Shutting the gate after the horse has bolted

[FatherTed]

Hello everyone. First posting and im hoping the community can help me
with something that is causing me a great deal of worry at the moment.
Im also wondering if its all a little bit late and the horse has already fled so to speak.
First some background. Im a 49 year old man, married with 4 wonderful kids. The past year has been a bit of a rollercoaster ride for us after I was eventually diagnosed with depression. This resulted in 6 months off work, 4 months of counselling and the continued use of 30mg Mirtazapine at night. Im glad to say that I am now firmly on the road to recovery, back at work and dare I say it taking better care of myself these days as I now recognise the importance of accepting who I am, rest, diet, exercise, smoking, alcohol etc and their impact on my mental health.
Now I appreciate that the next part is nasty and I apologise in advance.
After a recent visit to an emergency dentist I discovered that my gums are in a bit of a mess and I am worried what the likely prognosis is. I realise that I only have myself to blame for this predicament but I cant change the past. My upper gums have receded on both sides by about 5mm but not nearly as much at the front which is possibly why I didnt notice until it was too late. My lower gums have also receded but not anywhere near as much. The X ray showed bone loss to my upper left side. I asked the dentist what could be done and she said nothing could be done because of the bone loss and handed me a prescription for 5 days of Metronidazole. Im afraid I nodded politely and left the surgery in shock as I wasnt expecting any of this. I have now eventually managed to make an appointment at a non emergency dentist for 3rd August. However I would like to be a little more informed about any possible treatments before I go. None of my teeth are loose at the moment.
I have now stopped smoking for 3 weeks as I realise that this is probably to blame for the problem. I always used to have good dental hygiene but im afraid this wasnt always the case when I was depressed although I do brush twice daily now. But is it all too little too late?
I would love to hear any advice that the community can offer and also to hear from anyone who is or has suffered the same problem.

[margaret jones]

Hi Father Ted welcome to NMP sorry about your dental problems i am afraid i cannot offer any advice to you ,Maybe someone else can I would ring the dentist and ask him what your alternatives are .

Take Care Maggie

[FatherTed]

Thankyou very much for your reply. Unfortunately i will have to wait until I see the non emergency dentist before I can ask them anything. It was the emergency dentist who said that nothing could be done due to bone loss. I would just like to be more informed this time around if possible.

[blueangel]

Hi FatherTed

Sorry to hear about the nasty shock you've just had. I think it's a really good idea to see what the "proper" dentist says, as by their nature emergency dentists only tend to deal with the stuff that they can sort out quickly.

If you live in a big city, it might be worth asking if you can be referred to a dental hospital, as they do all sorts of specialist work that general dentists aren't able to do.

It's probably best to write yourself a list of questions before you get your other appointment, such as:

* do you know what's caused this?
* is there any sort of treatment available for it?
* if so, what will it involve?
* is there anything that will stop it getting any worse, even if it can't be improved much?
* would it be an idea if I get referred on to a specialist?

I would have thought that if you don't have any loose teeth at the moment, then that is good news as they might be able to help you keep them. Dentistry now is all about keeping your own teeth going, rather than just issuing sets of dentures!

Good luck, and let us know how you get on.

[FatherTed]

Thankyou for your reply blueangel. I will follow your advice when I eventually see the dentist. What I cant understand is if the bone loss is so bad then what is holding my teeth in. I mean I can eat normally including like really hard fruit and chocolate bars out of the fridge and none of them are loose. The gums are receded and quite badly I can see that myself now. I just have to hope that something may be able to if not reverse the damage then at least stop it from getting any worse.
Ive since found out after phoning my Dad that what I probably have used to be called Pyorhoea and that my Uncle lost all of his teeth to it 55 years ago whereas my Dad who never smoked a day in his life still has all his teeth bar two at 73. So I hope your right about modern dentists. I dont suppose you know if theres anything I should be doing up until the appointment at the dentist as right now im thinking that brushing the teeth is probably making my gums worse. Ironically its the smoking that masks the symptoms of this condition. Bad breath. Obviously. And the gums dont bleed when they normally would because of poor blood supply.

[AnnieMags]

Hello FatherTed

I know how scary tooth trouble can be - I had to have a crown replaced last year and it turned out the tooth underneath could not be saved. It was one of my front teeth - I tell you, I GRIEVED for that tooth. In my distress, I found this web site to be of enormous help:

http://www.dentalfearcentral.org/

It is mostly for people with a fear of the dentist, but others seem also to post dental queries on their forum pages, and there are qualified dentists who answer. I felt very reassured and supported by them.

A year on, after six months with a false tooth on a dental plate, I now have a permanent bridge and all is well. Like others here have told you, if your teeth are not yet loose, there is a very good chance that the damage can be halted. Dentists do all they can these days to preserve and conserve existing teeth and the treatment to achieve this is so much better than years ago.

Best wishes
AnnieMags

[FatherTed]

Thankyou for your comments AnnieMags. I will certainly visit that website. I fully relate to you saying that you grieved for your tooth. I think whats knocked me for six was that I never even knew I had the problem. I mean I just dont look that closely in the mirror and believe me you need to be right up to it to see the recession. I never saw it coming on my visit and think I thought I would need a filling or it was an abcess which was infact what the initial problem turned out to be.
However the prognosis may not be so bad as I was first led to believe. I will just have to wait and see. But what this has done is to wake me up to the fact that I took my dental health for granted and I wont from now on. Unfortunately that seems to be the case for a lot of things in life sometimes.

[AnnieMags]

I could not agree more - in hindsight things are infuriatingly so much clearer!

Oh why oh why are we not designed to grow a third set of teeth in our forties - and wouldn't we look after them!! :D

[Vanilla Sky]

Hi FatherTed, Just wanted to welcome you to NMP , Love the name by the way lol
:welcome: Paige x

[FatherTed]

Thankyou Paige. I have been a reader of the No More Panic site since my depression was diagnosed and found it to be of tremendous help. Contributors have been so informative, objective and inspirational and provided me with a lot of hope when I had none. This has been the first time I have asked for help and sure enough good people have taken the time to try and assist me. I hope to be of help sometimes to those having problems myself in the future.

[FatherTed]

Well. Attended Dentist today. Confirmed gum disease but didnt blame smoking. Blamed poor dental hygiene at some point in my life. Probably when I was depressed. Said teeth are absolutely fine but gums are diseased. Nothing can be done because of the bone loss. I have to attend Dentist regularly from now on and have excellent cleaning regime. Hes not going to pull them though. He says they dont need pulled just yet but they may someday soon. We have to wait and see. Im now planning to see a specialist Dentist as I have read about something called guided tissue regeneration using a product called Emdogain which can apparently grow new bone. I only have myself to blame and urge everyone to attend their Dentist at least twice a year cos even if you clean your teeth and arnt in any pain your gums could be diseased and only specialised cleaning of the teeth that can only be done by a Dentist can prevent irreversible gum disease.