To want dentures at 30 to stop this constant worrying??

[Coffeeebean]

Bit of an odd one

I have HORRIBLE anxiety about my teeth. Horrible.

I am constantly worried about decay and check them pretty much hourly with a torch and a mirror in my mouth. If I notice a new dark spot that I havent seen before its day and days of anxiety and tears and checking checking checking.

Eating anything sugary stresses me out and I have to rinse my mouth out immediately after.

I brush 3-4 times a day which I know is bad in itself. I also go to see my poor dentist every 3-4 months because ive found another thing that i need to get checked because i cant eat from the anxiety of it being decay.

The strangest thing is...nothing has ever been wrong with them. Ive never had any work done. My teeth have lots of staining and some enamel erosion due to an ED in my 20s....but my dentist reassures me they are fine.

Despite being told this from multiple dentist, I am still always thinking about my teeth. Worrying about the future. How long will they last, what work will i need done, will i be able to afford it.

I am already on medication for anxiety and have had CBT. I told my GP about my behaviour with my teeth (as was concerned it was OCD) and was told there was nothing else that could be done.

So, AIBU to want to have them all removed now so i can stop this constant worrying???

I feel like they are ruining my life

I think more therapy would be better. If you don’t deal with the underlying problem, you’ll just transfer the worry to something else.

It sounds like whatever concerns drove your ED, have transferred to your teeth. If you got dentures, I'm sure they'd transfer to something else. Try and get more therapy.

Please don't get dentures! There is no logical reason for you to worry about your perfectly healthy teeth so they won't be the route of the problem and most likely your anxiety would transfer immediately to something else. Also false teeth are no fun and need expensive maintenance.

Very gently please spend the money on getting some private therapy for your OCD (as the NHS won’t help) rather than having your teeth out. It sounds like some of your ED has referred to your mouth and teeth.

As you’ve never had work done, I cannot tell you how painful it is having one tooth out let alone all of them.

Full dentures would be a nightmare at your age and full implants would cost so much money. I have one missing tooth and it’s such a massive PIA. I hope things get better for you.

No, of course you'd be utterly stupid to have all your teeth extracted. I'd hope that no reputable dentist would agree to do this.

Please...

• get therapy
• stop eating foods with added sugar.

You are an adult - you can do this.

That sounds rough. You need more therapy, more anti anxiety, OCD treatment .

dont pull your teeth out!

Dentures for a young person who doesn't need them for clinical reasons would be a very inappropriate thing for a dentist to even agree to carry out. It's also likely that your fixation will transfer to something else; it's rare that the actual body part in question is the real issue. If you get your teeth removed, the anxiety you haven't won't disappear. It will almost certainly find another outlet, another thing to obsess about. And then what? Your problems with your teeth are the symptom, not the cause.

You definitely need more support from GP etc. at this point.

My father had all his teeth out for his 21st birthday. Was quite common back in his day, among people with the wherewithal to fund decent dentures.

Do what works for you, OP.

Yes my gran and her sister had this as a 21st birthday gift! Kind of gruesome thinking about it now, really. And ethically very dubious of a dentist to agree to remove all the teeth of a healthy 21yo. But dental health/care back then wasn't anywhere near where it is now.

A full set of dentures attached to dental implants (so that the dentures don't move around in your mouth) costs over £20,000 privately in UK

There is the cost of

Original teeth removal

3D head scans

Putting in the implants

Creation & fitting of the dentures

You still have to keep your mouth, dentures & implants clean forever

It is not an easy solution & you should take care of your original teeth as your first option

I am not aware of an NHS dentist providing this type of service

All that is true, however I suppose what I’m saying is it didn’t do him any harm. He lived a long, healthy life and had a beautiful smile. No abscesses, no root canals, no gingivitis. I don’t see what’s so wrong about it, personally, but obviously each person makes their own choice what to do with their own body.

Your teeth aren’t ruining your life. Your poor mental health is. That’s what you need to seek help for.

I have had dentures since my late teens due to an accident. If you can avoid needing them, please do they are expensive, not particularly comfortable and not a good substitute for natural teeth.

I think this poster is well meaning but please don’t have all your healthy teeth removed! As others have said, it’s likely that your teeth are not the source if your anxiety and do you’ll have gone through lots of pain, have to maintain dentures, and still not solved the problem. I had an ED and then went on to develop OCD and what you’ve described sounds like OCD or possibly body dysmorphic disorder (closely linked.) Please do try to get therapy as OCD is definitely treatable-pay private if at all possible because NHS waiting lists are very long and the number of sessions is so limited. There are some great charities such as OCD UK and OCD Action where you can find out more information and get support. Another thing to bear in mind, if you have OCD and feed in to it by getting dentures, this will likely reinforce the OCD and make it even worse. Wishing you all the best and do PM me if I can be any help x

Your GP is not actually supposed to refuse referral for assessment for conditions like OCD. I am not 100% sure what the protocol is (perhaps an OCD charity would know?) and it does seem like the main treatment offered is CBT but I wonder if an actual assessment/diagnosis might make a difference?

I think you need to recognise that the problem here is OCD and not your teeth. As a health anxiety sufferer I know how hard that is. But when I start obsessing about a particular symptom it helps me to remind myself that what is wrong with me is not an actual illness or disease but that I have an anxiety disorder that makes me think I have an illness or disease. And when one body symptom resolves the anxiety just transfers to another body symptom. I highly suspect this is what would happen if you did anything to your teeth. And as others have said, no reputable dentist would do this anyway.

Also having full implants will not stop the anxiety. I have one dental implant (replacing a root canal that failed) and whilst it is great, I have to take extra care cleaning it, as does my hygienist, as implants can be more susceptible to infection than real teeth.

Spend the money on some therapy instead.

I have tried to stop eating sugar but my relationship with food is still very challenging (and always will be) and i cant do it without triggering previous behaviours.

I know im an adult, but if i could just get over it i would have done.

Im just trying to find some peace and live a life i enjoy but i feel completely stuck

Private therapy. Find someone that specialises in OCD and anxiety disorders.
CBT doesn't work for everyone and there's other forms of therapy that might be better suited.
Look into ACT and EMDR.

I think the difference here is this could cause the OP real harm to her mental health (aside from the issue of whether removing her teeth would be physically harmful.) If she has OCD and plays into it by getting dentures, this would likely reinforce her OCD and make it worse.

Don't. You'll just find something else to worry about.

Dd1 has dental phobia. She asked the dentist about having them all out and dentures a couple of years ago, and he said it would just transfer issues to different mouth issues so it wouldn't solve it.

No good dentist would remove a healthy tooth.

Please get therapy, your teeth are not your problem so having them out won't help you.
The Anxiety and OCD will just transfer onto another area of your body

Oh love! How awful to worry about something you don’t need to worry about. Yes, it’s not a dentist you need but a different clinical psychologist to get to the bottom of your anxiety. You’ll get there. x

I understand that removing healthy teeth is silly. I guess my concern is more the problems/expense i will get in the future - yes my teeth are fine now but they ARE damaged and wont be fine forever.

Its the not knowing whats going to happen, how long i have left, how much its going to cost in the future etc. that worries me so much.

I cant afford private therapy unfortunately.

And i wouldnt be able to afford implants - just normal removable dentures