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Serious dental issues.
JX15
Registered User new member
Registered User new member
A few weeks ago, a piece broke off from one of my teeth. I went to my dentist to have it looked at, and it turned out that not only did that tooth need to be pulled, but I also had cavities in almost all my other teeth. This is a result of my severe depression. I went for days without brushing, and also ate compulsively to keep intrusive thoughts at bay and prevent an emotional breakdown. I had to do that basically every day, because I was (and still am) always a moment away from falling apart.
Despite this, I was surprised. The last time I had cavities, it was because the depression made me literally forget brushing was even a thing for about two months until I started having serious pain and suddenly remembered, "Oh, teeth. God damn it." Even then, that only caused a few cavities. I've been better about brushing since then; though I certainly haven't been ideal, I also haven't gone as long as a month without brushing. I can't believe I ended up with worse problems despite better hygiene. I even talked to someone on another forum who said he brushed maybe once or twice over the course of several years and didn't end up with this many cavities.
Now, though, I'm very afraid that it might not just be fillings that I need. I've had to switch dentists, which took me a while to find a new one, and I don't know how much worse things can get in that time. I just came back from my appointment with the new dentist, where they did a bunch of X-rays and took photos of my teeth. I have a follow up appointment scheduled for two weeks from now. The fact that it's two weeks from now makes me nervous. I'd like to assume that a dentist can tell when something needs to be fixed right away, and they would make some kind of emergency appointment in that case. But I don't know what the procedures are. I still don't have even the slightest bit of pain from any of my teeth, which I've read is kind of a good sign, but again, I'm not sure. Honestly, I would have had no idea anything was wrong if that one tooth hadn't broken.
I had to go to my old dentist this past Monday to pick up my records so I could take them to the new dentist. When I was there, he didn't seem to attach any unusual urgency to my situation. He didn't emphatically say "You need to get this taken care of right fucking now or you're going to lose all your teeth." He didn't even say "You DID get that one tooth removed, right?". I mean, he asked, but his tone didn't suggest a subtext of "God help you if you didn't get that tooth pulled." I would assume that if things were that dire, he would have a professional obligation to say so, right?
In any case, I'm very scared of what's going to happen. I really, really hate lying there in that chair, helpless and exposed, while people poke around in my mouth. I had kind of a bad experience with a filling back when I was a teenager, and I think that's created some kind of dental anxiety. It also doesn't help that I have kind of a small mouth and don't talk much, so my mouth muscles aren't really trained for being open and accessible. Paradoxically, though, these issues didn't lead to me obsessively brushing my teeth. I think what happened instead is that I sort of became afraid of my own mouth, so I didn't even want to touch it myself. God, that probably doesn't even make any sense. Or is there some kind of condition where people essentially have a phobia of their own body?
Anyway, I'm sorry if this was a bit disjointed or incoherent. I guess I'm just looking for some kind of reassurance or emotional support. I've gotten visibly anxious in front of every person I've gone to about this (both dentists and the oral surgeon who pulled the broken tooth), and I normally don't get emotional in public. So this whole thing is really screwing me up.
Despite this, I was surprised. The last time I had cavities, it was because the depression made me literally forget brushing was even a thing for about two months until I started having serious pain and suddenly remembered, "Oh, teeth. God damn it." Even then, that only caused a few cavities. I've been better about brushing since then; though I certainly haven't been ideal, I also haven't gone as long as a month without brushing. I can't believe I ended up with worse problems despite better hygiene. I even talked to someone on another forum who said he brushed maybe once or twice over the course of several years and didn't end up with this many cavities.
Now, though, I'm very afraid that it might not just be fillings that I need. I've had to switch dentists, which took me a while to find a new one, and I don't know how much worse things can get in that time. I just came back from my appointment with the new dentist, where they did a bunch of X-rays and took photos of my teeth. I have a follow up appointment scheduled for two weeks from now. The fact that it's two weeks from now makes me nervous. I'd like to assume that a dentist can tell when something needs to be fixed right away, and they would make some kind of emergency appointment in that case. But I don't know what the procedures are. I still don't have even the slightest bit of pain from any of my teeth, which I've read is kind of a good sign, but again, I'm not sure. Honestly, I would have had no idea anything was wrong if that one tooth hadn't broken.
I had to go to my old dentist this past Monday to pick up my records so I could take them to the new dentist. When I was there, he didn't seem to attach any unusual urgency to my situation. He didn't emphatically say "You need to get this taken care of right fucking now or you're going to lose all your teeth." He didn't even say "You DID get that one tooth removed, right?". I mean, he asked, but his tone didn't suggest a subtext of "God help you if you didn't get that tooth pulled." I would assume that if things were that dire, he would have a professional obligation to say so, right?
In any case, I'm very scared of what's going to happen. I really, really hate lying there in that chair, helpless and exposed, while people poke around in my mouth. I had kind of a bad experience with a filling back when I was a teenager, and I think that's created some kind of dental anxiety. It also doesn't help that I have kind of a small mouth and don't talk much, so my mouth muscles aren't really trained for being open and accessible. Paradoxically, though, these issues didn't lead to me obsessively brushing my teeth. I think what happened instead is that I sort of became afraid of my own mouth, so I didn't even want to touch it myself. God, that probably doesn't even make any sense. Or is there some kind of condition where people essentially have a phobia of their own body?
Anyway, I'm sorry if this was a bit disjointed or incoherent. I guess I'm just looking for some kind of reassurance or emotional support. I've gotten visibly anxious in front of every person I've gone to about this (both dentists and the oral surgeon who pulled the broken tooth), and I normally don't get emotional in public. So this whole thing is really screwing me up.
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A follow-up with a new patient isn't that surprising. Were you prescribed any antibiotics (it's typical now for dentists to put you on an antibiotic prior to major procedures to reduce infections.)
But you'll be okay. They'll work out a treatment plan for you.
I think that most medical providers do want to know what you are afraid of, so they can put your mind at ease. It's fine to ask "Should I be worried that this might get worse very suddenly, before they are filled?" or "what would the risks be of putting off getting these filled for three months."
Dental stuff sucks, and teeth are genetically so, so, so unfair. You're being really responsible now. Small fillings are better than big fillings or crowns.
If you think you'll get nervous during the procedure, let your dentist know ahead of time. He can probably give you nitrous to get you to calm down beforehand, or at least help assuage your concerns verbally. Don't be afraid to ask questions! If your doctor told you you had X issues you would ask a lot of questions, right? Same thing! And yeah, a lot of people get nervous at the dentist, you're not special there.
Most cavities are not that time critical. Cavities grow fairly slowly even after they hit the point of "no return". Even dental infections and teeth that has to be extracted are usually not time sensitive. By this I mean that waiting, even a few months, is unlikely to make the situation significantly worse because the rate of decay is slow. Of course waiting for longer periods of time will make things worse.
Your dentist would book you sooner if he thought that the teeth really needed emergency attention (to say, avoid a root canal).
Also don't compare yourself to other people. Think about your mouth status as a scale. On one side you put negative things like eating often, lots of sugar in your diet, poor oral hygiene, possibly genetics etc. On the other side you stack up positive things like good oral hygiene, using floss, extra fluoride, low amounts of carbo hydrates etc. The important part is your balance. You might brush better than a person and eat less candy and still get cavities. This is in no way fair but it only means you have to be even more vigilant.
Also you said you had been depressed. Are you on medication? A lot of antidepressants affect saliva production and gives you a dry mouth and saliva is one of the key factors that keeps your teeth healthy. Just don't stop taking your meds because of this if it's the case (it's more critical that you feel OK). But if you do have low saliva knowing about it can help you counteract it by rinsing more often with fluoride or using things that stimulate saliva secretion after you've eaten for example.
My oral surgeon put me on antibiotics when I had the tooth pulled recently. I took them for about two weeks after the procedure. It's been long enough that I think any infections would have happened by now. The new dentist I saw yesterday didn't put me on anything.
The fillings will almost certainly be spaced out across several appointments, if for no other reason than because there's so many of them that it would probably take too much time to do them all at once. I think I want to know as few details as possible. Teeth disturb me for some reason. When they did the x-rays and pictures yesterday, they had a monitor right in front of me that showed the pictures. I made an effort not to look at it. I did try to ask how much time I have or whether it looks like the teeth can be saved, but I haven't gotten very straight answers. My original dentist only talked about fillings, now the new one is mentioning crowns and root canals. I asked the surgeon's assistant how much time I have, and she just said "Not much. Just take care of it soon." She said it in an encouraging way, like "You don't want to lose your nice-looking teeth," but the vagueness was disappointing.
I didn't know genetics was a significant factor for dental issues. I guess I should have, because they're a significant factor in almost everything else. My parents don't really have great dental health either, though they're also both smokers, and I'm not. The surgeon said I was doing everything right (except, of course, for not brushing as much as I should).
That's what I assumed, though it's still good to hear someone actually say it. I've heard that once you have pain, that's the point of no return where the tooth will probably have to be removed. But like I said, the last time I had cavities, I only knew because one of my teeth had severe pain, and even that tooth (which I assume was the worst) didn't have to be removed until now. A funny thing that happened in that case was that I had referred pain. The pain was in my upper jaw, but the problem tooth was actually on the bottom. I'd like to think that the current absence of pain means none of my cavities are currently as bad as that one was, despite how many of them there are. That would mean I have some time to work with.
Normally I'm pretty good about understanding things like that, but for some reason I bought into the idea that teeth were some kind of exception to that rule. I do admit, though, that my diet has been extremely bad recently. I'm talking "eating half a bag of fun-size candy bars and half a container of ice cream in one day" kind of bad. I never ate like that until the past few years, but it was the only thing that kept me stable when video games couldn't do it any more. At least I haven't gained as much weight as other people probably would have. The weight I have gained is nothing I couldn't lose in about two months if I starved myself (which I would have the willpower to do if I wasn't so depressed; and of course, if I wasn't depressed, the horrible diet wouldn't have happened anyway).
I'm not on any medications. I've tried several of them to combat both my depression and my OCD, which is also very serious. None of them worked, and my depression in particular is less about chemicals and more about circumstances that I'd rather not get into right now. When it comes to saliva, I apparently have the opposite problem - I produce more than usual. When I was a kid, they actually had to give me something to dry my mouth so they could put sealants on some of my teeth. On the other hand, I do take a lot of over-the-counter sleeping pills (diphenhydramine HCl, if that means anything to anyone), and I think dry mouth is one of the side effects, so maybe that contributed to this situation.
I just got off the phone with my new dentist's office. They told me my problems are too severe to be fixed by a regular dentist, and that I need all these specialists and shit. I talked to my regular dentist mere days before I went to the new one. Why the fuck did he not indicate things could be this bad? Could they really have gotten this bad in the month or so between the tooth breaking and now?
God damn fucking everything. I don't think I can handle this. I think I'm just going to fucking kill myself. My life won't be worth living after this anyway, because I'll probably be ugly as fuck afterwards.
I don't fucking believe this. I should have killed myself years ago. Fuck it. I should buy a gun tomorrow and do what I should have done years ago.
All this happened because I couldn't get other things fixed. So I started shoving food in my mouth, and now my teeth are destroyed.
God damn the entire fucking world.
Okay, first thing - please call a help line or a therapist. Suicide is not the answer.
Second, if that's what your new dentist said, get a second opinion. Especially considering that your prior dentist didn't mention anything. There are routine stories of dental fraud, and if things are really as bad as they claim, another dentist should be able to verify. And if the second opinion doesn't verify, well...you get away from the guy trying to turn you into a gold mine.
Third, see if there's a dental school with a clinic that can help. Many dental schools have clinics that allow patients to receive reduced rates in exchange for being a subject for dental students.
It is for me. My life was already a lost cause even before all this. If it wasn't, I wouldn't have done all the fucking eating that probably caused this. I should get in shape to prove I can and then fucking end this shit.
I'm too ashamed to do this stuff. Not just because of my teeth, but for various other reasons. I don't want anyone to even know I exist.
It was about a month between finding the cavities and now. Can things really get that bad in a month? Because if not, my original dentist has a fucking lot to answer for. Although I guess it doesn't ultimately matter.
You are not a lost cause, and I know this from personal experience, because I've been the same place you've been - and I'm dealing with dental fallout of my own, including two root canals. I still struggle with emotional eating to this day. You can do this, and I really recommend contacting either a therapist or your local suicide help line.
The reason I'm saying that you should get a second opinion is because having his office call you and say you need all this stuff is a big red flag for me. At the very least, a second opinion would confirm.
Batsignalling @ceres because she should be involved with what you're saying for a few reasons.
1 (800) 273-8255
Call It.
If it's bad enough you're willing to threaten something like this then it's bad enough that calling a phone number anonymously can't hurt you.
Dental issues aren't a reason for this. A good friend of mine had to get dentures as a teenager due to genetics having teeth with the durability of a stick of chalk. You can be entirely attractive and functional with dental implants. You need to talk to someone about everything else you won't (and maybe shouldn't) post on the internet.
You've been given some good resources, and we can't allow suicidal ideation on these forums.