Hello,

I am in the process of having extensive work done on my teeth at NYU
dental school. After several fillings seven extractions and bridgework,
I believe that I will not achieve a smile that will bring back my self
esteem. I have several missing and crooked teeth and the condition of
my teeth are such that I never smile and i am embarrassed to go out and
socialize. Honestly I am even embarrassed to go for a cosmetic
consultation. My teeth deteriorated over the years due to a fear of
dentists and then the lack of dental coverage and money to take care of
my teeth. It seems like veneers would be able to do the trick, however
I am not sure I am a candidate for veneers with so many missing teeth.
Honestly, I wanted all my teeth pulled and replaced with dentures. I am
so embarrased by the condition of my teeth and I am looking for the
most affordable and asthetically pleasing proceedure. I really haven't
felt comfortable speaking with the NYU student currently working on my
teeth...she is very nice...but always in a hurry to get the work
planned for my sessions done.

I probably could only afford about $5,000 to $6,000 to do the cosmetic
work needed outside of the work that NYU is taking care of. Essentially
when I finish at NYU everything will be fixed except the very crooked
smile I have. Is there any hope for me with such a limited budget.

At dental schools the quality of basic dentistry is high, but if you
are looking for extreme makeover of your mouth you will not find it at
the dental school and not for $5-6K. Furthermore your wish to have the
teeth extracted and dentures placed will never be fulfilled at the
dental school if your teeth are restorable. Additionally doing this is
a big mistake which you will regret for the rest of your life, despite
how you think you will feel. There are many patients who are miserable
after having their teeth pulled thinking as you do now that they know
better.
Outside full mouth reconstruction costs $30K and up depending on what
needs to be done. My advice is if you are not able to afford full mouth
reconstruction, get the basic stuff done at the dental school and
forget about a permanent cosmetic fix for now. There is a product out
there called snap on teeth which is a quick and cheap fix for a
cosmetic smile, either way you are going to exceed your $5-6K budget.
You might want to consider getting the full mouth treatment but
financing it via a third party. Your monthly payments can be affordable
as far as cash flow, you will be able to enjoy your new smile, you just
have to think of the payments as premiums as if you had dental
insurance. If everything is fixed up properly it is unlikely you will
need anything else and in the worst case if something did come up it
can be added to your loan so that you will not feel it.

Steven Bornfeld wrote:

> KW wrote:

>
>
> No way to say. For an anxious patient, feeling comfortable in the
> clinical setting is important. You have to weigh your discomfort with
> your student and the doubtless greater time necessary to do the
> treatment at NYU against the significantly greater expense of having it
> done on the outside.
> I am both a graduate of NYUCD (1976) and a former faculty member, and I
> can assure you that the actual clinical quality of work done at the
> dental school is generally very high. But while it's a good way to go,
> it's not the only way, and there's no way to tell what it would cost on
> the outside without another exam.
>
> Steve

On Mon, 15 Jan 2007, Alexander Vasserman DDS wrote:

> At dental schools the quality of basic dentistry is high, but if you
> are looking for extreme makeover of your mouth you will not find it at
> the dental school and not for $5-6K. Furthermore your wish to have the
> teeth extracted and dentures placed will never be fulfilled at the
> dental school if your teeth are restorable. Additionally doing this is
> a big mistake which you will regret for the rest of your life, despite
> how you think you will feel. There are many patients who are miserable
> after having their teeth pulled thinking as you do now that they know
> better.

Why? Why do they regret it forever? I'm trying to make this decision
myself, and I'd really like to know just what the downside is to dentures.
What if my teeth are bad -- and they just keep going bad one after the
other? I grind my teeth badly, and I have vertical cracks in almost every
one of them. My dentist thinks I should pay $10,000 to fix all this. But
what happens to me when tooth after tooth goes bad and I've spent all my
money fixing bad teeth? I really do want to know the answer to this. How
does one decide what's really best? The dentist will say "Keep giving me
money, and everything will be all right." But is he telling me the truth?

Eva

> Outside full mouth reconstruction costs $30K and up depending on what
> needs to be done. My advice is if you are not able to afford full mouth
> reconstruction, get the basic stuff done at the dental school and
> forget about a permanent cosmetic fix for now. There is a product out
> there called snap on teeth which is a quick and cheap fix for a
> cosmetic smile, either way you are going to exceed your $5-6K budget.
> You might want to consider getting the full mouth treatment but
> financing it via a third party. Your monthly payments can be affordable
> as far as cash flow, you will be able to enjoy your new smile, you just
> have to think of the payments as premiums as if you had dental
> insurance. If everything is fixed up properly it is unlikely you will
> need anything else and in the worst case if something did come up it
> can be added to your loan so that you will not feel it.
>
> Steven Bornfeld wrote:

>
>

if he can fix everything for 10K thats $167/month for the next 5 years
then you should go for it.
just make sure he/she addresses the cause of the dental problems.

Eva Quesnell wrote:

> On Mon, 15 Jan 2007, Alexander Vasserman DDS wrote:
>

>
> Why? Why do they regret it forever? I'm trying to make this decision
> myself, and I'd really like to know just what the downside is to dentures.
> What if my teeth are bad -- and they just keep going bad one after the
> other? I grind my teeth badly, and I have vertical cracks in almost every
> one of them. My dentist thinks I should pay $10,000 to fix all this. But
> what happens to me when tooth after tooth goes bad and I've spent all my
> money fixing bad teeth? I really do want to know the answer to this. How
> does one decide what's really best? The dentist will say "Keep giving me
> money, and everything will be all right." But is he telling me the truth?
>
> Eva
>
>

Eva Quesnell wrote:

> On Mon, 15 Jan 2007, Alexander Vasserman DDS wrote:
>

>
> Why? Why do they regret it forever?

because there are many people that do not have the right ridge for
dentures. The ridge shrinks considerably once the teeth are extracted.
the denture does not stay in very well and these patients are miserable
because they can not eat like they did in the past. Chewing efficiency
goes down considerably with dentures. The denture teeth tend to wear
down and the face becomes collapsed. when this happens these patients
develop folds in the corners of their mouth. Cosmetically dentures on
average look like dentures, it is very hard to find someone to make
them look very natural and even when you do find the right person,
patients like to set the teeth perfectly straight which draws more
attention to the denture. Finally your palate will be closed and you
will not be able to feel temperature differences in your food. Lower
dentures usually just float in the mouth as a result you will need to
retrain yourself to swallow, eat and speak to keep the dentures stable.
remember when you are asleep they usually will not be in your mouth.
dentures bring their own set of problems into the equation such as
relines, adjustments, repairs, food getting stuck underneath after you
eat, fungal infections under the denture, sore spots, etc... The only
good thing about dentures is that you will not have gum disease. The
extraction process is irreversible an your mouth will never be the
same, it is one thing if your teeth can not be saved but if they can
you should keep as many of your own teeth as possible.
full mouth treatment can be financed and usually fixing everything will
expose any skeletons in your mouth, so it is likely you will only need
regular cleanings.




I'm trying to make this decision

> myself, and I'd really like to know just what the downside is to dentures.
> What if my teeth are bad -- and they just keep going bad one after the
> other? I grind my teeth badly, and I have vertical cracks in almost every
> one of them. My dentist thinks I should pay $10,000 to fix all this. But
> what happens to me when tooth after tooth goes bad and I've spent all my
> money fixing bad teeth? I really do want to know the answer to this. How
> does one decide what's really best? The dentist will say "Keep giving me
> money, and everything will be all right." But is he telling me the truth?
>
> Eva
>
>

thanks for the info....the snap on option sounds affordable for an
immediate solution. I happen to live in the same neighborhood as the
practice whose DDS invented snap on smile. Maybe I will do the snap on
thing until I can afford a permanent solution. Thanks again,,,you have
given me some hope


Alexander Vasserman DDS wrote:

> At dental schools the quality of basic dentistry is high, but if you
> are looking for extreme makeover of your mouth you will not find it at
> the dental school and not for $5-6K. Furthermore your wish to have the
> teeth extracted and dentures placed will never be fulfilled at the
> dental school if your teeth are restorable. Additionally doing this is
> a big mistake which you will regret for the rest of your life, despite
> how you think you will feel. There are many patients who are miserable
> after having their teeth pulled thinking as you do now that they know
> better.
> Outside full mouth reconstruction costs $30K and up depending on what
> needs to be done. My advice is if you are not able to afford full mouth
> reconstruction, get the basic stuff done at the dental school and
> forget about a permanent cosmetic fix for now. There is a product out
> there called snap on teeth which is a quick and cheap fix for a
> cosmetic smile, either way you are going to exceed your $5-6K budget.
> You might want to consider getting the full mouth treatment but
> financing it via a third party. Your monthly payments can be affordable
> as far as cash flow, you will be able to enjoy your new smile, you just
> have to think of the payments as premiums as if you had dental
> insurance. If everything is fixed up properly it is unlikely you will
> need anything else and in the worst case if something did come up it
> can be added to your loan so that you will not feel it.
>
> Steven Bornfeld wrote:

Basically, it is often quoted that you can only chew with
about 25% efficiency with an upper denture. Lowers are worse.
You might be one of those patients that is just tickled pink
with dentures. You might be one of those patients who hates
dentures. Kind of a gamble.

If you are a clencher (and that is likely why you have cracked
teeth), you are going to have problems with your denture (assuming
you continue to clench, which most people do). Clenchers wear down
and fracture denture teeth and often even the whole denture. They
place lots of extra pressure on their gums (if they wear their denture
at night). More sore spots, faster bone loss, etc.

However, crowning all of your teeth and ignoring the clenching
could be about as bad.

Like Dr. B says, nothing is perfect.


JME,
D

> Why? Why do they regret it forever? I'm trying to make this decision
> myself, and I'd really like to know just what the downside is to dentures.
> What if my teeth are bad -- and they just keep going bad one after the
> other? I grind my teeth badly, and I have vertical cracks in almost
> every one of them. My dentist thinks I should pay $10,000 to fix all
> this. But what happens to me when tooth after tooth goes bad and I've
> spent all my money fixing bad teeth? I really do want to know the
> answer to this. How does one decide what's really best? The dentist
> will say "Keep giving me money, and everything will be all right." But
> is he telling me the truth?
>
> Eva

On Tue, 16 Jan 2007 15:07:30 -0600, Dartos <> wrote:

>Like Dr. B says, nothing is perfect.
>
>
>JME,
>D

And even a 'perfect' denture is still a denture.