My tooth
When I was a kid/ teen I had very crooked teeth. I was extremely self conscious about them, dreading picture day, avoiding smiling, trying to speak with my lips hardly moving. I dreamed of having brace, not even so much to eventually expose a straight smile as to cover them.
Although they could afford it, with six kids my parents never felt compelled to spend the money on me. One time, around age 15, it came close, where I actually had an orthodontist assessment. I remember sitting in the office with my Father when the assistant brought my molds out and my Father made a joke when he saw them (obviously very unattractive) about how they would make lovely book ends. I felt deep shame and I remember the woman giving him a strange look, but I didn't get that it was his sense of humour as I percieved him as "the business man", very personable. He had lots of friends (that he visited without us) and was a respected business owner.
Anyways that never went anywhere as my parents were on the downhill slide which sent them even deeper into self absorbtion. I remember wishing I lived in a slum so I would fit in better and could say that my paents couldn't afford to fix them and that was why I didn't have braces.
It dawned on me that although my teeth bothered me tremendously, it was the feeling like I was walking around with a neon sign that proclaimed "unworthy" "unloved" "defective" that really shamed me.
As soon as I could, I quit school, got a job and began the orthodontist treatments. I had to have palate surgery and a few years of braces but I did it.
My world didn't change when they came off, as just having them on gave me such relief. I learned an important lesson. That it wasn't the "gaining" that was important but rather the "losing"
My parents still point the finger at each other blaming.
I have no ill will about it but it baffles me and saddens me that they missed such an opportunity.
Both my kids are in braces right now. So fast forward to present lol. Over a year ago my front tooth began to shift a bit. I'm always regular with check ups and cleanings. I had switched just in the last two years to a local dentist as ours was beginning to get very difficult to arrange and travel too because of circumstances.
A friend I HIGHLY respect recommended her. I had a vibe but I'm aware of this programme I have with women and discomfort/mistrust and I very much valued this friends opinion.
So the dentist says after xrays and usual check up, "you have a bit of bone loss" (this was same time as tooth shifting) Well I got nervous and asked well how bad? What does it mean etc. Just happens whe we get older. Well I figured that I had bone loss generally or something and that it was a natural aging process. And that tooth movement happened too when you got older. I asked about shifting front tooth and she says that's an orthodontist issue. Oh, so I say well maybe when daughter is done payments I will go and see. Oh, ok. So I start taking vitamin K and being careful with my diet, go for my physical, no osteoporosis or anything. I visit a dentist that does work there for a crown and mention it to him who says we can put a filling type thing there for cosmetic purposes but you can't bite hard things. That's ok I say. I will just get it repositioned. It bothers me but I can live with the Lauren Hutton look for awhile.
So I continue to get regular cleanings pointing out each tme that the front tooth seems weird it's sensitive so be careful around it.
A year later I go to the orthodontist who immediately sends me to a peridontist. He says I have a peridontal problem with advanced bone loss (I saw in depth xrays) and that I will loose the tooth. It was quite a blow. I ask how and he at first gave me the smoking schpeel but after xrays said he's baffled because it's mostly in the front tooth with some on other front tooth but not as bad. He said there's no complaints about hygeine have I had a knock on my tooth because that can create a pocket for bacteria to thrive. I told him about surgery which apparently sometimes doesn't heal 100% and make create openings however I suspect a surgery from a small cyst I had removed that changed my gumline from a v behind front teeth to a straight line and it may have shrunk or who knows what.
I was furious after this because for gawds sake should a dentist NOT KNOW that a tooth shifting with bone loss amounts to bacteria eating the bone?? Cause and effect? I was mad at myself for not investigating however with the dentists statements it seemed minor and normal for aging and certainly I had no clue there was such things as peridontist. I only knew about gingivitis and I never had any gum problems.
I immediately switched dentists, told the secretary when she called exactly why and I am now scheduled for deep cleaning. There's 80% bone loss so the peridontist says after deep cleaning we reasses however he is sure he's going to recommend extraction of my front tooth. I said but if the deep cleaning kills bacteria, why extract? he said because the deep pocket will always allow more in and even though the progression will be slower, there will be more bone loss and it will be difficult if I want to get an implant eventually.
I'm not ready to give up on my tooth so iIwas wondering about regrowing bone? I'm trying to read up and it seems there's some sort of laser treatment that looks promising. Anyone have any experience? I'm dealing with anger towards dentist too. My first inclination is to think I'm stupid and missed something however there was never any red flag concern about bone loss and I remember specifically her saying it's just natural when aging and that the shifting tooth baffled her so she suggested an orthodontist which I assumed was for cosmetic purposes and not urgent. Wouldn't she have suggested a peridontist? It's like she didn't associate bone loss with tooth movement or bacteria eating the bone.
So I asked the peridontist who said maybe that's why she suggested frequent cleanings to which I said she never suggested that I just went when the kids did. He just looked down. So I asked him if I had come a year ago would it have been much better...... DUH of course! So I asked him straight out, do you think it was pure incompetence? To which he said well perhaps she suggested orthodontist knowing he would send you to a peridontist but that sounds like colleagues sticking up for each other as an orthodontist might do that, if he's competent however he's not a peridontist and with my dentist besides saying it was an orthodontist no problem was ever even speculated about.
