Been through hell the past year

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Jun 28, 2016
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Last summer I had to get major dental work done. I didn't take good enough care of my teeth so I'm living with the consequences. Most of my teeth weren't salvageable. Dentist extracted 19 teeth, couldn't fix most but I've had bridges, implants, root canals and a partial upper denture to replace the teeth missing from top. A year later it is miserable to put on the dentures. Not because they look bad but they feel horrible. I've had them adjusted many times but it's still there. I started working a job where I have to talk a lot and it's so hard! Can't pronounce some words clearly, mouth is dry 24/7, and my upper denture feels like a weight pulling my mouth down. By the end of my day or shift I'm exhausted from talking. How do people cope with this hell I've endured for a year? Also I wear contacts for poor vision. Since my procedure(s) my vision has gotten much poorer, could this be coincidence?
 
Joined
Jun 27, 2016
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Dry mouth is a big issue for your remaining teeth. From my reading saliva both fights/prevents tooth decay and there is some sort of remineralization activity on enamel.

My theory is that by consistent long term inflammation (due to dental work), saliva is unable to be secreted properly. As it stagnates in the glands/ducts, it may calcify, forming salivary stones which continue to cause dry mouth even after the inflammation ceases. You may be able to feel the stones, and they may or may not show up on xrays. Research salivary stones if you think that may be the cause. Dry mouth could also be due to something else, e.g. it is a common drug side effect (esp. antidepressants). If stones are the case and massage will not remove, a novel non-surgical treatment is using ultrasound to break them up; should be much cheaper too.

Poor vision? I've read very few people have adverse reactions to titanium (implants) even though titanium is widely considered inert to the body. Something about the nervous system or immune system? You can research that too. Makes me seriously wonder why there isn't an allergy test to see if there will be an adverse reaction prior to the nigh irreversible placement in the bone...

I don't know enough to speak about the other issues, other than you have to relearn how to speak due to structural changes in your mouth. I've had my own implant misery. I feel it and the associated chronic infections due to improper placement will be my cause of death when I am old and unable to fight it off anymore. Wish I never signed up for them, trusting the doctor as a naiive 18 year old... Good luck!
 
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Thanks for the knowledge. Seems like everything has gone downhill with my sinuses, eyes and mouth since I had this done. There's nothing worse than helping a client at work, then your mouth dries, contact falls out and/or burns in front of him/her. I can't do my job the best I can with these conditions. I can fix my vision with higher strength contact lenses but I'm concerned it's a byproduct of the procedures and issues with my mouth. I just need to find 2 upper bridges to fill in gaps and I'll be denture free. Might be the happiest day of my life
 

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Seems like everything has gone downhill with my sinuses,
Sinus issues too? I had chronic infections up there for 4+ years. The improper placement was an implant a few mm up into my sinus cavity. 2 CT scans later within a year the freaking ear/nose/throat doctor told me how to irrigate the sinuses with saline water. Got rid of sinus pain quick each time. Not happy with him. I intend to file a complaint.

A well cited study claiming implants into the sinus cavity is safe had placed an implant breaching into the sinus of a dozen(?) dogs. They culled then disected the dogs to show lack of infection or whatever. Thing is, is that the implants were only in there for 2-4 weeks before they killed the dogs. It was a very short period of time... And yet in two citations encountered they both paraprased it is safe...

A case study I found later regards one patient with never ending chronic sinus issues ever since an implant was placed breaching the sinuses. The did a biopsy/culture of above and below the implant (i.e. one through nose adjacent implant and one from mouth adjacent implant), and found flora had propagated from the nose into the mouth and visa versa. This was the cause of the sinus issues- bacterial species normally found in the mouth propagated up the implant and flourished in the moist dark sinuses. I believe similar issues can occur with teeth roots from root-canaled (dead) teeth. I think the authors in that paper speculated that the new industry practice of 'sandblasting' (I.e. rough titanium surface to make post harder to remove) caused problems with regards to bacteria- something about hard to reach resevours where the immune system fights back infection, can't reach small pockets of bacteria, the bacteria mutates, then spreads again, causing an indefinite tug-o-war. An interesting tangent is that nurse who had Ebola freaked everyone out after it came back. It had been wiped out according to blood tests- my suspicion is that she had a sandblasted implant. Pure speculation of course :)

Reading elsewhere advice is to leave at least 3mm of bone between implant and sinus, with the claim bacteria can propagate through less. That was on a rather nice dental forum, way more academics there, where doctors showed pictures, explained what went wrong, and asked for advice. Lots of improper implant horror stories there...

Sorry this web site appears to not allow links.

Oh, and in my case, after frequent nasal saline irrigation coupled with the removal of the adjacent root-canaled molar led to the bone in the sinus growing up 1mm over the implant. How on earth it grew ~4mm in total to submerge the implant I have no idea. I rarely get flare up infection by the implant now, thankfully that window to the sinus had closed. That whole ordeal with chronic infections had caused significant necrosis in my palate and elsewhere though. At its worse my left eye had swollen shut and i felt great pressure from beneath it.

I suppose I should be grateful the ENT doctor didn't force a surgial sinus floor lift- no more surgeries for me thank you very much. I'd rather die.

So... In short, search for how to do a sinus saline rinse. Do this every time you feel pain or discomfort up there. Don't use too much salt. If the salt burns, then do it again with just water.

Also keep track of your profile xrays of you upper jaw. Look up the anatomy of the sinuses. Pay attention to how the floor of the sinus moves with time with respect to your teeth/implants, and how your sinus issues correlate. I think it's only the back three molars or so that are at risk of breaching the sinuses (maxillary sinuses? I forget the lingo).
 
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