Saturday, October 10, 2015

Got New Teefs

     Not sure what I think about them.  My Dad had an upper partial plate just like I do now, but where his was some fake teeth in simulated gum tissue with discreet clips and one or two tough metal strips connecting the two sides, mine has the teeth/gums set in a bizarre, organic-looking solder-splash of metal that covers over half of my hard palate, comes right up to the tooth/gum transition of my front teeth and makes speech difficult.

     I'm stuck with it now, but come next year, I'm probably going to shop around for something a little less 21st-Century.  There's just too darned much of it.  And it wiggles.

10 comments:

Chuck Pergiel said...

Two of my relatives have been going to a dentist in Nogales, Mexico, for implants. They seem happy with the results.

Roberta X said...

I don't have enough bone on the upper left -- and probably upper right -- to support implants. Also, the bones of my face are mostly dead, with no growth and little to no blood flow, so any damage done will not heal. (And I grind my teeth in my sleep. Had I left well enough alone and not tried to stop that with a bite guard, I might still have molars left, ground down but working. You see, the soft plastic bite guard lets your sleeping saboteur self apply quite a lot of force to the teeth...)

This is before we come to the $3000 - 4000 per tooth price tag in the U.S. for implants vs. $1400 for a bridge, or the glaring disparity in my insurance coverage ("none" vs. "50%").

rickn8or said...

Give it a couple of months and see if you still feel the same way.

Roberta X said...

...Throw the damned thing across the room. Ah, deferred gratification. Ate lasagna last night, took it off an hour later and yeeeech. I ain't livin' like that.

Sigman said...

I think if it wiggles it doesn't fit right.

Anonymous said...

If you have had any recent extractions in your upper jaw, it can take up to a year (as it did for me) for the swelling to completely shrink and 'stabilize'. That can impact the 'fit'. It may need some adjustment by your dentist in a few months.

And yes, anything on the roof of your mouth can screw up pronunciation of'th' sounds.

One strategy for that is to wear it while eating and out the rest of your day. Consult your dentist on these issues.

Hang in there, it should improve somewhat over time... :)

Anonymous said...

Erg...

Should read "can screw up pronunciation of 'th' sounds.)

Roberta X said...

I underthtood.

All: the "wiggle" is because of worries about putting pressure on the gum and bone at the upper right. There's nothing to anchor the back end of the partial. It's supposed to be cantilevered but it flexes. The underlying bone is probably -- despite at least four surgeries and many years -- still jagged. Pressure can cause the scar to open up, along with pain and swelling. Good and talented medical and dental specialists have done what could be done to alleviate the problem but sometimes flesh and bone aren't cooperative.

Two weeks ago, I "bit" down on a granola bar with the gum back there when a too-big chunk of the stuff got crosswise, and spent ten days in pain as it cycled through opening up, hurting, swelling and subsiding. Yes yes yes, this seems wrong, but I have poured time and money down that rathole over and over and over, with very little result past the initial repair; there was a hole in the bone, which the oral surgeons denied until I made them take a look, and hooray for me, and after multiple surgeries, the last couple with an endodontist (D.D.S.) and ENT surgeon (M.D.) cooperating, they had the edges smoothed and some mesh and bone-graft paste slapped on and it was as treated as it could be. They *might* be able to do a bone-graft but there is little or no blood flow in that bone at my age: it just doesn't heal very well after a rebuild. It'd be a mechanical job, probably, cadaver bone and lots of tiny screws, if they even could, and nobody's offering to try.

Other ENT's went in via a Caldwell-Luc procedure so they could check for a hole through the tissue. They found nothing, bumped a nerve, and left me with a large numb area until the next clever M.D. or D.D.S. looking around with a knife fixed it. [Literally, "Oh, I know what that is, might be able to put it right," and she did.] This is very fussy work and the more you poke around, the worse the risk-reward balance gets. A lot of very skilled practitioners did their best -- the Indiana University dental school is right here in town and there's a lot of talent available.

I've got to make my peace with what I've got. Medical/dental intervention has been only indifferently successful and it wasn't for lack of ability

Roberta X said...

It makes my face hurt even *writing* about this stuff.

rickn8or said...

Good thoughts for a positive outcome for you.

Getting (older) is not for sissies.