Question for any dentists out there...

FranknFurter

Question for any dentists present.

After 28 years of different medications and neglect, my teeth are about as bad as it gets.

A lot of the back ones have crumbled to where is just root, nothing above the gumline, the rest are either crumbling away or chipped badly.

Iv been to several dentists, most of whom do a temporary thing to one or two teeth and mention that Ill need this and that work done and in total will take about a year.

I finally found a friend of a friend of a friend who is a dentist, who looked and basically said I would be better with a full set of falsies.

Question, is there anywhere (medical card) where I can go in, get sedated (vital) and have them all taken out at once, or does it HAVE to be one or two at a time?
Im in enough pain with other disabilities (I use an electric wheelchair for various conditions), that spending a year going in and out of dentists (which Im rather scared of I must admiit), just makes me feel like crap and not bother.
The fact that I also cannot find a wheelchair accessible dentist within a 20 mile radius dosent help matters either. (And I only live in clondalkin, Dublin 22).

b

(PS: I know most people out there are going to say "why not save as many as possible and get a partial". And yes, I have done my research on how much of a pain a full set of false teeth can be. But there is no point in me "saving" teeth that will definitely need to be taken out every 6 months to a year).

Big_G

B,
The Dublin Dental Hospital has two sedation theatres and operates one in St. Mary's Hospital. This type of procedure (a 'clearance' in dental speak) is available in the hospital, if there are no contraindications (based on medical history, dental history and other factors). Depending on the number of teeth/roots you have left and the difficulty of removing each remaining tooth/root, you may or may not need more than one theatre visit.

This can only be availed of if you are currently receiving treatment in the Dental Hospital or if you have a reference letter sent from your own dentist to the hospital. There is a waiting list, which can be quite long for sedation. Medical card patients can avail of this service also. The hospital is completely wheelchair accessible and the oral surgery department is on the ground floor. http://web1.dental.tcd.ie is the website for the Dublin Dental Hospital and it has a good bit of info.


Good Luck.

lomb

might be best to get overdentures if you are young. root treat lower 3s and decoronate them and the dentures 'ride' on them and thus keep the bone from resorbing.

FranknFurter

Thanks for the info Big G, definitely going to look into that. Problem is, the reference, I dont have a dentist (of my own) to get one from. Would a GP letter do?

Iomb,
Wouldnt that mean that my normal teeth are still rotting away underneath and painfull?

b

lomb

FranknFurter wrote:

Wouldnt that mean that my normal teeth are still rotting away underneath and painfull?

b

no, the normal teeth, would have the decay removed ,the roots would then be root canaled so that no infection/ pain would develop later and the access sealed or something like a gold 'coping' or thin cap no more than .5 mm placed so that the root surface doesnt wear. this is helpful on the lowers especially if you are young.
this explains it better http://www.dentistry.bham.ac.uk/cal/impress/overd.htm
http://images.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=http://www.familydentcare.com/images/2004-09-14%252009-42-10.JPG&imgrefurl=http://www.familydentcare.com/overdentures.htm&h=450&w=600&sz=56&hl=en&start=45&tbnid=_MylyCUs0qWtrM:&tbnh=99&tbnw=133&prev=/images%3Fq%3Doverdentures%26start%3D36%26ndsp%3D18%26svnum%3D10%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D%26sa%3DN

Big_G

If it is a dental problem, the referral letter should be from a dentist. There's no way around it, that is the way referral pathways work. Sorry. Occasionally, a referral letter from a GMP may breach the doors of the oral surgeon's office, but it is usually something more systemically related or an oral condition that may have been diagnosed by the GMP. There may be a few GMP's who would be able to diagnose infections or other diseases in the mouth, but not the problem you describe.

SedationDentist

I would have to say that where possible it is better to try and maintain any roots to support the denture. However, this requires some prparatory work and is unlikely to be covered under the medical card. Not only does the jawbone support the teeth, but the teeth support the bone, and losing your teeth will cause more rapid resorption (loss) of your jaw bones.
There are some practices that offer sedation for treatment, although not on the medical card. It may be possible to pay separately for the sedation, and have the remaining treatment carried out on medical card. The trick is finding the pracice to do this.!
Finally - a word of caution, I have no idea whether I'm off the mark, but if the medication you refer to is related to a history of substance abuse, sedation may not be a suitable treatment option.
Hope that helps!

FranknFurter

SedationDentist wrote:

Finally - a word of caution, I have no idea whether I'm off the mark, but if the medication you refer to is related to a history of substance abuse, sedation may not be a suitable treatment option.
Hope that helps!

Nah, nothing as exciting im fraid, just plain old epilepsy meds and various other stuff relating to kidneys and liver etc etc (I've Spina-bifida and MS).
(And yes I know epilepsy can complicate sedation but I'm reliably informed that if done properly it should'nt be a problem in this case).

Thanks for all the info guys an gals, I spose Im going to have to try find a dentist willing to "bend the rules"...... as long as I live, Ill never understand, basically for any treatment I needed over the years Iv always had to, be it doctor or dentist, find one willing to "bend the rules" to accomodate the reality of a problem lol

b