I’m hoping that folk will take this thread seriously, as I know if I’d posted it on other forums it would have been made fun of or met with derision.
However, up until the last 5 years I’ve always had a perfect set of teeth. Very white and very straight but sadly, because of a gum infection which can’t be treated, my teeth are deteriorating at a fast rate and I feel very self-conscious now, to the point where I don’t openly smile any longer.
There was a time when I was taken into hospital for something and a nurse tried to remove my teeth because they thought they were false, they were that perfect, so you can’t imagine how unhappy I feel about myself now.
Anyway, the question is, how does one go about getting new teeth? I swore I would never ever have false teeth because I was so proud of my own, but unfortunately this is now depressing me to the point where I don’t socialise any longer because I’m too ashamed, and my confidence is at an all time low.
Please don’t make fun of me, because this is a very serious issue with me. There is no dental treatment on the NHS, and I can afford very little privately.
I do still have 6-monthly check-ups with my dentist, and I’m not having any problems, apart from decay and it is truly driving me crazy. I want to be able to laugh again.
Mollie darlin’ - not true that there’s no NHS dental treatment - I visited my own dentist only yesterday morning!!! - however it depends on your income and (more importantly) its source!!!
If, like me you’re in receipt of Pension Credit then you CAN get free dental treatment!!!
Poor you Mollie Surely, if you have an untreatable gum disease this falls under the category of having new teeth? It’s not because of cosmetic reasons!
If I were you, I would chat with your dentist (unless you’ve done this already). And like Uncle Joe says, you should get the treatment free, depending on your circumstances.
I agree with what has been said above, Mollie - have a word with your dentist, tell him what you have told us, then see if he can come up with either free treatment or treatment that’s not going to cost the earth.
Have you been with this dentist for very long? If so, he should do everything possible to help you.
Mollie, you go to work don’t you? So maybe not any free treatment? If you can find a NHS dentist accepting new patients (phone the NHS dental helpline) you can get treated a lot cheaper than a private one. I cannot remember the exact bands but I think there were three, the first about £40 odd and the third about £200. They cannot charge you any more than the third band. You pay for what you are having done. As long as you attend regular check-ups (6 or 9 months, I can’t remember) you can stay with the NHS dentist. Maybe look into NHS dental treatment online and get the proper facts? Good luck
It depends on the dentist Mollie, if he says your teeth are affecting your health, you should be able to get them done on the NHS, but if they are being done for cosmetic purposes only, you will have to pay the full amount.
Thank you all so very much for your replies. My current dentist is an NHS one and I attend every six months paying £16 for each visit. I’ve been with this particular dentist for about four years or so now, when I first noticed that my teeth were “shifting” although I’ve had no toothache or anything like that.
Yes Maryl, I still work part-time and, as you say, I’m probably not entitled to free treatment in this case. It’s not affecting my physical health, but it is affecting my mental health because I’m very depressed because of it. I signed on with my current dentist as an NHS patient a few years ago.
I’ve never, ever, taken from the State anything I’ve not been entitled to, and would never dream of doing so, so perhaps I should speak with my doctor about this, as well as my dentist. Both are absolutely brilliant so perhaps there can be a compromise.
Carmen, this is, and it isn’t, a cosmetic problem. It is because I feel ugly, and it isn’t, because I’m depressed because of it. I honestly can’t believe how this has happened.
If the most I have to pay is £200, I can probably manage that.
You have all given me hope and I’m due for my next 6-monthly check-up soon, so I shall speak with my dentist to find out my options. He already knows how badly it’s affecting me, but my doctor doesn’t.
Thanks very much folks for being so kind and supportive.
Just to update you on this. I went for my six-monthly check-up today and the dentist and I had a long conversation.
I had looked online at the cost and, from what I read, it was up in the £2000 mark so, after discussing the fate of my teeth, he said it would cost £204.00 in total - BUT - there were different stages. If I have them all removed then replaced with new it would cost £204.00 but, if they were done step by step, it would cost about £200.00 each time.
He has been absolutely brilliant and I am now 99.9% sure I’m going to have them removed, which saddens me very greatly, but I can’t go on like this any longer, and I find it embarrassing.
I’ll let you know when the procedure will be carried out but, just to prove what I used to look like, here’s a photo of me before everything went wrong.
It is in a way Marian, but I always swore I’d never ever need dentures. As you can see in the photo, my teeth were my best feature, so it’s a shock to the system when something like this happens.
To be honest I find it difficult to eat properly now, and even forming some of my words when I speak is difficult as well.
Yes, he’s a lovely dentist. As daft as this might sound, to be able to openly smile and laugh again and show my teeth, will give me back the confidence I lost a few years ago. I’ll dredge up the courage from somewhere though to go through with it.
Thanks Carmen. I was a semi-professional singer back then and had loads of confidence, but I don’t now and I suppose that’s why I can be touchy at times. Hard to explain.
Teeth are the first thing people notice about you and Gareth and I had a good half hour chatting.
My major concern was how long it would take between extraction and new going in. I was shocked when he said it would all be done at the same time, out with the old and in with the new.
To say that I’ve been extremely depressed about my teeth for so long, he’s given me hope and I feel sure that once this is sorted out, I will regain the confidence I lost and I’ll be able to rid myself of the depression I’ve felt about the way I look.
No Marian. Apparently, what he will do is take an impression first, then I’d have to go back again. I don’t know the in’s and out’s but he assures me I won’t go around “gummy” for any length of time at all. He says he wouldn’t do that to me.
He did say though that sometimes (not always) a new set of teeth may have to be replaced six months down the line because the gums recede, which may make the new teeth loose. It’s a gamble.
He also said some patients go six months after extraction before new teeth are fitted, and when he said that my hair stood on end and I said I couldn’t go a week, never mind six months.
I told him I’d take a photo in with me next time to show my real teeth and he said that he could work on that.
I’m feeling more positive now than I have done in a good while.
Surely, if you have an untreatable gum disease this falls under the category of having new teeth? It’s not because of cosmetic reasons!
