July 8, 2009

Over the last few years, I've received quite a few emails asking me how things have turned out for me. The news is variable.

The good news is that I still have most of my teeth. The bad news is that I have continued to have problems and issues with them, I grew very little bone back from the emdogain, and I am currently in the process of having two implants put in my lower back jaw. Those teeth couldn't be saved, and had to be removed.

My current periodontist believes that, even though I do have extensive bone loss in my upper jaw, that a conservative approach will continue to work for the time being. This means continued cleanings every 3 months, and continued use of a low-dose antibiotic. While the bone loss is extensive, the teeth are currently stable. I won't ever have beautiful teeth, and that's kind of hard to come to terms with. The best I can hope for is to keep the ones I've got, and/or slowly replace them with implants over time.

However, I firmly believe that the perioscopy was the right choice for me. I believe the perioscopy was a factor in slowing the bone loss, and while I am not a dentist, doctor or hygienist, I would definitely suggest that if you're considering it, you gather all the facts and determine if it's right for you.

Tomorrow I'll talk about the implants I'm getting. That's a whole new story unto itself.

An email from a dentist

So I got this email awhile back, from a guy claiming to be a dentist, and I believe that he is. Why do I believe it? Because it illustrates perfectly what is wrong with dentists who don't "get it". This email is condescending and pedantic, uses the bludgeon of fear, and presumes idiocy and cowardice on the part of the patient. Personally I wouldn't want this dentist giving me a manicure, in part because his spelling indicates a lack of interest in education (the email arrived with the header "Found your blog while sufing" - I guess he meant "surfing"), but also because this is the kind of dentist who treats his patients like cash cows and not human beings.

So, "RSM", if you're reading this, maybe you could try opening your mind a little, listening to your patients instead of lecturing and insulting them, and doing unto others. But no, that's not likely to happen. Sad. Your type will be extinct eventually, as younger, smarter, more gentle and forward thinking people enter the field.

Dear Dental Hell,

Seems to me when you finally learn how to clean your teeth properly at home everyday you will have no more reason to whine about the evils of dentistry. Try going with no teeth for a while and I think you’ll start to change your tune. You were given a gift of teeth, and you won’t appreciate them until their gone. About that same time you will start to appreciate dentistry too, but your not there yet Bud!

RSM DDS

Lotsa cleanings and some sad news

So I went to get my teeth cleaned in April , and JC said she thinks I need to visit every two months for cleanings. I am, as I've said before, a calculus making machine!!! Ugh! No matter how much I Sonic Care and Water Pik, I still build that crud up like a beaver making a dam!!

(By the way, did you know there's an actor named Billy Crudup? He's got great looking teeth!)

Anyway, so JC is very discouraged about her system...the one that works so well. She was talking about packing it in and moving to some small town in the hills. It's a real shame, too, because she is really onto something, people. Her perioscopy program is ahead of its time. It shouldn't be, but she's fighting an entire industry. An industry that loves its high prices. Dentistry has done a masterful job of obfuscating facts and figures so that patients simply live in fear and do whatever the dentists want. Including accepting a prognosis of "all these teeth have to go", and "you need $30,000 worth of implants" . This is a profession that should be caring and nurturing, and instead it's bullying, secretive, overpriced and disingenuous.
I am telling you right now, if your dentist has told you you need your teeth out, you must get a second opinion. Don't let them bully you. Contact me if you need to, I will help you. Just don't settle until you know all the facts and know your options!!

My email is over there on the right. Please don't spam me and please, if you're insane and just want to ramble, don't email me. But if you want advice and you think I can help, please do send me an email.

Finally!

Well, it's been ages since I last posted, but that's because I've been in the waiting game. Waiting for the gums to heal, waiting for the bone to grow, waiting, waiting....

Finally today we got started with some restorative work. This is just the basics, folks. A crumbling filling was removed and a temporary placed on. A couple of other fillings were replaced. The dentist said my gums look great (thank you, Water Pik!). We haven't done X-rays yet to see about bone growth. I'm scared that the Emdogain won't work and I won't have any new bone, especially on top. That worries me a lot.

But today I experienced a new form of numbing, called Stabident. What a horrid name, huh? Sounds like Romanian for "I stab you in your dentistry!" But in fact it's a new system whereby only the tooth is numbed, using a tiny needle that goes right into the bone. Ick. But it profoundly numbs the tooth without causing that "big lip" feeling, where the whole surrounding area has to be numbed (as with Novocain). The coolest thing is that the numbing is immediate. You don't have to sit there for 15 minutes waiting for the Novocain to work, while the sounds and smells of the dentist's office add to your anxiety. Oh yea, when she first put the Stabident in, I felt some anxiety, and she explained that that is actually a physical reaction to the Stabident itself. The elevated heart rate lasts about a minute or two, and then subsides. It helped to know that.

All in all it was a long day, 2 1/2 hours in the chair, 4 teeth fixed. Insurance should pay some, but I had to pay a little over $500. For example, the temporary or "provisional crown" was charged at $200 and insurance is expected to pay NONE of that. WTF??

Soon I'll have to start deciding what kind of cosmetic work I want done. I'm reading bad reviews about Lumineers and veneers -- not only that there are a lot of unsatisfied customers out there, but also that they're extremely expensive and generally not covered at all by insurance. I think insurance would pay some toward orthodontia, so I'm leaning toward braces and whitening. Would love to hear anyone's thoughts. I don't have to make a decision for a few months, but you know me, I like to do my research!!

I had a cleaning

Hey, I must tell you that if you've never had a cleaning using ultrasonic equipment, you are going to the wrong dentist! This newish technology is quicker, more efficient, less painful, and gives a better result than the traditional scraping with those horrid pointy things. Sometimes hand scraping in addition to the ultrasonic is necessary, but still, if you can reduce the amount of time someone is scraping away at your mouth, great!

We did an x-ray on the lower left tooth -- the one that was deemed unsaveable -- and it does appear there is not only reattachment but the beginnings of bone regeneration. It's too soon to declare the tooth saved, but I have high hopes!

We're still a few months away from deciding on whether I'll go with orthodontia or veneers...I'm looking into Lumineers as a possibility. Any thoughts appreciated.

Whoosh

So it's been ages since I last posted, and that's mostly because right now it's just a waiting game. We won't know if the Emdogain is working for a while yet, and no additional dental work can be done until the bone is regenerated to a certain point. But the office hooked me up with a WaterPick, something I've never used before but now I'll never be without. Really, it's a great appliance, once you get the hang of it.

Remember that scene from Roxanne where the firefighters are practicing with the firehose and it's totally out of control, and the hose is whipping them all over the place? That's what I felt like the first couple of times I used my Waterpick, but once I got the hang of it, by God it's a miracle. Not to be too gross, but the fact is that little bits of stuff come out from between the teeth, even after a thorough brushing. It's better than flossing, in my opinion.

I also had a silly thought the other day. I was cleaning the kitchen, the perennial chore, and I realized I spend MORE time every day cleaning the kitchen than I do taking care of my mouth. THAT's sad.

Poor little girl

I read that story about the poor little five year old girl who is now brain dead after dental sedation. Here's an excerpt from the Chicago Sun Times.:

"Diamond Brownridge, the 5-year-old Southwest Side girl who slipped into a coma after being sedated by her dentist, was clinging to life late Monday at Children's Memorial Hospital.....Diamond's sedation involved three steps. First, she was given a substance to drink from a cup. Then the clinic administered what it called "goofy gas,'' Travis said. Finally, she received intravenous sedation....the child, who had been grinding her teeth, had complained of dental pain and been diagnosed with two cavities, her mother said. She was also getting caps on some lower teeth..."

Ok my first question is why is a five year old child getting caps on lower teeth?
Second, of course, is what happened?

No one seems to know at this point.

For more information about the dangers of IV sedation, here is an article by ABC News.

But the episode led me to do a google news search on dentists. It brought up a story about sexual abuse, a story about a Birmingham (UK) dentist accused of ordering a firebomb attack on a Birmingham house which killed a six-year-old girl, and a whole bunch of other strange stories about dentists. These stories led me to look up that urban legend about dentists having high suicide rates. I found this article, which seems to refute that claim, although it has a very funny graphic cartoon.