Are my teeth too far decayed to be saved?

[CocoKennedy]

Hi. I have four molars that my dentist said need extracting. I was born with no enamel on my teeth so a few of them are quite decayed. The others are in perfect condition, however. It's just the back four. I am incredibly embarrassed about them and want them gone, but have been putting the procedure off for years and putting up with the pain as I'm extremely anxious about having them removed. I know that I wouldn't be so anxious about having them filled or having a crown, as it's the blood and open wounds that I am most afraid of. Do you think any other dentist would try to repair them. My top right tooth, which is decayed down to the gum and has an abscess. will definitely need extracting as it is far gone, but the others are mostly still white and don't look all too bad :/ The top left has been cracked away about half way to the gum line and has a large cavity in half of the tooth, my bottom left has a large cavity in the right of it, but it's not causing any pain and most of the tooth is still there. Then I just have a normal cavity on the bottom right which could be filled but my dentist wants to extract it to even everything out. The X-rays of the roots look normal except for the top right, which as I stated, would need removing. I would post an image but I don't know how. Please be nice, I'm extremely self conscious of my teeth and this is the first time I'm sharing this with anyone except my dentist

 

[Chomp]

Hi. I'm not a dentist and have not had anything like the trouble you describe. I have been very lucky with my teeth generally but started to have problems with one premolar two or three years ago. I put up with multiple infections, the pain was horrible, more than once, late at night, I was seriously considering pulling the bloody thing about myself with pliers, it was that bad. unable to sleep. Went though some periods of not being able to eat solid food. The tooth appeared fine so the dentist advised against extraction, hoping it would settle down. It didn't and eventually a crack appeared right across the top, it tuned out it had started to crack from the root upwards and took over a year to present on the surface. X-rays didn't show it.

The extraction was pretty easy. I didn't actually realise the tooth was out. It came out split in two though which might have helped. Yes there was blood, but not huge amounts and the hole plugged up in a day or two and healed completely within a fortnight. A little pain but certainly manageable. The implant process was more tiresome than painful. The actual process of placing the implant in my jaw took an hour or so. It was a bit uncomfortable but not traumatic, little pain after and again, manageable with paracetamol.

I had the crown installed yesterday. There is a small cosmetic issue with it (described in a post I made last night) but notwithstanding that I am pleased that I had the implant done.

I suspect that the corresponding tooth on the other side of my mouth is going to go the same way and if it does I won't hesitate to have it extracted and implanted at a much earlier stage than the first one.

Don't let fear stop you from ending the pain and misery of bad teeth.

There's a Facebook chat group, "Dental Implant Discussions". It's a closed group, you have to ask to join, so it's not publicly visible. Lots of good info and advice there. Best of luck.

 

[CocoKennedy]

Thank you very much. I honestly don't think anything is going to get my in that chair though, I'll probably pass out before even entering the dentist office :/

 

[Dipsey]

Unfortunately no matter how bad your teeth are now they just get worse without help. Go have a chat to a dentist and he will explain what can be done and the possible procedures then give you time to think things over. Please do it as infections can be dire! Most pain of dentist is in the mind not in the chair.