Dental qustion - Partial or crowns or what?

Question

hi - A while back I got very ill, and all my teeth either got very decayed or busted all apart, apparently my adrenals quit working for a few years (I have a family history of adrenal insufficiency) and so it looks like I'm not trying to take care of things, but I am, I brush several times a day - and for a while they were going to give up and pull all my teeth, but about a month ago or so my adrenals started to work again (Thank God) - I'm not at 100% yet, (more like 50% to 60 function) - but my teeth don't look so great. I really do want my teeth to look nice, but I'm not sure what's best - He's pulled 7 already and there's about 2-3 more that have to be pulled, and he's done stainless steel crowns on several (I honestly don't know why he hasn't done the other types of crowns - I'm assuming it was because of money (I'm on disability)) The problem is my lower jaw doesnt' quite hit right and on the lower side there isn't necessarily anything for him to anchor the partial to

and I'm still not sure that doing extractions are safe. My dentist finally got clearance from my endocrinologist after a 3/4 year period, but that doesn't mean it's necessarily safe, but if he does the stainless steel crowns it won't look very good, and his point is it will give me something to chew on, seal up the stuff so it doesn't hurt as bad, and it would be safer all the way around. Personally I think he's excessively cautious, but after he saw my wife go into septic shock from a dental thing he wasn' about to take any chances. I don't think I want to take chances either. BUt I'm feeling pretty lousy about my appearance. I'm not quite sure what to do.

The dentist says it's pretty much up to me. I just don't know what to do. I'm pretty upset that I got here, but it wasn't my fault. The only thing I did was get sick. And that happens some times. Thanks for your help. Also can they close up the holes from the teeth they pulled? how do they do that?

braces? on crowns? seems crazy

it's almost looking like the stainless steel crown thing is probably my best option - but I can't stand the idea of how I'm going to look. I am so limited by what I can do due to money - I already put all my dental work on the credit card and hope I can pay for it.

I could try to find a way of getting dental insurance. My insurance doesn't cover anything. I have Medicare and Wisconsin Hirsp - (High risk) and neither covers me

But the dentist has a good point - do I want to be able to chew my food or not? But that's stainless steel crowns for my front teeth, I"ll look like the Jaws guy in James Bond. I guess I'm ok with it, but I just don't know what to do . Maybe he can do the partial. He's going to try to think about how this might work and call me. Right now he has no idea.

thanks

Answer 1

The hard thing is when your are on goverment health coverage there are only a few things yor dentist can do for you that he will actually get partially paid for. The bad part for you is there is wonderful things in dentistry right now to make your mouth look like a movie star! the problem with that is it would cost thousands. So your best optioins now are to temporaily seal them up with stainless steel crowns or pull them. then you really won't ever be able to have a partial, your only option at that point, if you want a full mouth of teeth so your bite is correct, is to pull them all and get dentures. If your dentist feels like you have enough teeth for a partial I would go wiwth that. if not I wold not pull them al out. I would fix the ones that are able to be saved and eat the best you can. until you get to a point where you cant eat. at that point get dentures. With dentures people do ok with upper dentures with the exception that they do fall and they can reduce your ability to taste as well. Lower ones slip all over the place. good luck I hope this helps.