38 Years Old, Finally Making Me a Priority - Brandon, MS

I grew up only going to the dentist when needed. So i never had a family dentist or got used to one. While in high school, one of my mother's coworkers was in dental school, and needed friends/family to come do X-rays to see if they were candidates to get work done during their final "hands-on" year. Luckily (?), my X-rays revealed that I needed a root canal and crown in the back of my mouth, as well as a few fillings. I guess due to it being the dental school, this took multiple visits, and unknowingly added to my dental anxiety as an adult. In college, due to an bases, I found a dentist in where I was going to school and started going to him somewhat regularly, when I could. I was self supporting during school, so often it was only when budget permitted. When my wisdom teeth started coming in, they never caused pain, but due to my small mouth and odd positioning, I could not brush them easily and they were putting pressure against the rest of my teeth. I had them removed by the dentist, as I could not afford the oral surgeon. Nightmare, I remember vividly him having to crack them in half and the yanking to remove them. So once again, I avoided the dentist. When i was almost 30, once again a mouth full of issues, I made a point to try and overcome my dental fears. Found a dentist through friends, started seeing him and getting some work done. A couple of extractions and bridge work. I got to where I felt better about my mouth, and still needed work done, but the next step was going to be about $6k, and after a job loss, I had to put it on hold. My mother started going to the same dentist, and during one of her procedures, he noticed something odd, possibly just an ulcer. But to be safe, he sent her to a specialist for a biopsy. Turns out it was oral cancer, and within a year and some very major surgeries removing jaw and upper palette, she was gone. This just heightened my dental anxiety, to the point I stopped going again. Now, at age 38, almost 39, I had even more broken teeth, and at a point where I wanted to regain control of my fear. I have not open mouth smiled in years, due to shame. Friends did not even realize I was missing some teeth and it was always awkward when teeth or dentistry came up, for me, not them. After waking up one morning a month ago, with yet another broken tooth in my mouth, I made the call to go see a sedation dentist in my area. Due to some major issues, he outlined several options, and due to the shape my teeth were in, I decided for full mouth extraction, with an All on 4 Zirconia dentures screw retained on titanium bars. While this is the most expensive option presented, I am hoping the initial cost will be offset when compared to the long term, given my age. I had my teeth extracted and impact bases set on Tuesday, April 26th. The surgery went well, and all 8 implants were placed with no problems. I felt little to no pain, I would describe it more as discomfort. Initially, the game plan was to insert temporary dentures in to help reduce swelling and wear for the interim 4-6 months of healing. But after surgery, they felt it best to leave the bottom dentures out to avoid any excess pressure on the bottom jaw. During my post op check up yesterday, they decided to keep the upper denture out as well, because it was rubbing. Other than that, they told me everything was looking great. I go back next week to hopefully get the sutures out and another check up. Dr. Germany with Germany Dental here in Brandon, MS has been great. He even called me Tuesday evening after surgery to make sure I was doing fine and let me know that he was calling from his cell phone and to save the number in case I needed anything. He reiterated that point during my post op yesterday, so I feel he truly does care. This has gone a long way in my anxiety. At the moment, I look like I got into a barroom brawl, with the swelling and bruising. But he said that is to be expected. The swelling has started to subside some, so hopefully it will continue to go down over the weekend.

Just wanted to update. Weekend went well. No major pains. I did over do it a bit Saturday, as I got out of the house to run some errands. Thought I would only be gone a few hours, and was not back for almost 6 hours. At that point, just from staying busy, I was really feeling it. I got home, took my meds and rested, and within the hour definitely felt a ton better. Today took it pretty easy. I am eating soft foods, mainly soups, mashed potatoes and eggs. I did try some baked fish this weekend, two types. Baked catfish was really good, and easy to eat, just in small bites. I also tried baked tilapia. I did not like the taste, and it was a bit more firm than the catfish.

Past few days were definitely more challenging. I think it is in part to the area around the stitches healing. I went in today for my 7 day post op check up, and Dr. Germany said I was doing great! He actually seemed a little bit surprised at how well, in fact. So they took almost all the stitches out on the top, and told me to come back on Friday to get the remaining stitches out. It was a relief to hear that all seemed to be progressing well. He told me to continue whatever I was doing, because it was working!