will only let me make the change if I lose one.

Kind of makes "biting my nails" a whole new challenge.

I'm only able to get this dental work (heck, any dental work) done because my dad is just a really cool guy. I dont have any dental insurance. I had to put it on my credit card (and I cant afford to pay for it) My dad told me to put it on the card, and he'll pay it for me.

He wants me to have my teeth all fixed and to not have to worry about it if something happens to him. (he has cardiomyopathy)

I can feel my mouth again. I can tell she lopped off a chunk of enamel on the back of one of my teeth when she was filing down the rough edges from the drilling...it's annoying, so I guess I'll call her tomorrow and ask if I should come in and let her check to see if it needs to be taken care of right now. It's more annoying than anything, because my tongue keeps wanting to worry at it. I also need to get another rough edge filed.

I really did not want to have to go do this, but now that she did it, I feel a little bit better knowing that I just had a nasty chunk of amalgam taken out of my mouth, and those 3 teeth arent going to disintigrate on me anytime soon.

Next is the root canal, doing that when I go to get my teeth cleaned in June, and doing something about a dying nerve in the tooth next to the root canal (not sure how they deal with this) and to get the amalgam next to those two replaced.

It seems like they go in threes.

The lower left side of my mouth only has 2 fillings in the back teeth, but the tooth in front of those has a cavity, so when I go for that later this fall, it's 3 teeth again.

Then sometime around Xmas or New Years I'll do the last 3 amalgams.

Maybe, sometime after they get the lower teeth dealt with, I'm going to see if I can get something called Invisalign. It's like braces, but no metal. It's plastic covers that you put over your teeth. You take the covers out to eat and brush teeth. You change them every two weeks, and they slowly move the misaligned teeth so that they're straight. I'm excited about that.

I dont want to do all this, but I have to do it, and since my dad has ponied up the money for me to do it, I'm taking him up on the offer while I can. My dad is cool! I need to find him a really neat Father's Day present this year. Maybe I can buy him the new jeans he wants. He just lost 50 pounds of weight while exercising and dieting, trying to get his weight down to take the strain off his heart. He needs new pants...desperately. Either that or a belt.