Recently I went to see the dentist, because I had lost one old filling. The dentist noticed already when I began coming a few months back for check up fixing of old fillings that there was a fair bit of erosion. This time it had gotten worse, and I was advised to see a specialist. The specialists took an x-ray and the team suggested 28 crowns, that is on all teeth. The price will be 30,000 Euro or 33,000 USD. I spoke to my own dentist and she suggested putting metal in some of the fillings, rather than plastic, 30,000 was too much money and I don't have them. Then I found there is also a university clinic and their prices and probably also quality is lower. For the time being, I postphone the expensive repairs and get some mouthguards done to reduce the wear. Since the visit with the specialist, I read about possible delaying strategies for preventing further decay, crowns, bridges, durability, different kinds of dentures and implant strategies and what happens to the bone structure if teeth are missing. To see the perspectives of different dentists was certainly useful, because although they write something similar, they do not all write the same. To this I added a few Youtubes with patients explaining their experiences. It is not encouraging really, but that is how it is.
Along the way I found a couple of pages that explain some of the challenges and issues I was interested to know more about:
Here are five ways improving your oral health can make your life longer but also improve your quality of life as well, by Mark Burhenne DDS.
askthedentist.com
Do you need a night guard for grinding? - Ask the Dentist Statistics say 8 % grind their teeth, some say it is more.
To my surprise there are some kits available that allows one to make night guards for the teeth oneself:
Best Mouthguards for Nighttime Teeth Grinding – 2019 Reviews and Buyer's Guide but the ones I get will be from a clinic.
About the deterioration of my teeth, I have wondered about reasons apart from old erosions, grinding of teeth and food acids. Louise Hay says relates problems with taking decision and that may be. One thing I have noticed in the last half year or so is that on occasions I have woken up with dryness on the front teeth. Perhaps this is from sleeping with the mouth open and perhaps snoring. I learned from reading that this is not healthy, as the saliva protects the teeth. I had a recorder, and put it on during night. Sometimes the breathing suggests what I suspected, that the mouth is not closed completely and occasionally there is light snoring. Here is a
page about studying sleep which writes:
...the field of dental sleep medicine is rapidly becoming mainstream; you may even hear your dentist ask about your sleep quality at your next checkup.
...
Knowing the quality of your sleep is, in my opinion, one of the most powerful pieces of data about yourself that you could have. It’s right up there with your blood type and genetic predispositions to certain diseases.
