I went into the office trembling with fear. I knew that no good news could come of this visit to the dentist, but that I needed to go, face my fear head-on, and take what they were going to tell me with as much courage and strength as possible.
The last dentist made me feel so low, talking down to me and scolding me for not only my poor oral health, but my poor lifestyle choices in the past, as well. It was a horrifying experience, so you can certainly understand my apprehension walking into a dentist's office after nearly 3 1/2 years.
It started with a series of X-rays, which I expected. I was open and honest, if not candid, about my dental health issues: weak enamel, low calcium throughout the duration of 4 pregnancies, a past of crystal meth use, cigarette smoking from age 14 to present, and last, but not least, the pain I am currently experiencing is so severe that I am unable to brush my teeth on a regular basis.
I am embarassed, mortified even, to be telling you this, but I feel it's important to get it off my chest, and share my experiences so that, perhaps, I can help someone else out in the future who may encounter this same problem. Walking in, I knew that a lot of my teeth would not be salvaged. What I was not prepared for was the number of them... TWELVE! And that was just the initial assessment. I will need to go in next Tuesday and get a thorough deep cleaning (via novocaine) to really assess the damage more appropriately. It may be more. But, what struck me even harder was the single word the doc said following this news: dentures. I am only 28 years old! I'm not an old woman. This is not supposed to happen to people my age. It was very upsetting to hear this news, but I sat there, in the office, very stoic, and tried my best to pay attention after hearing that word. It was tough. As of yesterday, partial dentures is what we are looking at, but after next Tuesday, it may be ordered that none of my teeth are worth trying to fill, cap, crown, and save. My guess is that this will be the case, and I will end up with a full set of upper dentures, and a partial set on the bottom. Just a guess at this point.
Anyhow, I cried like a baby yesterday, and talked to a few people, one of which was my step-mom, who helped me uncover a huge myth about them... "Granny Gums". "Granny gums" are a term I use that describes how a person looks without their dentures, and I always thought that you could still tell they had them, weather or not they were inserted. Well, as I am told, this is not the case. That sunken mouth look only comes when the false teeth are out of the mouth, and for the most part, no one will be able to tell they are not my actual teeth. That was extremely helpful to hear.
Here's the good things about dentures I've been able to come up with:
1. "Granny gums" is myth.
2. I will have the best smile ever, and will make others jealous of my new pearly whites.
3. I will, for the first time in years... I mean... YEARS... be able to smile a genuine smile, teeth and all, and NOT feel self-conscious about it. I will not have to continue this adapted way of talking that strategically covers my teeth in their entirety when I am speaking. It will be a HUGE self esteem booster!
4. No more pain!
5. MUCH easier to keep them clean. You can pop em out, and REALLY get in the spaces in the back to floss.
6. No more bad breath.
7. No more decay and rot in my mouth.
8. I can not rot them.
So, for some reason this blog and the last one both had 8 points to them... Maybe there is some significance to this number: 8. Who knows... probably just some freakish coincidence. Anyhow, I'm over the initial shock, fear, anxiety, anger, hurt, self-loathing, denial, and sorrow. I will be okay with this, and can make it through this. It will, in the end, be a very good thing.
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