Over 55, Can I ask about your teeth?

[PersephoneParlormaid]

Since reaching a certain age I’ve needed 3 crowns, having only had my childhood fillings redone in previous years. And now I’m having 3 monthly cleans (at a cost to me) because I’ve got pockets in my gums apparently. I am good with my teeth I think, but I’m wondering what the future holds. Should I expect to have teeth removed in the future, do you have implants these days rather than bridges and false teeth? It’s not something I’ve thought about before.

I'm 60 next year, the only thing I've ever had done is some teeth removed as a child. They said my jaw wasn't big enough for all of them.

I've never had a filing or any treatments, I go once a year to the dentist, their advice, or go if any problems, there has never been any.
I went to the hygienist once, never been told I need to go back.

Luckily dc takes after me, they are the same once a year, no problems.

I think 70s dentists were filling happy in general as well as some actual crooks.
Unless mine later turned out to be a criminal unbeknownst to me off course.

Implants can only be done if you have good enough bone for it. It is a costly process and takes a long time. If you keep up with your cleanings you are on a good path to keeping what teeth you have.

I too had a terrible childhood dentist, she was to keen on fillings and not keen enough on pain relief.

All of those fillings have had to be replaced several times and always get bigger each time. Two or three ended up as crowns and tooth has just had to be extracted. It pisses me off no end that poor dental care as a child is still causing issues so many years later.

I also think genetics have something to do with it.

I'm 49 and after no dental problems as an adult, have had in the last 2 years

-2 root canals done in back molars due to cracked teeth
-2 subsequent extractions as both root canals never felt right - apparently this is 'unlucky' 🤔
-1 extraction turned into a dry socket and took ages to heal
-1 implant to replace one of the above (the other was quite far back and not deemed necessary)
-personalised mouth guard to prevent further damage from grinding

I now get pain in my front teeth as my bite has changed due to all the above. Dentist has said i may want to consider Invasalign to slightly push my front tooth out.

All of this has cost 5k.

I wouldn't have a root canal again,... whilst the implant was expensive and took a few months to sort, it's the only thing I've had done recently that has worked!

Was once told by a dental surgeon who removed a wisdom tooth that those dentists were people who were retired but hired by local councils or were just not v.good and didn't have a practice. He was excellent btw

No new fillings for a very long time. One replacement because the dental hygienist dislodged it. I now refuse to see her. Gums score 0.

My secret weapon is a German made ultrasonic toothbrush. It's as good as visiting the hygienist and there's no mechanical friction so great for gums, even delicate ones. You just push the toothbrush head gently onto the area and the ultrasound does the work. No need for conventional brushing. Can't recommend it enough.

https://emmi-dent.uk/?shpxid=ca35ebbc-fa01-4e80-a6da-5789498d92c0

Fluoride toothpaste was not introduced in the U.K. until the 1970s and made a massive difference in rates of decay .

The whole reason the vast majority of people needed so much treatment in the 60s and 70s was because amount of sugar eaten daily was higher , there was no fluoride toothpaste and dental materials meant any intervention had to be a bit earlier than now eg there were no fissure sealants or fluoride varnishes etc .

Decay rates and fillings dropped massively in the U.K. during WW2 and during rationing because the amount of sugar containing foods was so limited . It then started to rise in the 50s as sugar came off rationing and as we came into the 60s and 70s when rates of sugar consumption rocketed.

There is no way a dentist looking after treatment , unless they can see x rays and photos of teeth , can say whether or not a filling was needed . Particularly as once people are past childhood and teenage years their diet and cleaning habits normally get better.

The philosophy around taking wisdom teeth has also changed over the years , although most dentists would say , on the NHS, the pendulum has swung too far the other way and more wisdom teeth should be taken out earlier.

Im sorry to say over 90% of all dental treatment is preventable . Keep the sugar attacks to three times a day (the majority of U.K. children eat more than 7 times a day and both adults and children eat many times the daily recommended amount of sugar) . Stop smoking, keep diabetes under good control and learn how to clean effectively .

I am over the age of OP and have all my own teeth other than those removed for braces and one I cracked. I have had no fillings for 40 years . My partner had had many fillings and gum problems until I met them and they amended their diet and cleaning and stopped smoking. Come lockdown they, alongside a lot of the U.K., worked from home and picked up bad snacking habits , cue more dental treatment, the first time in many years . They have now got back on the straight and narrow and no more treatment. Both their parents had lost their teeth by their age. They did not inheirit bad teeth and gums , they inheirited bad diet and cleaning habits and smoked.

I’m 57. I have 4 fillings- 2 from childhood and two in my 20s. No recent problems other than the fact that the backs of two of my bottom teeth have fallen off! I didn’t even know such a thing was possible! You can’t tell by looking at the fronts of them and my dentist did try to fill the backs but the filler quickly fell off so I’m just leaving them.

Was very odd- one was when I ate a seeded roll and the other was something else hard (can’t remember what)

I'm 61 and have decent teeth thanks to genetics, but I'm another victim of 70s drill and fill. I have a few fillings but they all date back to that era. I'm grateful for 70s orthodontics as it means my teeth are straight, even though it meant having four back teeth out for the braces to fit, and five years of treatment between the ages of 11 and 16. It would've been sorted much more quickly these days.

I'm almost your age. I was told I had early gum disease and to go for 4 monthly check ups. She wasn't happy with the pockets in a couple of areas, but they have improved since and now I only go every 6 months. They started to improve ever since we bought a Water Pik. She recommended it, I think some dentists don't like them but it is working for me so far.

I’m in my 60s and also had 4 fillings as a child in the 70s.
l have since had a couple of them replaced with white fillings.
I don’t have any crowns,bridges or veneers and see my dentist and hygienist every six months.

Yes, I had one of those drilling mad dentists back in the sixties. He even cracked one of my front teeth so I later had to have a crown.
I see the hygienist every three months because of gum pockets despite being thorough with cleaning. Unfortunately I didn’t inherit my dad’s teeth! He died ten years ago aged 95 with all his own teeth. He’d never ever seen a dentist apart from the RAF one during WWII, never even went inside the door of a dental practice since!
This despite living virtually on a diet of cheese sandwiches, biscuits & treacle toffee 😳
I think God definitely made a design fault with humans, giving us our final permanent teeth when the toffee shop beckons for our pocket money. We should grow a new set in our thirties when we’ve learned to value them.

I’m 58 but haven’t had a filling for about 20 years!

I always suspected my 1970s dentist was a crook, all these other posts make me see how common it was. I had pretty much all my back teeth filled as a child, and 4 teeth removed and an ineffective brace put in. Dentists as an adult always commented how strong my teeth were.

As an adult zero fillings, but one root canal with crown, which was eventually removed because of an abscess due to the gum rather than the tooth. I had an implant put in instead. Now I have slightly dodgy gums, and should really go to the hygienist a lot more often. I find it very painful though.

It was common because fluoride toothpaste was not available in the U.K. until the early 70s and sugar consumption had shot up in the 60s and 70s.

More people needed fillings because there was a lot more decay then , this effect of fluoride reducing decay happened all around the world, not just the U.K. eg here there was a 45% reduction in decay in Sweden after introduction of fluoride toothpaste https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/6956479/

@Lollygaggle no, still believe my dentist was drill happy, and paid per filling as he was a private dentist. I was born late 60s so I guess fluoride was introduced by then. Plus I wasn’t allowed sweets as a pre-teen. I ate a lot more sugar as a teen and adult, when I had no fillings put in at all (and a different, competent, dentist from age 11).

50 here. Front teeth are perfect, back teeth completely fucked because a stupid dentist told my parents when I was 10 that I should have them coated in some sort of “protective” sheen and all it did was make them rot. Fuck him.

No fluoride toothpaste was not introduced until the 70s and decay rates fell from the70s into the 80s and beyond, with the biggest fall from 1970 to early 80s. Unfortunately decay rates are rising again due to frequency of snacking and sipping .

So the experience of needing many fillings in the 60s and 70s and less afterwards is entirely consistent with the experience in the U.K. and elsewhere in the world after the introduction of fluoridated toothpaste.

Fissure sealants (the protective sealant placed on back teeth) do not “rot” teeth they are a proven way of reducing decay in those who are at risk from it . https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1532338221000622

The only thing that can rot teeth is bacteria given sufficient sugar and or starch .

Successive dentists have told me this was the problem and that I am not the only 80s kid to present with issues due to this. Hopefully the actual sealant and the method of cleaning before applying has improved since my day.

The materials, techniques and success rates of fissure sealants are exactly the same now as they were in the 80s .

Metanalysis shows that fissure sealants are successful in preventing decay , particularly in those from lower socio economic groups . https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1532338221000622

Fissure sealants are placed where there is moderate to high risk of decay but if there is still a high sugar/starchy diet then there will still be decay .

Fissure sealants do not cause decay and are still a valuable tool in helping to prevent decay or early decay getting worse recommended by all oral health bodies. Your dentist in the 1980s was being diligent and following national guidelines .

Never had a filling until I was 33 then seemed to need several. One root canal 5 years ago after a filling from a not very good dentist got loose and let in bacteria. I was very lucky to have an awesome dentist as a child who removed several baby teeth so my adult teeth could descend properly and then 4 adult teeth to prevent overcrowding. got v straight teeth now and never needed braces!!
However I apparently grind my teeth and am being recommended a night guard (£650) to preserve my teeth plus a crown on my root canal tooth (£800) neither of which I have funds for. Have started flossing religiously which has improved my gum health hugely and use an electronic toothbrush which also helps with the plaque stuff. Dentistry seems to be a lot about preventative measures at this age!

Because of these gum pockets I’ve now got to floss plus use an electronic toothbrush and then a manual one for the pockets. I never realised, when I was younger, how much time I’d spend in maintenance at this age.

All my doubles were filled with amalgam by the time I was 16. My first ever filling at 9 yrs old was a grumpy dentist who did it with no anaesthetic and threatened to smack me if I cried! I developed severe dental phobia (not helped by having hyperacusis so I couldn't stand the sound of the drill). Once living on my own I only went to the dentist if I had awful pain. Literally wouldn't go otherwise. I also decided I would never have a filling again (my last lot were done at 23, pretty sure that was a dentist who was filling-happy, although he replaced my original amalgams, which likely didn't need it as they lasted over 40 years since then!) and if a tooth was bad it would come out. Hence I have had double teeth out over the years. My teeth were always straight and looked nice so you wouldn't necessarily know. Yes it has affected my eating to some degree but you just learn to chew and miss any gaps. I don't eat hard foods anyway.

Even after gaps of many years not going to the dentist my gums are reasonable and haven't caused much of an issue. I am nearly 70. My partner, who's never had a filling, has a lot of gum issues and has lost I think 4 double teeth to that problem. I think swings and roundabouts, some folks have gum disease, other have dental caries.

My last visit to the dentist was 18 months ago and I had repair work done on a few teeth under sedation. What a wonderful thing that is! However I would never have a root canal or implant - too much drilling and even under sedation I am still aware of it.