What problem do you think this is? And how can I help my mother with her teeth problem?

[kylie]

So my mom has been experiencing a lot of teeth ace, not so much that she needs to go to the ER but she's unable to move her entire mouth while talking. She has never really taken care of her teeth in the past as she was brought up by careless parents herself so she never really learned true mouth hygiene. She doesn't really talk about her teeth because she knows they're not good-looking or healthy but I think she's now realized that if she doesn't take action, her teeth will fall out. I've noticed that her mouth has a foul smell which has gotten worse over the years but every time she talks about it, she says her teeth and gums hurt too much that she can't even brush her teeth. I've taken a pic of her teeth to show a doctor, and since I can't upload it, I will describe it. So, her gums are kind of swollen, she's got whitish grayish build-up stuff around the bottoms of her teeth and around the top teeth. Her two front teeth seem to be coming out and the rest top seems to be separating and coming out of the gums. Her bottom teeth are really crooked and really dirty and again, there's some build-up whitish grayish stuff that I don't know what to call. She says she feels as though if the doctor even touches her teeth, they will fall out. What treatment do I have to get her to get healthy teeth, even if they're new ones. I can't go to the dentist yet because of COVID so I'm asking here. Oh and she says the backs of her teeth hurt a lot I guess wisdom teeth? , which combined with the severe headaches, makes it so she can hardly open her mouth when she speaks.

 

[honestdoc]

I'm suspecting your mother has severe periodontitis. Nobody will know how severe unless she gets x-rays to check bone levels and a clinical exam. If the teeth are loose, I suspect she will need dentures.

 

[kylie]

if her stage is really bad, will there be more problems additional to what she already has?

 

[honestdoc]

If she has chronic mouth infections due to bad teeth and gums, it could compromise her health. A lot of new studies show bad mouth can hurt her heart and circulation. Unfortunately if she needs dentures, her ability to chew food will greatly diminish as well as loose and severely deteriorating teeth.

 

[kylie]

So she went to the ER, and did CT scans and did some blood and urine tests and they all turned out normal because the doctor over the phone thought she might’ve had a stroke since she couldn’t really talk and move her bottom jaw after one night of bad headache. All the tests came back normal, but besides her bad mouth situation, she feels weakness in the jaw and muscles around her mouth: she says she feels like pull between then when she’s trying to talk so she has to keep her mouth closed and teeth and muscles together so she talk comfortably. Basically she feels weakness and pull around her teeth and surrounding muscles. We can’t rlly go to a walk in dentist clinic because of COVID and we’ve made some appointments that r weeks away. What could the problem be? And can it be resolved with medication or physiotherapy?

 

[MattKW]

It sounds like it is all related to the teeth. If people start getting pain when eating (toothaches, gum disease, ...) then their muscles reflexively start to "seize up"; there's not much that medicines can do UNLESS she gets treatment to relieve the pain (and physio isn't an option). Once she starts getting her problems properly treated, this tightness will gradually resolve. If she keeps waiting, then she will be unable to open at all. Not only does this put her at riosk of choking, but it's going to make it harder for the dentist. You must get her to go soon and get a proper examination and treatment plan. No-one's going to be pulling out teeth at the first appointment, and she can always go somewhere else for 2nd or 3rd opinions. It sounds like she'd benefit from having you go along to support her.