Good and bad dental news - update

[swellen]

I went to see a new dentist yesterday, knowing that I have many many fillings to get done. I have had years of dentists telling me I have genetically bad teeth and there's nothing they can do but keep filling them and hope for the best (that was usually after they'd falsely accused me of not flossing ).

Anyway I went to see this new guy yesterday after about 10 people recommended him. He was slightly taken aback after seeing my x-rays since I have holes in just about every tooth. After the usual question about flossing he said, "The problem is you don't produce enough saliva, so your teeth have absolutely no protection. We need to address that problem or you'll just spend the rest of your life filling holes." I couldn't believe it - I'm 35 and have been getting fillings since I was about 12 and no one has ever said this to me before. I have spent thousands of dollars, not to mention having constant anxiety about losing my teeth entirely. I knew that dry mouth is a problem but I had no idea it was a problem for me. I said I didn't feel constantly thirsty or anything but he said that didn't matter, he could tell when he was doing the fillings that I produce very little saliva. (And I guess if I've always had this problem I don't really know that 'normal' feels like.)

So he's put me on a new regime of Curasept recalcifying toothpaste and mouthwash for a couple of months, plus a thing called 'Tooth Mousse', plus an oral hydrating liquid a couple of times a day (not so keen on that one; it's a bit weird feeling). And I have strict instructions to drink at least two litres of water per day, and to make sure I have lots of water if eating or drinking anything high sugar or starch. I eat apples quite a lot too, at which he frowned and said "have water with them and make sure you brush as soon as possible."

While I am upset about the number of fillings in my immediate future (I wouldn't let him tell me the exact amount) I am so relieved that someone has finally realised there is an underlying problem, and has suggested a treatment for it. Obviously it will always be a problem so I'll always have some 'extra' dental products to use but if it means I get to keep my teeth I couldn't care less.

[swellen]

Why do you think he was so concerned about apples?

Apples are high in acid and low saliva production means you don't have the right pH balance to counter it... although it seems like he would prefer everyone to brush after eating fruit. I talked about 'sugar free' products such as cordial (in case I get bored with all that water) and he said the problem with a lot of them is that they're partially sweetened with fruit juice which is high acid. So I'm sticking with water... and thankfully he didn't ban me from drinking tea! I think I would have been forced to disobey - I already have it black, unsweetened and decaffeinated; surely that's enough sacrifice??

[downhillsnowskier]

Yeah, the recalcifying toothpaste was recommended to me as well. My dentist prescribed Prevident and I've been using nightly for about six months. My teeth feel no different, but since I first got my permanent braces off years ago I had serious calcification problems and many sucessive dentists always told me there was nothing I could do about it. The spots obscured(not necessarily covered but hard to reach) by brackets is where my decalification is the worst. I am hoping that those spots will go away with consistent use. Oh, and they(dentists office people in unison) echoed the "lay off the sugar" concern as well. I said Diet soda, which I drink like a fish, is sugar free, but they said either lay off it or rinse after every can. I do a lot of rinsing.

[swellen]

I'd love to learn more about the Tooth Mousse - I've heard about it beofre (probably on ArchWired) and I believe it is about trying to remineralize "soft spots" in the enamel. Please let us know how that one works out for you!

Here's the blurb about Tooth Mousse:

http://www.gcasia.info/content_GC_Tooth_Mousse.html

That's the advertising hype of course, but it sounds ok. I'll let you know how it goes. I'm using the melon flavour. It's... strange, but not vile.

[swellen]

I went back to the dentist today to have my saliva checked for acidity. He scraped around my mouth a bit then put it in some solution or other and waited for it to change colour. The chart he was using ranged from blue (great ph balance) through green, yellow, orange and up to red (very high acid levels). I was in the dark-orange-nearly-red zone - not good! Same regime as before, but at least now we know for sure there's a reason for all the decay.

In other news, I asked him how he felt about Waterpiks and he raved about them for 10 minutes. After trying to sell me the ridiculously expensive Oral B thing (toothbrush, irrigator, tongue cleaner, various bells and whistles) he said that a friend of his is trying to find a manufacturer to make an Australian version of the Waterpik - I'm not sure if he meant a new thing or an actual Waterpik, produced here. They're apparently quite cheap in Taiwan too (that's the kind he uses) but they can't be imported to Australia because they're not FDA approved. So perhaps there's some hope for a Waterpik in the Australian market soon. Well, eventually, anyway.

[swellen]

Latest news on my teeth, such as they are... my dentist said today that the tooth mousse is definitely working; the 'brown spots'/soft spots are remineralising and getting stronger. I'm so glad to know that something is actually making a difference. For years it's felt like I can't get ahead with my teeth, since I end up with loads of fillings no matter how carefully I clean. Now I might actually have a checkup or two where I don't need any fillings. Not in the immediate future, of course, but later.

The current lot of fillings is still progressing, painfully and expensively. At the moment I have only half a tooth in one spot (the one on the outside of my left canine) because it was so badly decayed underneath that when he started drilling the whole top of the tooth fell off. That was NOT a fun filling - there was an old amalgam one there and drilling it out was extremely skull-jarring. I had a pounding headache all afternoon. Anyway he filled it but wants to let it 'recover' before putting another surface on it, which he'll do at my next visit in three weeks, so it's about half the height it should be. You probably wouldn't notice until it was pointed out, but I think it looks weird. I think I have fillings to be done in about 6 or seven more teeth. At least two of them should have crowns but he's willing to see how they go with fillings for the time being (partly to give my bank balance time to recover - I've used up all my insurance).

Another down side to all this is that my retainer no longer fits, so my teeth are starting to drift a little. Obviously there's no point doing anything about it until the fillings are all done but I'm not very happy. Actually I'm finding the whole thing pretty depressing. I hate having such unhealthy, weak teeth and I hate the constant worry about whether the decay rate will ever slow down. Sigh... I'm definitely wearing my cranky pants today!