Had emergency dental visit yesterday. I've been grinding my teeth in my sleep, going to cost me up to $15k to fix, I've had perfect teeth for my whole life, other than one cavity, I just go and get my teeth cleaned 2-3 times a year and X-rays every year, fancy X-rays every two years. I've managed to rearrange my teeth and wear the bone holding one to the point it likely can't be saved.

I need to have four wisdom teeth pulled and probably one molar. Then get a night guard made, then braces, then post installed for fake tooth, then fake tooth. I may have mixed something in that order of operations up, it's hard to completely understand. I was pretty much having a panic attack while listening to Dr. Will involve periodontist, surgeon, dentist, orthodontist, and whoever makes teeth.

I did all this damage in two months, don't ignore it if you have sore teeth or start grinding your teeth, I made a costly error.

Yep. When I started grinding my teeth, my dentist caught it, and started me out with a night guard that I wear religiously. But I had already done some damage.

Hope it all works out well for you. My ex-wife had to get an implant. It was a lengthy process, but she was very happy with it in the end.

You might want to get a second opinion on that, OP.

Mrs. Flash went to one dentist and got a quote similar to yours, around $15K for all sorts of "problems" she had.

Went to another dentist and he said all she needed was a cleaning.

Maybe that's not your case and maybe it is.

quote:

Originally posted by RogueJSK:
Yep. When I started grinding my teeth, my dentist caught it, and started me out with a night guard that I wear religiously.

Same here. But I also had a cracked molar in the back, the result of an old filling.

quote:

Mrs. Flash went to one dentist and got a quote similar to yours, around $15K for all sorts of "problems" she had.

Went to another dentist and he said all she needed was a cleaning.

That's some serious damage for two months, I ground my teeth for years before I started wearing a $30 mouth guard

I would get a second opinion as well

Jesse, if you do decide to get a second opinion (I would) you might want to check here

https://cascadesdental.com/

The old joke is if you see salt water fishing magazines and boating magazines in the waiting room run!

I'd get a second opinion, see what another dentist thinks you need. Wife had one suggesting surgery, scraping of the teeth below the gum line, all kinds of expenses, similar amount.

We researched and found another dental group, with a stellar reputation, who saw her diagnosed the same issues and fixed it with non surgical methods, the issues she had are gone, for about 1/15the cost...

Get a second Dental opinion.

My neighbor had a gum infection, went to a dentist who wanted to pull several of her healthy teeth costing $$$$$.

She went to another dentist who prescribed for her an antibiotic which cured the infection. A good clean up followed.

quote:

Originally posted by RogB:
Jesse, if you do decide to get a second opinion (I would) you might want to check here

https://cascadesdental.com/

Skins, my dentist is Fred Haeberer. He's great. Give him a call.

There may be a bright side to this...

Since you're getting fake ones, you could ask for the bottle opener feature on one side and the wire stripper on the other. Not sure those exist, but they should.



-Rob

Tabitha fell and shattered her fingers in her right hand a few weeks ago.

Couldn't just set the broken bones because of her stroke and the dissymmetry of her tendons that are pulling her fingers back.

Had to have these little erector set looking braces screwed into the bones.

I was apparently grinding my teeth - dentist insisted I needed a night guard. Minor amounts of chipping/sharp tooth edges. My wife watched me for several nights (she is a night owl) and never once witnessed or heard grinding.

Turns out I am a day grinder. Thinking, irritated, focusing - the jaw clenching and grinding starts. When I catch myself doing this i bite the side of my lip until the urge subsides.

Take the advice of a few of the OPS here - get a second or third opinion. 15K is a lotta $$.

Guys recommending a second opinion, the dentist is my cousin and a extremely well respected dentist, he's not trying to make money off me, I get a family discount. He's been my dentist for 35 years and I have never paid for a thing above cleanings 2-3x a year, x-rays, and one cavity. It is possible he's been playing the long game and neglecting my teeth just to swoop in 30 years later and make big bucks off a kick back from the surgeons/specialists he's recommending I go to. That seems like a bad strategy to extract money from me though.

I don't need a second opinion to tell that my jaw no longer lines up and I can't eat without pain, nor do I need a second opinion to tell my teeth are not in the normal place that they used to be and are loose.

Got more good news today, periodontal disease on top of it. I need deep cleaning, yeah. $1,400 for that in the dental office or about double at a specialist. Also the fifth tooth can't be saved, so I get five teeth pulled on one day. Scheduled it with the surgeon for two weeks from today.

Will be a long road ahead for me.

quote:

my jaw no longer lines up and I can't eat without pain

Sounds a bit like my wife, an extreme case of TMJ. Her lower jaw, at the joint was worn to nubs. She had her upper jaw re-aligned and has new lower jaw joints I married a tough woman

quote:

Originally posted by BigSwede:

quote:

my jaw no longer lines up and I can't eat without pain

Sounds a bit like my wife, an extreme case of TMJ. Her lower jaw, at the joint was worn to nubs. She had her upper jaw re-aligned and has new lower jaw joints I married a tough woman

Mine had TMJ years ago. Turns out the lower jaw popped out of the socked and the jaw no longer lined up.

Got an operation that put the jaw back in the socket and all has been great ever since.

I feel this. I got my right (dominant) finger caught in the table saw in December. Nothing else to blame it on but myself. I didn't drop the blade before preparing some small stock I was getting ready to use as inlay. 2.5" long gash that went into the bone. Thankfully, I didn't need surgery (it went lengthways not across), but it did require a trip to the ER.

3 hours and a dose of morphine in, I get told my insurance isn't accepted there. Well, crap. I'm still waiting to see exactly how this is going to shake out.

I've got literal months left in my plan to clean up all of my outstanding debts so I can FINALLY buy a house. That puts me back by at least a few months.

I’m shocked this happened in 2 months after biannual maintenance and regular xrays. Of course your dds can see it (unlike all of us) and knows best. I know there’s a dds on the board, too, maybe he’ll chime in, but 2 months? Holy shit. I need to go visit my dds. My only thought is to visit your regular GP and make sure all is good with your whole system. Heart and dental health are closely related, for example.
Take care, and best of luck.

^^They were closed for COVID for my last biannual (I actually do 3x per year) and I put off scheduling a visit even after they opened back up due to long delays, changes at work, and not liking the idea of being 12" from someone's face with all the COVID stuff. It had been 11 months since I had seen them. No bone loss was on my x-rays done last March. I've always gritted my teeth during the day when stressed, thinking, or exerting force on something. Minor occasional grinding at night. They had previously suggested a night guard, but since it was mostly while awake, I didn't spring for it due to costs.

Time from noticing discomfort to wrecked teeth was 2 months. Had I addressed it around Thanksgiving, I'd probably have saved myself a lot of money and pain.

I can only think stress at work is causing this. I've been doing really well at a new job, and have been moved up and higher responsibilities before I was really ready for it. I am still knocking it out of the park at work, but I'm constantly on edge, a stupid mistake at my job could cost my company many millions of dollars or someone's life. Really high stress when your expected to perform at a level you really aren't at yet.

Holy smokes! $15K in two months? Buddy, you must be under some tremendous stress. I think you need to deal with that. I know sometimes you can't do anything about it either.