Dental work, AHHH

No they only give you removable retainers. Which is not a big deal, I mean they will be even less noticeable than Invisalign as they won't have hooks, but it's the idea of having another year of having to remove the things to eat, and having to wash my teeth and floss all the time... it's very annoying. But I guess my teeth have never been cleaner, so there's that.

Ugh god so I haven't been to the dentist in years and found a cavity on each of my back molars.

I'm soooo scared to go in. I'm afraid I'll need $10000000 of work on my teeth. I do have insurance now (didn't a while) but I can't spend too much right now. My insurance caps out at $2000 a year.

Blegh.

I guess the first step is go in and see what they tell me I need done. Or are they going to try to force me into 5 root canals and tons of fillings in just a few months?

Are they usually good about spacing things out so you can get some done now and some next year?

Well I'm sure you can tell them you don't have that much money and to only do the most urgent stuff first. Won't the benefits reset in January? Then I'd definitely go ASAP.

Honestly I try not to skip the dentist anymore. Every time I've moved, it's taken me way too long to find a new dentist. First time I ended up with a broken tooth and a root canal, second time I had 5-6 cavities and massive gum disease and had to go back for treatments because of it.

Now I use an electric toothbrush, brush and floss 3x a day (kinda have to with Invisalign anyway), and go for a cleaning every 3 months, lol! My teeth tend to stain a lot because of coffee and tea though.

I've always done my stuff pretty spread out. That's what took me so long lol.

Plus I think they make you come back if you have work needed on both sides of your mouth -- since they don't want to numb, like, your entire face if they don't have to haha. I need a lot of novocaine as it is.

Ugh god... I just need to get it started.

My teeth look pretty good and no pain but I see a crack on the top of a molar.

Monday morning I go in.

I am so unbelievably terrified.

The dentist themselves will likely recommend having as much work done as possible in an effort to prevent further decay. The dentist generally has zero idea about their patients' insurance policies. So, be upfront and let them know that you're working on a budget and ask them what they feel is priority over other treatment. The dentists I work with want the best for their patients and genuinely care about their patients. They should be willing to provide you with as much information as you need and while they can't predict always the speed of further decay, they should know what treatment absolutely needs to be completed first before other stuff.

Good luck!!

It'll be ok! I promise! I go in for a cleaning Monday too!

I keep having dreams I get to the dentist and they tell me all my teeth need to go. :yikes::yikes::yikes:

I'm so terrified. I just hope they can work around my budget. I'm not scared of the work itself. Just money. But I guess it's better to at least get things partially repaired with my insurance than let it go longer.

I feel you!! I'm terrified, like full blown panic attack scared of dentists.... I'll sit in the waiting room and want to bolt.... For me budget is an issue, but not the main one (though it should be), the main one is the all encompassing, brutal, fear of dentist chair....

Good luck, I'll be thinking of you!!!

You can say no to any procedure. You can pace things out. You can prioritize your dental work so that the most important bits are done first.

Most importantly, it won't be as bad as you think. Anxiety is getting the better of you. I know because this is basically my life, every day. Heh. Talk to the dentist about your concerns. They won't be able to cut you deals, but they can discuss a plan that will keep your budget as happy as possible. My dentist did so when my budget was tight and I was without insurance.We just paced things and I took really good care of my teeth in the interim to prevent further issues.

Gah I am so scared. I do know it's my anxiety acting up mostly but I should have gone in sooner. I am over analyzing every little tooth thing. Every potential cavity and every minor pain.

Anxiety sucks. I guess I'll find out how bad it is on Monday. So scared they'll yell at me if I choose to wait on something.

3 small cavities and need a night guard. Not nearly as bad as I thought!!

Awesome news!

So odd, I have the same thing. lol. 3 small cavities and they told me I likely grind my teeth at night because of where the cavities are. But I wear my invisalign every night so who knows! I'm somewhat irritated that I even HAVE 3 small cavities consdiering I just got them cleaned like... 6 months ago and already just had 5 fillings earlier this year Ugh. I've been using Sonicare tooth brush and flossing way better than I used to, too. They gave me an RX toothpaste that I hope works.

I didn't have any cavity for the first time ever thanks to Invisalign I think. But I pretty much brush my teeth 3-4 times a day and brush the aligners at the same time. Who knows.

Had to get a root canal today went to the endodontist.... I went to this same endo like 6 years ago for my 1st root canal, all he does is root canals all day long so I definitely went in feeling confident in his abilities but for some reason had some anxiety about going in! Eeekkk. The procedure wasn't "pleasant" but mostly because I had to hold my mouth open for so long and they put this blue umbrella-like thing in your mouth plus the mouth holder thingy-ma-jig and I felt like I couldn't swallow or breath. I definitely started getting antsy/anxious towards the end there.

He said my tooth was super inflamed and thought he was going to have to stop and finish another day but thank god he finished it, ugh didn't want to repeat that. I went in due to increased sensitivity to hot/cold/etc, I couldn't eat really hard crunchy foods on that side and I had let it go a couple of months but it was starting to bother me more and more.

Anywho I guess I go in 2 weeks now to my regular dentist for a filling on my crown (the tooth that got a root canal already had a crown on it from like 6 months ago, go figure)...

GEEZ it's the never ending dental saga with me over the last year or so.

Ahh!!! I am dealing with dental issues now. The orthodontists didn't fix my back molars properly and now they are causing me insane jaw pain. So my dentist and I are trying to fiqure it out and try to fix it.

I neglected going to the dentist for years because I couldn't afford it. I'm paying (literally) for it now. Seven cavities, five teeth have to be pulled because I grinded them until they've broken off at the gumline and can't be saved, a root canal, post and crown, and that's just the initial exam. I have other cavities that are not as bad and will be quick to fix, but I had that diagnoses after just an initial exam, not even comprehensive.

I've been going to a low cost clinic (thank Dog) the root canal would have cost me at least 4k at one dentist.

I'm looking into an implant for the rear tooth because the ones that have to be pulled are all in the rear, and one implant in the rear to even up my bite would be better than having nothing there.

I still need a few cavities filled, the crown and post, and four teeth pulled.

I go in tomorrow and I'm going to beg and plead with them to pull all three on the right because I CAN NOT EAT.

And you can bet your bottom dollar I wear a mouth guard at night now. It's not a dentist made one, but it's a dental mouth guard. It's already showing where I grind which is EXACTLY on my back teeth that need to be pulled. If I forget it a night, I wake up and spit out bits of tooth that have broken off. Not fun.

This was totally supposed to go in the venting thread. Ignore me!