To want to get dentures?

[Margotshypotheticaldog]

I have terrible gum disease, awful teeth and a serious fear of the dentist. I've had dental planing done in the past and although it helped for a while, I was completely traumatised. Wearing masks for the last number of months has actually suited me as I hate people seeing my teeth.
I don't want to try treatment plans, I just want to give up and get dentures. All of my teeth are stained, and a few at the back are starting to loosen. I have a dentist appointment coming up and I know he's going to try and talk me into expensive, painful treatment to keep my horrible teeth. Wibu to just say no, I give up, I want dentures. I know it's not the same as real teeth and will restrict my diet somewhat, but I don't care if it cures the gum disease. Is this likely to be a choice the dentist will offer me??

I have partial dentures and some gum disease. I have got used to devoting around 20 minutes morning and evening to cleaning my teeth deeply. I love them. I am far more confident now. I do smile much more and I hope that you will too 😁. The smile needed teeth.

Could you try oil pulling with coconut oil to try to slow down the gum disease?

Hi OP I’m a dentist specialising in gum disease. Do you have many wobbly teeth? Having all your teeth pulled and replaced with dentures is difficult to get used to. The top denture will cover all of the palate so you can’t taste your food, the bottom one can be hard to get used to. If you do wish to pull all your teeth I suggest all on 4. It is costly though. Probably about £30-50,000 to do

@Peridotty What do you mean you can't taste food? Is it not the tongue that has the taste buds? Also I've seen all on 4 advertising for £20k for both top and bottom sets which I'm looking into although I'm going to a local cosmetic dentist to get a price off them too

What is all on 4 if you don’t mind me asking @Peridotty?

I could have written your post!

I've included a diagram. The teeth in red are ones I don't have +one I got removed a couple of weeks ago. This Thursday I'm due to get the three in purple out.

The one in yellow is horrific condition and needs to come out but my dentist isn't doing it right now because it's not causing me any problems.

I've no idea what to do. I get my work done through the NHS (Scotland) and I'm disabled so on benefits and there's no hope of me ever affording private treatment.

To be honest I'm terrified. When I smile you can already see the gap from the upper tooth that got pulled. Now with three more out I don't know what I'm going to do. Should I ask to get dentures? I'm only 30 and my tooth decay has been rapidly sped up due to hashimotos. I've any of the lovely people on this thread could provide some advice I'd be very grateful!

@imnottoofussed the palate has taste buds too. I don’t have dentures but have many patients who do. Some complain they can’t feel or taste their food because it covers so much of their mouth.

£20k is pretty good. I’m sure the price varies widely. I would check the credentials of the dentist of course.

@thefirstmrsrochester all on 4 is the concept of pulling out the teeth and placing 4 implants the same day in the jaw. The dentist then places a denture over the top which is held in place by the implants so no problems with the denture falling out anymore.

I ended up with a partial denture due to an accident where I lost my front teeth, when I was about 32. I hated it. I persevered for about a year, to let everything settle - and to see if I could tolerate them. I ended up glueing them in with Dentufix (or whatever) every day; and struggled to eat with them a lot of the time. It was grim.

The £7k I paid for 3 implants was the best money I’ve ever spent on myself/my appearance. Honestly, they’ve been fairly life changing.
I would be careful in making a considered decision on whether to go with dentures. You can’t go back afterwards - obviously.

I have a partial cobalt chrome denture as I lost a lot of teeth with illness. It's amazing. Clips on my incisors. It wasn't cheap at nearly £600 but I don't know I'm wearing it most of the time. I can also eat whatever I like despite the comment above which seems to suggest you can't.

At some point I will have to go full denture but it's not something that worries me. They have moved on a lot over the years in terms of fitting etc. First thing to do is find a dentist you absolutely trust and go from there.

And to answer more recent comments, my cobalt chrome plate isn't full and only has one bar crossing the palete leaving the roof of the mouth exposed.
Not all dentures are equal.

I have had problems with my teeth all my adult life. When I was 45 I had a lot of work done - crowns and bridges and whitening. I looked great for a while.
The bridges came out eventually and I had teeth removed and now I have a plate at the top which fills in the gaps.

I hate it.

Eventually I will need all the top ones removing and a full plate. I am not looking forward to it as I do not like the feel of the plate at all.

If your teeth can be saved then save them, as there is no going back once removed.

@Margotshypotheticaldog maybe find a dentist who specializes in pain-free dentistry? From what I can tell there's lots they can do to make it a calm and pain-free experience.

Although I haven't needed it myself, my dentist offers this, plus different methods of cosmetic dentistry including dentures (I had braces).

I don't know what region you live in but happy to message you a link privately if it helps.

@Margotshypotheticaldog OP, I have a few teeth missing, and got a partial denture for the couple of gaps that show when I smile. It is made of valplast, it is moulded to fit over a couple of my remaining teeth. It is comfortable and gives me confidence when I'm out and about, although I must admit I tend to remove it as soon as I arrive home, because I find eating and drinking a bit more comfortable without it.

@Marshmallow91 Your diagram shows similar gaps to my own teeth. Re the wisdom teeth - I have had one removed due to decay, and don't miss it as it was sort of half set into the gum so I didn't actually use it much when eating. My dentist pointed out that I needed to take extra care with cleaning the back teeth - perhaps this is a common issue, as the teeth right at the back are more awkward to keep clean? I also have a couple of fixed bridges (basically false teeth which are permanently fitted to crowns on adjacent teeth). The fixed bridges work well but I'm unsure if they would be possible to fit if someone has ongoing gum disease? So, with a mixture of fixed bridges, crowns and a partial denture I feel OK about my teeth and only have a couple of gaps which don't show when I smile, but because my upper 6 front teeth were all crowned over 20 years ago I am aware that as those teeth start to fail I may need to think about getting some implants with a fixed upper denture.

All this makes me wish I had taken better care of my teeth as a teenager (too many sweets, plus a drill happy dentist), but anyway my partial denture was a much cheaper option than having two implants, and has served me well for a few years now. So, I'd say don't be too worried about a partial denture, and don't hang on to teeth that are clearly beyond saving (dental pain can be agony!) but at the same time, try to preserve the decent teeth you have left, as they are mighty useful to support a partial denture.

Good luck to anyone going through similar problems, and despite the perfect white teeth you see so often in the media, bear in mind that perfect teeth are rarer than you think (expecially once you're over 30, but people don't like to admit these things to each other, for fear of people judging them for perceived dental hygiene failures).

I have a small partial plate . You do not want such. Your own are best. Whilst mine look natural and no one knows I wear them I carry fixative in my bag. A sourdough crust can be too.much, as can so many foods. You have to find s suitable fixative ( they taste awful ) fixing and removing can make you gag.
Find a good dentist. No goòd one will remove teeth inless there is no option .
I wish I had looked after mine a bit better.

I agree with the other poster that suggests you go go a periodontist. They specialise in gum disease so are better than a standard dentist. Mine gave me a local anathestic and then cleaned out under my gums and it was amazing - helped the inflammation in my body.

I had a partial denture OP and it was horrible, I lisped, it constantly rubbed, it drove me mad generally. In the end I got dental implants because I couldn't stand even one more day with the denture in.
Apparently you can get £1000 dentures from the smile clinic that are specially made for you and better than most and look very realistic. But don't kid yourself they are comfortable they are not. NHS dentures are awful and they look very fake.
I'd try and keep my own teeth if possible and keep up with the dental hygienist which is very important.

OP I highly recommend you see a periodontist (gum specialist). Don’t rely on a general dentist or hygienist if you have gum disease. They won’t have the proper training or time to treat gum disease. For example, a full mouth clean for someone with gum disease should take about 4 hours over 2-4 visits. On the NHS a dentist is only paid £30-36 to do this. It doesn’t make sense for them to spend 4 hours to make £36 so they don’t do a thorough job. A hygienist can probably deal with pockets of up to 5mm but unless they work in a periodontist practice can’t deal with more than that.

In fact, scaling has limited effect if you have severe gum disease. You may require more complex procedures such as surgery which is something only the periodontist can provide. They can also do things like bone grafts to replace lost bone in certain areas.

I would try and save the ones you have first before taking them all out. The thing with implants is that they can’t replicate your teeth perfectly and they can also fail (especially if you have gum disease or have uncontrolled diabetes or smoke).

To the poster who said their cobalt chrome partial doesn’t cover their palate, that is one benefit of cobalt chrome over acrylic dentures. You can make mental stronger and thinner so it’s more comfortable. However, when you have full dentures it WILL cover your palate because it needs the support to hold it in.

*metal

Just to clarify, my dentist is private (my original dentist retired and the practice was taken over by BUPA), so I pay private rates for my treatment, and the valpast partial denture cost a few hundred. Valpast is similar to acrylic but more comfortable as it becomes more flexible when warm/body temperature. From what I understand dentures provided by the NHS are often very basic and not well tailored to fit, so many people pay more to get decent ones privately.

Thanks to all of you for the replies,lots to think about. I should have mentioned, I'm in Ireland so no NHS, private is my only option here. I have had the dental planing done in the past by a periodontist about 5 years ago. I can't remember the exact cost but it was around 5k over a few visits and tbh it's prohibitively expensive.
The overwhelming advice does seem to be hang on to what I can, but I have 2 wobbly at the bag which I think will have to go. Possibly more when he takes a look around. Cobalt chrome or valpast sound like possible good options, will enquire if that is something available here. Thanks again for all of the input. As I said, this isn't something I'm at all comfortable discussing IRL.

@Peridotty

Hi OP I’m a dentist specialising in gum disease. Do you have many wobbly teeth? Having all your teeth pulled and replaced with dentures is difficult to get used to. The top denture will cover all of the palate so you can’t taste your food, the bottom one can be hard to get used to. If you do wish to pull all your teeth I suggest all on 4. It is costly though. Probably about £30-50,000 to do

The top denture will cover all of the palate so you can’t taste your food

This simply isn't true. For a start the whole palate isn't covered by the top denture. And the part of the palate that is covered may reduce the taste of food but no way does it mean you can't taste your food.

I'm in Ireland so no NHS, private is my only option here.
Seafield dental Dublin come highly recommended.
If your budget is tight the screw in full set of dentures are reasonably priced plus the added bonus of no palate.
I think €4000 there is a four month wait for a consultation appointment.

@KissedintheDark

I am just saying that's what some patients say to me, that they can't taste their food.
A full denture DOES cover the whole palate. I have included a photo.

I think you'd be insane to get rid of your teeth.

I'd walk to the end of the world and back again to keep my teeth.

Dentures..... just no...

I once worked with a woman who'd asked for dentures years back.
She was in her 20s at the time, she hated dentists but had rotten teeth. She told me she marched into the dentist, told him to take out all her teeth and fit dentures instead. You can imagine they were not keen when she was so young but she argued her case and had it done.

She never looked back, and was perfectly happy with her false teeth. When I knew her she was in her fifties and hadn't spent the rest of her life in pain/going to appointments/paying for dental care or being terrified of the dentist (like I am!) I was envious. She retired during the time I knew her and she was still happy, no gum problems or anything. I think it can work and if it's what you want, ask for it.

There are other options like having tooth implants but they literally cost thousands of pounds and take more than one visit to fit. When I recently had something wrong with two back teeth, I asked for them to be taken out rather than 'fixed' and I am still happy I did. It cost far less too!