Dental Problems

[Edwin]

Many people suffer from dental problems. Many older people end up with false teeth before they die. Some of them were on my side of the family and some of them were on Carol's side. Sometimes it was because people did not take good enough care of their teeth when they were younger. Some people just naturally have better dental health than other people. My Dad had very little dental work done on his teeth, and he had almost perfect teeth all of his life. My Mom kept her teeth until she died, but she had lots of work done on them to keep them, and keep them working. Carol and I have both had lots of work done on our teeth. Through my life I did not brush often enough, nor did I even floss at all until a few years ago. Our teeth are in pretty good shape now, and I work hard to take care of them faithfully.

In 1970 or 1971 I was helping a guy haul hay. I was on top of the truck load of hay, just finishing stacking the top few bales. The guy would use the front end loader on the tractor to lift the bales on top, then I would pull them off and stack them. There was one bale left, and I reached to get it. I over balanced, and he dropped the front end loader not knowing what I was doing. I fell head first onto the front end loader right on the ground as he had already dropped it to the ground. It is a wonder that I didn't break my neck and die, but God was merciful to me, and I lived. I broke my upper jaw into my eye socket, and they had to tie my jaw together to let it heal. I cut through my bottom lip, and they sewed that up. It broke one tooth off just above my gum. The dentist glued a crown on top of that stud and told me that if it didn't hold he would fix it. Well, I think he is dead by now it has been so many years ago, and he was middle aged then. For many years it would ping when I would eat icecream and drink coffee. I just learned why that happened. It had a metal framework inside of it. It lasted until just a couple of months ago. I was eating a hamburger, and it broke right in half. I think the reason it failed is that a few years ago I had a root canal there, and I think the root canal dentist weakened it by drilling a hole in it to do the root canal. The dentist told me I was lucky that it broke because he told me that there was decay until the back side of that crown, so now the decay is taken care of, and otherwise there would have been further damage from the decay.

I am now crying about how much it cost to get that tooth fixed. For what that tooth cost to fix I could have flown to the Philippines and had money left over to spend while there! I also probably could have flown to the Philippines, got the tooth fixed, and flown back home for not much more than the tooth cost to get fixed here! It is temporary for now, and the dentist told me that it was only strong enought to use to smile! He will put the permanent tooth in April 15th, and he will not charge me any more money to complete that task. I was shocked at the cost so I asked them as I was leaving how much it was going to cost me to get that permanent tooth put back in, and they told me it would cost no more because I paid all of it on the first visit! I am now crying about how much it cost, becasue it will hurt my monthly buget, but I will survive, get it paid for, and recover! If this one lasts as long as the other one did, I will be 110 years old! Do you think the tooth will last that long, or will I last that long!!!!

[red]

The other day, I took my eldest daughter to the dentist here and she will be scheduled again sometime next week for her teeth to be fixed. I think dental treatment here is better than in the Phils only that it is expensive here but good thing my kids have insurance to cover the expenses. Last night, she was crying for toothache. I felt sorry for her. Her bad cavity is acting now so I think it is better be pulled out but will have to see what Dr. joe will say next week. Last time I had my teeth cleaned and filled in Phils. I was disappointed. I went to a new dentist and she did horrible job that when i came here in US the filling was removed. Now i am worrying for cavity, so I took 10 minutes just brushing and flossing my teeth everyday.

[Edwin]

Dental problems can come upon you for years, getting worse and worse until it is unbearable. I had a little filling work done when I was a big kid. Then I would go to the dentist when I had pain. Probably about 25 years ago I started getting temporary filling work. I didn't think I could afford the permanent work, so I just lived with that until problems would surface again. Approximately 12 or 13 years ago my teeth got into bad enough condition so that I suffered from bouts of misery. I started going to the dentist having permanent work done. We had no insurance, so I am not even going to tell how much that cost! It was astronomical! Anyway the dentist would drill out all the decay, put a temporary on, tell me to come back to see him, I would, and he would put a permanent crown on. I then started having to have root canals because of the deterioration of the teeth roots and the absesses that resulted!

Carol went through the same thing with her teeth. She had a bad experience with a dentist who belittled her because she panicked when he worked on her years ago. She decided she was not going to have any more work done, but have all her teeth pulled when they got bad. Two nice dentists talked her out of that, and a caring dentist worked on her teeth, and that was expensive also. Now both of us have teeth that are in great condition, and we work hard taking care of our teeth. I will not get into bed at night until I have vigorously brushed and flossed my teeth. I start out by brushing with baking soda tooth paste, then I add regular baking soda brushing more, and after that I mix with water and brush until the solution is deluted, after which I spit it all out, rense my tooth brush with water, and rinse my mouth with water. Now you know more than you wanted to know, don't you?