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New Teefs!

3/24/2017

5 Comments

 
It's here!  The almost final step in my treatment plan!  I say almost because it's actually not the final restorations.  I'd love for it to be, but we know the final restorations will be the implant/bridge segment we have to do later when these teeth finally do start presenting as loose as they should given how awful they look on scans.  We'll cross that bridge when we get to it in the probably not super distant future.  But for the mean time (however long that time ends up being-- who knows!), I am doing veneers on the front teeth.  I always knew this was going to be a part of my treatment plan. I trashed these front teeth a few times over the years, and then my first ortho trashed them even more.  So, I knew this was coming, but now I have mixed emotions over it.  Over the years I had these teeth ground down and bonded to cover up an overlap I had on the front teeth, and old fillings that stuck out in my two front incisors, and in general just a bad patchwork bonding job was done on them more than once.  I wish I could rewind time and yell at my 24 year old self that let my family dentist grind my teeth down and put cheap bonding over them, but I can't change what I did.  I wish I would have just waited to get my teeth fixed properly with ortho and all, but the damage is done, and now I am paying to fix it.  Again, I knew this was coming, but what makes it a tough expense now is I have been faced with the situation of knowing this is a temporary fix that will lead me to an even more expensive final restoration with the implant/bridge segment.  So this $7200 (yes....that is what these 4 veneers cost me yesterday.  Ugh.) is to make my teeth pretty for possibly as little as just a couple years.  We hope for the best and maybe this will end up being a 10 year thing for me before I have to start implant work, but my docs aren't super optimistic.  

So, mixed emotions spending this much money on something that is 1.) So vain and superficial, and 2.) temporary in the grand scheme of things.  And now I am doing this after I just took a new job and got hit with an almost 50% pay cut.  Super ouch!  BUT..... I owe this to myself after everything I've been through to get to this point.  Could you see that patchwork bonding in pics and from far away?  No.  Could I see it?  Could my dental professionals see it?  Could my husband see it and friends up close see it?  Yes.  For sure.  Plus the bonding kept chipping off, turning different colors and getting worse, and the places where it was little slivers/chips, I was shredding floss on like a mo-fo.  So, there was some functional issues here too.  I am looking forward to not shredding floss anymore (and having an easier time flossing with smooth lateral tooth surfaces), and I am looking forward to having properly sized teeth.  One of the issues through treatment is my first ortho adjusted the size of my teeth and screwed them all up.  So both of my incisors were different sizes, both laterals were different sizes.  It looked goofy.  I am glad to get these guys the right size/shape finally. And I am glad to not have to look at my first ortho's hack job anymore.  It was a constant reminder every day looking at what he did to me.  I don't deserve to be reminded of that every day.  So, hopefully this will help me move on there.

My prosth asked me if I was at all surprised about how things went yesterday-- the whole process of prepping these teeth and getting my temp veneers on.  I told him I wasn't.  It wasn't that far off from other work I've had done, esp the bonding on those teeth.  It was very similar in a sense where they prepped the surface of the teeth (although didn't take off nearly as much natural tooth surface), wrap the cords and stuff around the teeth to push the gums up, cure things, etc.  I was in the chair for about 3 hours.  Worst part of the whole thing was the needle to get numbed up.  Needles up top/front are always more ouchie, but he stuck me right in fresh scar tissue from my plate removal, and that was SUPER ouchy.  Like, I had a few tears sneak out from the corner of my eyes and Dr. Lew totally caught me and handed me a tissue.  I hate being a baby, but I wasn't expecting this ouchie at all.  Normally it's no big thing taking the novicane shot, but damn this one was one of the worst ones I've ever had.  The rest of it was just discomfort in my back from laying down in the chair so long, and then my jaw joints from being cranked open for 3 hours.  A few good tidbits during all the work in this appointment:  1.) No decay.  I think my prosth was ready to find some decay under all the old bonding and fillings in my front teeth and he said they looked great.  2.) Both my prosth and the chair side assistant gushed over how amazing my gum tissue is.  Like, multiple times remarked about it.  This makes me VERY happy.  I've worked hard to get to a place where I take really great care of myself now.  I started this journey with severe periodentisis with 5-8mm pockets around teeth.  It feels really good to be in a place now where I get compliments along the lines of "these are some of the best gums we see in here!"  And on the same token Dr. Lew quipped that even my retainer is kept so clean, like it basically looked brand new.  Yep, I work hard on that too, so I'll take it :)

So, 3 hours and $7,200 later, I have temps in and my actual veneers are on order with a lab and I'll go back April 18th to hopefully get them seated for good.  If they are not perfect and to Dr. Lew's high standards (which I am thankful for!), he'll send them back and get them right before he permanently cements them.   Dr. Lew was also able to adjust my retainer for me in his lab, so it fits the temps he put on and he saved me an hour trip over to see my ortho to do that.  Super awesome of him!  Speaking of Dr. Lew, he also mentioned to me that the CA Dental Board did contact them to initiate their records request for my case, so it sounds like the dental board is moving forward with an investigation, which is great news.  From what I gather, they typically won't even take this step to get records and start investigating if they don't think there is something there worth looking at.  They'll totally close a case before it even began in that sense.  So, this is really great news.  I think I am finally feeling better pushing forward with this.  The few bits I have gotten to talk with my team about have been pleasant.  They have given me as warm a response as I think I can get here, so I am moving forward with the belief that they are on my side and they don't think I am a bad person for doing this.  I really hope not, because this dental board investigation train has now left the station and it's out of my hands.

Here are a few shots I had fun doing fb updates with in the chair yesterday.  I have no shame.  :)


5 Comments
Julie
3/27/2017 12:20:48 pm

Hi, I've been following your story for a while, while I'm getting ready for a second round of orthodontics. Your teeth look great)) Thanks a lot for your story!!! You are doing a great thing writing all this..
I wanted to ask you how could you keep your gums in such a perfect state and to get rid of pockets? Is it an irrigator or some special toothpaste?

Reply
Ashley
3/29/2017 09:36:43 am

Hi, Julie! I have quite a history with my gums. I was telling my prosthodontist a short version of it the other day, but when I first started seeing a dentist in 2010 after about 15 years of not seeing a dentist, I had severe periodentisis. I had some 6-8mm pockets around gums. I had awful breath, my gums bled all the time, and they were visibly not in good shape. I never took care of my teeth on top of never seeing a dentist, so I am partially to blame here. So, it means a lot for me now to take care of them, esp after everything I've been through to get me to this point. Even when I had braces I got compliments that my gums were better than some of my dentists patients without braces. Key is religious flossing and a good electric toothbrush that you use 2-3 times a day. I had a sonicare at home and a sonicare at work that I brushed with after I ate lunch. I flossed almost every single day. I didn't get a waterpik until the last 4 months of treatment, and good god that thing was amazing, so I highly recommend one. While you really shouldn't replace flossing with it, I did cut my flossing down to 3-4 times a week in between using the waterpik religiously. My gums were still fantastic. I also started taking up a rinse my revision surgeon had me use after surgery, which was just good old fashioned peroxide. After surgery it was half water half peroxide, but now I just lazily glug a little bit from the bottle and do straight up peroxide. I can feel it bubbling and tingling and doing its thing and I swear my gums have been amazing for it. And it shows you where you need to floss better, since it will foam and attack the crevices that have any bacteria on them. I recently got a prescription toothpaste from my prsothodontist, but I think that is more heavy flouride for my teeth and not sure if that is making a difference on my gum health at all. So, try to floss once a day (at night if you can, which I didn't do in braces. It was more mid day for me since I fall asleep and get lazy at night), try to get a good electric tooth brush and brush morning/night and midday after lunch if you can, waterpik, and rinse with some peroxide. If you gums are already in a bad state, get a really good cleaning (or a deep cleaning if you really need it) to get a fresh reset on everything and try to keep up with it from there. I have been on 3-4 month cleanings since 2010, so that helps as well. Hoping I get to be a 6 month recall like a normal person very soon! Good luck and let me know if you have any other questions! :)

Reply
Ashley
3/29/2017 09:38:50 am

Oh, and with braces, I used proxy brushes religiously! Those things are great to get all the bits and bobs out of your teeth in between brackets!

Reply
Julie
3/29/2017 03:55:59 pm

I've heard about peroxide, but was not sure we can use it often. Thanks. I will add it to waterpick.
Flossing is not possible for me, as I have permanent retainers fixed on the back of my lower and upper teeth after my first orthodontic treatment. In our country (Ukraine) they never leave especially the lower teeth without permanent retainers (a thin wire glued on the back of the teeth). Do your orthos do it? Maybe that would be an option for your front upper teeth, such retainer would fix them for ever. They usually glue the wire from canine to canine.
Or what do your orthos say about permanent retainers? Maybe, they have some reasons not to use them?
And I wanted to ask about the electronic brush, doesn't it make the teeth looser? I'm afraid It will shake my teeth. I have not so much bone left around them after my first unfortunate treatment. How do your teeth feel after your sonicare?

Ashley
3/30/2017 08:57:25 am

You should be able to floss with permanent retainers still. It's more difficult and you have to use bridge/threader floss still, but if you're not flossing now that is def the reason you're having some problems there. The waterpik will help you out a ton, but def try to floss there too. Your ortho should have shown you how to do this. They do permanent retainers here, but I feel like not as often as the essix or hawley now. Back in the day they did them a lot more I feel like. I don't think they like to do it because they know it causes people to floss less. re: sonicare. I have severe-extreme bone and root resorption on my front teeth. They're loose and will be short lived over the next few years and ultimately end up as implants. I brush just fine with my sonicare and it doesn't bug those teeth.




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