teeth three years ago (Photo credit: darwin.wins)Ever since I was a small child living in Scotland I have suffered from dental problems. My first recollection of this was at the age of 4. I was laying in the back of my parents car, I had a fuzzy feeling in my head and couldn't feel my mouth at all, which was purpose-knitted by my Grandmother for the occasion....yellow and white, if you don't mind. I still have the scarf.
I digress. The next thing that I can remember was my Grandmother giving me a rather small but sharp-tasting drink. It turned out to be a 'hot toddy,' which is a Scottish term for whiskey, hot water and sugar. It must have worked a treat as the next thing I knew it was the next day.
After the removal of my second set of teeth and my almost phobic care of these teeth, I thought that I had my dental woes behind me. My dental woes stayed behind me until I emigrated with my family to Tasmania in 1979. To this day I do not know what made me do a complete turnaround with my teeth and totally neglect them. With the benefit of hindsight I consider myself extremely lucky. I did not begin suffering further dental problems until I was about 22.
The first dental problems that I began to suffer from were plain old toothaches; nothing that a couple of over-the-counter painkillers couldn't fix. As time progressed the toothaches incrreased in severity and duration. I the began suffering pain in my gums and in my jaw. If you take just one thing from this entry I would like you to go immediately to a dentist if you experience gum pain or jaw pain. Your cranial nerves are extremely close to your jaw area, particularly each side of the middle of your chin. If the pain is caused by infection it will quickly travel to the brain with a devastating or fatal effect.
Again, I digress. This first infection was the first of many to come. I refused to have teeth pulled out unless
The final crunch came in 2008. My entire left jaw was swollen out like The Elephant Man and the pain would have been enough to kill an elephant. I went to the local dentist, who is very good. He told me that removal of my entire top teeth was a 'must.' No questions asked. He took an X-Ray and on my next visit he pointed out previous infections by location and year. I was impressed. He wrote me a referral to a Scottish dental surgeon who travels over every 3 months. Luckily I was able to have everything arranged for 5 weeks ahead of that day.
Surgery went well and I made a quicker than expected recovery. There were 2 appointments with my orthodontist to adjust my full top dentures as shrinkage to my top palate hadn't quite settled down.
Having said this, I still have occasional pieces of dental matter pushing through my gum and it isn't 100% painless.
Despite my 'luck,' and that's what I call it, with dentures I do not recommend them unless your dentist deems them a 'must.'
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