to ask about your teeth?

[suiledonne]

Their general condition, number of fillings and extractions etc and your age?

I had a horrible experience at the dentist yesterday and am feeling very sorry for myself.

I am 36 and have always had issues going the the dentist.

Several years ago I found a lovely dentist and had lots of work done to great expense but she moved.

Following two pregnancies with hyperemesis my teeth have been weakened and I have a couple of bad cavities.

The dentist spoke to me like I was an idiot, did nothing to put me at ease and generally me feel like crap.

Find a new dentist

I didn't have a filling until I was 28 and it was so awful - I had 3 at once and am convinced I didn't need them

I since moved and found a fabulous dentistvwho is very good and excellent at soothing my frazzled nerves

sorry you were upset - not nice

My teeth are in good condition, I have never had a filling and I am 32.

I think it is genetic though. My brothers are the same and we are no better than anyone else with our teeth hygiene. I never floss though so have had some gum problems in the past but they seem ok now.

I do go to the dentist every 6 months now which helps.

I would find a new dentist if I were you. My one is good but her assistant is always on the bloody phone while we are there - she is the receptionist too and they don't seem to pay attention to the patient which considering we are private is pretty rubbish.

I am 25 and have lots of fillings :( I had 2 in january that are now soooooooo painful i am dreading going back to the dentist. if anything hot or cold touches them ithurts like mad. But i dont want to go back,

im at hospital on 19th april for a wisdom tooth out which i am dreading.

Agree you should find another dentist, if you can.

If you can't, let the practice manager know you felt he was unsympathetic and they might be able to shoe horn you in with someone else there.

Dentists must know some people aren't keen on seeing them and so should put you at your ease.

The only one I've had that didn't was a newly qualified bloke, he was a right twat, I didn't see him again.

Better to sort it sooner rather than leave them, not only will there be less damage to your teeth if you need a filling but it'll cut out all the extra weeks of worrying

I am metal mickey- I have loads of fillings/root canals/caps/crowns. Fortunately they're all white so they look nice even if they're basically 90% resin.

I had my first filling 2 weeks ago. I am 29 in 3 weeks. My dentist is lovely and if you aren't happy ask for a new dentist or find a different practice. You shouldn't be made to feel bad by anyone.

Thanks everyone.

I have no intention of going back there but am definitely not giving up. I have a couple of recommendations for dentists so am going to find someone new on Monday.

I wish I had spoken up there and then but he had pumped me so full of anaesthetic that I didn't feel able.

Growing up money was very tight and we usually only saw the dentist when we had a toothache. We were always given sugar on cereal, sugar in tea etc.

By the time I was old enough to take control a lot of damage had been done.

Lots of fillings and a few extractions by the time I was a teenager put me at a disadvantage. I tried to explain to the dentist but it was obvious he viewed me as an inferior.

I'm 30 and have no fillings currently, apparently I need two though and I did have one when I was 25 ish that went wrong, fell out and ended up needing extraction.

My dd doesn't seem to have inherited my teeth though, she is 14 and had one when she was 9 and two the other day. Poor love. She looks after her teeth really well and doesn't deserve it!

We do have a really lovely dentist though so no horrible experiences.

Ive crowns and fillings, and gum disease, it is hereditary.

I don't mind the dentist even though when having root canal treatment I swallowed a needle.

The dentist was mortified and rang me at home to check I was okay afterwards. I was terrified for days in case it got lodged inside somewhere but all was dandy.

fabbychic that's SHOCKING! did it ... come out OK?!

I have been to the dentist this week for review because my gum was bleeding for a one in one spot and apparantly I am the proud owner of a pregnancy epulis. Apparantly it should go when the pregnancy hormones stop raging.

i have 6 fillings, 2 crowns 4 extractions not including my wisdom teeth i had removed, awaiting ivasive surger to remove part of my jaw and the roots of some teeth, im 28 but i hada undiagnosed illness that effects teeth, did go to a private dentist 3 years ago as i was in agony, told me i need 4 crowns and 8 fillings and a root canal at cost of about 3 grand, found an nhs dentist as i couldnt afford that and he said i didnt need any of it, apart from the tooth he said needed a root canal needed extracting as a root canal wouldnt have solved the problem!

I have a mouth full of fillings and am very ashamed of the state of my teeth. Like you the damage was all done by the time I was a teenager.

I took control myself when I was 17 and went for a checkup despite not having any obvious problems and was given several white fillings from a dentist who I am convinced was incompetent (they all leaked within five years despite my taking very good care). All my dentists since have been sympathetic and it does make a difference.

Mine are so weak and crumbly but I have a fantastic dentist who keeps them looking presentable. I love him a bit. When he capped the front two I was so happy I cried. I'd been mumbling and trying to talk with my mouth shut for ages beforehand. I've had some pretty crap dentists in the past who just wanted to fleece me. So glad I've found a good one.

I had beautiful but wonky teeth until I had a brace as a teenager and found it difficult to clean my teeth - as soon as the brace was removed I had to have several fillings - dsis was exactly the same.

I have had to have the same teeth re-filled but no more new fillings. I do take care of my teeth and have regular check ups.

Agree you need to change dentist if they are unsympathetic - that said our lovely dentist is very impatient with DH who hasn't looked after his teeth and only goes when he is in pain.

24yrs old.

Great condition apparently, 2extracted to make room for braces but they came off too early so slightly wonky. One filling about a year ago. Still no wisdom teeth or any signs of them developing.

I agree, find a new dentist!

Why do dentists say this sort of thing about their colleagues previous work? I used to get it all the time. Is it some kind of one-upmanship, bigging themselves up - so unprofessional!

Have a nice sensible dentist now who appreciates that dentistry has moved on in the past few decades. I have massively overfilled wonky teeth wh are now falling apart and needing crowns or implants at great cost.

I've got fillings in all (I think) of my molars, from child/teenagerhood. I don't think I was any better or worse with diet and tooth hygiene than any of my friends, so sometimes it's down to luck or having a 'let's drill it all out to be sure' dentist - seemed to be a lot of those around when I was a kid (40 now).

My son and daughter eat approximately the same healthy things - fizzy drinks a few times a year at parties, sweets once a week on Fridays, water between meals - and had their teeth brushed for them, then supervised until the age of about 7 or so, with parental spot checks after that.

My son had his first small filling aged 9, no doubt due to idle brushing. My daughter had all her molars repaired under a general anaesthetic aged 5. She just has genetically rubbish teeth, unfortunately.

One thing I would strongly recommend for kids is fissure sealing - a clear resin gel designed to form a protective cover over the molars. Get this done as the permanent ones come through in the preteens years, and it should last 5-10 years, getting them through the slack teenage years. The regular dentist can do it, it takes just a few minutes and is completely painless for the child.

41 years old and 6 fillings, the majority done in my teens, plus 2 wisdom teeth extracted. Gums bleed a bit, but they have improved massively and the bleeding is down to me giving up smoking, making the circulation better again.

I'm 35, I've got loads of fillings, have inherited my Mum's crap teeth/fingernails whilst my Dad and sister have very few issues with theirs. It is genetic.

I've had quite a lot of dental work done over recent years replacing old metal NHS fillings with nice white ones and my (male) dentist has been fucking patronising.

How do they justify talking to someone who is clearly intelligent (I've got an Oxbridge degree and I'm sure I've dropped that into conversation with him to try to get him to back off) like that? I could clean my teeth for hours and hours every single -fucking day and it wouldn't make that much difference. I know how to clean and floss my teeth - he doesn't need to tell me every time I see him that I'm "doing it wrong" and certainly not when I tell him I've had bad morning sickness and haven't been able to clean my teeth well because it makes me sick. One time he even advocated drinking drinks containing sweetener.

And then charges me £££ for the privilege!

FWIW, I did go to the dentist regularly as a child, same as my sister, so this is why I'm convinced it's genetic. She had to wear braces for a while but ended up with lovely straight teeth, whilst I've spent loads in adulthood trying to get mine straight and sorted.

DH goes to the dentist once in a blue moon, only has a couple of fillings from childhood, rarely has problems - except a while back one of his fillings fell out and took half a tooth with it.

The only good things I've picked up from my dentist are a) use an electric toothbrush and b) use Colgate Fluorigard mouthwash daily to help make your teeth stronger.

I'm 31 and have 2 fillings. They look OK but my gums are totally screwed.

Sorry you've had a bad experience. I really sympathise. My gums are in a terrible state and nothing I do seems to make any difference. I see the hygienist about every 3 months and it's agony. I'm so worried about gum disease and losing my teeth. I'm also supposed to be having impacted wisdom teeth out but have been unable to get an appointment so I'm worried about decaying wisdom teeth too.

Obviously dental hygiene is really important but my dentist said that it's often down to genetics too. My Dad has terrible teeth so maybe that's it.

I had hyperemesis and it buggered my teeth.

I had never had a feeling but 2 dcs with an 22 mo gap and sickness all thge time I was pg means I have a filling (silver as it was too big for white) and a tooth halfway through root canal treatment

I'm only 25

i have five fillings. one i got when i was 13 then FOUR after hyperemis fucked them. my second pre molars were removed for brace at 13. my family have an interesting genetic quirk in that we don't have wisdom teeth. they just don't exist. thank christ as i worked as a nurse in a specialist surgery practice and people suffered awfully with theirs, made me very thankful.

I have a wonderful dentist (who keeps me on even though we live nowhere near her anymore) and she's looked after my teeth since I was very small.

24 and 2 fillings, both double teeth at the back because they had trouble coming through and I got gum infections and all sorts so they were buggered from the start really. Wisdom teeth have been filed too.

Otherwise generally good - am glad I didn't have braces (could have as used to have a big gap and dentist said she could close it artificially at 13 or we could wait until my wisdom teeth started to cone through and see if it closed naturally which she kept a careful eye on it).

So IMO a good dentist you can trust who has your long term interests at heart is worth their weight in gold.

I'm 41, I have two fillings. I had them when I was 25 and was so annoyed I had to have them that I had white ones even though they are right at the back. I have had several dentists since then and scarily enough one dentist complimented me on not having ANY fillings at my age . If a dentist can't spot a filling, makes you wonder if they know what they are doing!