Who like the Dentist? Cure for pain is get a estimate of cost.

[frank_f15]

hey rob i am 66 and last year i finally had to give up what was remaing of my natural teethm got ful dentures they fit ok but i find i can't bite on things but to be fair my natural teeth were so loose i really could not bite anyhow. at least i don't have anymore pain.BUT THERE IS NOTHING LIKE NATURAL TEETH

 

[FARMALL RON]

I had all of mine pulled 8yr. ago and it was the best thing i have ever done ........RON

 

[rtdiggr]

Hi, You wouldn't believe what stops pain when I went to the Dentist. I had been having bad pains in my teeth till I saw the estimate for the dental work. He wanted 8,000 dollars which made my pain go away. I had another dentist that wanted 30,000 dollars to fix 20 teeth. Which instead some where pulled because I went to oral surgeon and he said the teeth cann't be fixed because of the damage of past filling. All I can say give me dentures any day over pain with real teeth. When I was in my teens I had 20 of my teeth filled with fillings.

Rob

it sound's to me like some dentist needs a new car, or maybe a really nice trip[of course on your dollar] Shane

 

[MossRoad]

When I was a kid, my folks made the mistake of using a family member for dental work. Bottom line is the cousin was not sober AND a bad dentist. Really messed up the whole family's teeth. So, the folks finally found a different dentist and nearly went bankrupt paying for the work on 7 mouthfuls of teeth.

Needless to say, I had a fear of dentists and when told by the new dentist that I needed 23 fillings, I started crying, as I had only had one filling before and that was not pleasant (no novicain and a drunk dentist smoking a cigarette in your face while drilling just tends to scare the bajeebers out of a kid, you know). So, the dentist did a very good job of explaining the difference between pressure and pain to me by pinching the back of my hand with his finger nail VS pushing the back of my hand with his finger tip. He told me that if I felt pressure, that was not pain, and if I felt pain, to raise my hand and stop him. We tried it a few times and I was O.K. with it. So, I was at the dentist every week for three months or so until it was all taken care of. Those fillings have held strong for 35 years and I have had no new cavities since. I've broken a few teeth and had to have three crowns and a root canal, but again, there was no pain. I even had a wisdom tooth pulled and had pizza that night. He retired and now his son is my dentist. Same great technique. I usually fall asleep in the chair when getting my 6 month cleanings.

Just like tractors (see, I knew we could bring tractors into this) some preventative maintenance will save a fortune down the road.

Bit the bullet (pardon the pun) and get them teeth in shape and then maintain them. Then you can smile like this ->

 

[MossRoad]

... when I was 17, I went to see an orthodontist about braces. My parents would have managed to pay for it, but when I found out that it would amount to over 2 months salary, I declined....

After all of our family dental work that I mentioned above, mom and dad could not afford braces for us, either. The new dentist realized that, and showed us how by chewing on a wooden tongue depresser in a very specific manner and at a very specific angle, we could move our own teeth around. DON'T TRY THIS AT HOME! However, we bought several boxes of tongue depressers and by holding it at the angle suggested by the dentist I had to bit down on it over and over again until the end was splintered and gooey. Then, flip it over, move to the opposite side of my mouth, put it between the teeth at the angle again and start gnawing away. We looked like a bunch of beavers every night before bed gnawing away on those things! Low and behold, after a few weeks of this, our teeth started fitting together better. That went on for about a year. Every few weeks we'd stop by and he'd inspect our teeth and he'd give us a different angle and pair of teeth to work on. My teeth still fit together nicely to this day.

 

[scott_vt]

Hi, You wouldn't believe what stops pain when I went to the Dentist. I had been having bad pains in my teeth till I saw the estimate for the dental work. He wanted 8,000 dollars which made my pain go away. I had another dentist that wanted 30,000 dollars to fix 20 teeth. Which instead some where pulled because I went to oral surgeon and he said the teeth cann't be fixed because of the damage of past filling. All I can say give me dentures any day over pain with real teeth. When I was in my teens I had 20 of my teeth filled with fillings.

Rob

Mornin Rob,
Well I guess Im loke the others, nothing like your own teeth especially if they are indeed worth saving ! I get mine cleaned every 6 months and have had minimal issues with them although I have been told I have some gum recession going on but at 56 it doesnt seem to be getting any worse.

Anyways heres a little story for you ! One of my buddies up in Vt used to work in the slate quarries, the workers had no insurance years ago and those with bad teeth or any cavity pain used a bit of an insane trick IMHO ! They would dab a small stick with sulfric acid " battery acid" and dab the tooth that was giving them trouble ! So if you dont want to pay the dentist see if you cant get a little sulfric acid ! Just kidding of course ! Good Luck !

 

[JDGREEN4ME]

I've had trouble with my teeth for years. Root canals, cysts on my jaw requiring tooth removal, crowns, bridges etc. I have considered dentures but my dentists has suggested dental implants. Anyone have experiance with those?

 

[MossRoad]

I have a titanium post embedded in my jaw that one of my crowns is attached to. Never had a problem with that one. The other crowns that are just glued to my existing tooth underneath have pulled out a couple times when eating Now and Later's or Starbursts... you'd think I would learn!

 

[Bird]

For many, many years now my wife and I have our teeth cleaned twice a year. Of course we now have dental insurance that pays for it. And we were accustomed to dental hygienists until we moved back to town 5 years ago and now the dentist we use does it himself. I guess he does a good job, and he's sure faster than the hygienists were.

And like lots of folks from my generation, I used to have a fear of dentists. I was 7 years old when I had a bad toothache in a jaw tooth, and I also had chicken pox at the time. So our dentist, Dr. Ball, didn't want me brought to his office because I might spread the chicken pox. Instead, he came to the house. Now that needle he stuck in there hurt, then after a few minutes he got hold of that tooth with his pliers and wiggled it and asked me if that hurt. It did, but I said no because I didn't want him to stick that needle in me again. So he pulled that tooth. Wow! So I avoided dentists for many years if at all possible.

 

[jdbower]

Those fillings have held strong for 35 years and I have had no new cavities since.

You're lucky, my old silver fillings are only 10-15 years old and they've started to crumble so they're being replaced slowly with crowns and newer technology fillings as needed. My dentist at the time wasn't so much into keeping his skills and technology up to date so that may have something to do with it. My current dentist is the first one I've been to that I actually like (shameless plug for those in the NJ area) and his replacements have been fantastic - plus his technique moved my thoughts on dental work from medieval torture to mild discomfort.