Aging and teeth

My poor mom had full dentures, top and bottom, by the time she was 25. I remember growing up, feeling so sorry for her. It probably went a long way towards me keeping good dental hygiene habits. However, despite those habits, I ended up with gum disease when I was 18. I had to get 5 teeth pulled, and braces which I wore for 2 years.

Over the next several years I had 2 root canals, and 1 little cavity. My teeth were in really good shape. They were all my own, and dentists always commented on how nice they were. I got them cleaned regularly, brushed and flossed a couple of times every day, and twice a week, for many years, I rinsed with peroxide and brushed with baking soda. My teeth looked really good. They felt good, too.

As my root canals aged, about 15-20 years, they got brittle and they broke. Right at the gum line. So, I had two gaps in my teeth because there was no way I was going to get implants. I didn't have the money, plus they both were in the back, on opposite sides of my mouth so I figured no one would ever see the gaps. Little did I know that was the beginning of the end of my nice teeth!

I inherited a lovely habit from my dad. It's called grinding of teeth. Otherwise known as "What is that hideous sound?!?!" I'm not certain, but I think it may have contributed to the end of my marriage. If not, it certainly must have made it easier, to make the decision, to call it quits!! Personally, I've never heard it but my mom has said it's the loudest, grossest sound she's ever heard come out of a human body. She hated it when my dad did that.

Because I had an old silver filling in a tooth next to one of the gaps, and I started grinding my teeth, I ended up having a tooth pulled yesterday. Those old silver fillings are a little soft and the grinding pushed the filling farther into my tooth. The only problem with that is that the filling has to go somewhere, so it pushes out against the sides of the tooth. Which caused cracks, which caused the tooth to break. Who would think they'd break a tooth while eating chicken wild rice soup? Certainly not me. But there I was, in the Denver airport, waiting for my connection and was suddenly chewing on something hard. I knew it couldn't be right so I took it out and there was 1/4 of a molar. Made me think twice about the soup! And, after the second thought, I decided not to finish it. That might have been one of the best decisions I make all year!

When I got to my destination (Costa Rica) I told my daughter and son-in-law about it and then pretty much forgot about it. But a few nights later I must have been grinding, because I woke up with a lot of tooth pain. She made an appointment for me with a dentist down there. Unfortunately, I couldn't see anyone until the day before I returned to the states, so there wasn't a whole lot she could do for me.

As it turned out, I had another tooth, right below the newly broken one, that I had broken a couple of months before. I had not done anything about it because I didn't have any insurance and it only hurt a couple of times and rinsing with peroxide took care of that right away.

Eventually, they both started giving me problems so I made an apt, but the day of there was a bunch of ice on my car, and the roads, and we didn't get up early enough to still make it to the apt on time. So I rescheduled and I have to say that those last 3 days before my apt were miserable. I had a lot of pain, and to exacerbate the problem, I was grinding my teeth the night before. I woke up in so much pain that a vicadin, Anbesol, and ice didn't stop the pain from increasing. I've never been so happy to see a dentist! He pulled the badly broken tooth, fixed the other broken tooth, which included drilling a cavity in it, drilled a cavity in the tooth next to that one and pulled an old tooth chip from one of my broken crowns. Zoikes! It sounds like it was a lot, but let me tell you...I feel much better today than I did yesterday before he did all of that!

So, the moral of the story is, if you have enjoyed healthy teeth all of your life, don't relax your oral hygiene habits when you get older. They actually need more care then. Eat healthy (which I can't say I do), floss and brush at least 2 times a day, try to stay away from sugar and carbonation, and keep regular 6 month apts for cleaning and exam. You may save yourself a lot of pain.

Now, I'm going to take a pain killer and go enjoy a book. Of course, I'll have to read it again later, because I don't remember much when I'm on Vicadin, but that's ok!