Old Crab asks about your smile................

Still all teeth here, but I had to remove all four wisdom teeth! ......I feel soooo stupid now.....

Oh, and when I had to remove my first two wisdom teeth I was new in this area (just arrived a couple of days before), so I picked a "dental surgeon" from the yellow pages. I got suspicious when I arrived at this old house but the guy was a very sensible and seroius looking man in his sixties so I thought everything would be ok. UHhhhh was I wrong!!!

I spent almost two hours on that chair and my legs were shaking and I was crying like a baby.
I am 99.99% sure that what he gave me was not laughing gas but just compressed air (I didn't feel any (not even the slightest) impact of the gas at all). Although the teeth had to be cut out, he did not put in any stiches and just sent me home advising me of flushing three times a day with saline water. Mistake number two!!

I am not going into the details of the infection that I got, even though I flushed at least 10 times a day and even used up all the alcohol I had in my house for the same purpose!! It took me two more trips to a (different) dentist and three (yep three) different antibiotics to get rid of it......

.... and it took me two years to get the courage to remove the other two wisdom teeth.

Half a year later a friend to whom I had told that story gave me an article from the local newspaper. The "dentist" was getting charged for practising without a lizence and four charges of malpractise!

The point of this story: always do your research before you pick a doctor/dentist!!!

I inherited less-than-par teeth from my mother. Got a head full of molar fillings from when I was a kid. Went to the dentist every six months then too. Got one gold crown, absolutely one of the most horrible experiences in my life...getting a root canal. I won't go through the details here, other than no amount of novacaine will stop the pain when they're drilling out an infected nerve.

We have well-water here so I use Arm and Hammer Complete Care....wife won't use it, too gritty for her. I brush twice a day, after breakfast and before bedtime, with a soft bristle. I was told any more often or with any harder bristle, the only thing I would be doing was damaging the enamel. Use dental tootpicks (funny barbed-looking white pieces of plastic) instead of floss or wooden toothpicks. Other than that, got all my teeth, except the one ground down to a post for the crown and one wisdom tooth remove.

If I ever quit smoking, I'll get the choppers whitened. They're not bad now, except the inside (tongue-side) of the front teeth have some nicotine staining.

An observation of the folks in my neck of the backwoods....I've never seen so many folks missing teeth before....chicks too

Considering my family history (my relatives are the ones Essencay spoke of) I guess I've been lucky. All the back teeth have been filled or crowned but the front ones are perfect. Go figure. I lost an inlay 2 years ago, haven't had it fixed, lost a filling 6 months ago, haven't fixed it either. Those were in the molars and I've been using temporary fillings. Guess I really need to have those taken care of. I just hate those dentists............

I had 8 teeth pulled (wisdow & rotted.) It hurted like HELL. > It was worth it. I couldn't stand teeth ache. Ouchy! My teeth aren't white. I smoke & drink coffee, my teeth are yellow. I need to make a dentist appt for myself.

MGiff.....cracked filling....lead to infected nerve....lead to my root canal and crown and a cost well over $1000 I hate dentists too, but fixing a filling sure is cheaper and less painful.

My family and the wife's family history of relatives with full sets of real choppers is few too.

Although the teeth had to be cut out, he did not put in any stiches and just sent me home advising me of flushing three times a day with saline water.

Actually, when you have wisdom teeth cut out, they don't put stitches in.  I had 4 removed all at once (was put completely out for it).  None of them had stitches.  However, you do have to be very careful with them.  You can get "dry socket" and get a nasty infection if you dislodge the "blood plug" (not sure what the real term is- I was in my early teens when I had it done so the Dr. used terms that made sense to me) that your mouth naturally makes to heal with.

I have very straight (braces), white teeth.  I drink coffee like crazy, but they still stay white.  However, I do brush too hard and have areas of enamel that have been worn away.  I switched to an electric toothbrush that shuts off if you put too much pressure on it.  Seems to help.  I have one crown.  It is at the very back of my mouth on the top on a tooth that never completely grew in (ran out of room in my mouth- that is why the wisdom teeth were removed- I thank my English genetics for that one!).  It had a small cavity, which my previous dentist got a little over zealous trying to fill and broke my tooth.  So, I ended up having to get a crown for it.  I was not very happy. 

I have a permanent bridge on top in the front...two teeth pulled(1 molar, one bicuspid (broken) one pulled left side top....bicuspid (broken)....all 4 wisdom teeth pulled in teen years....stitched...they had to bust out 1/8" each corner of my jaw cuz the root was wrapped around my jawbone)...the rest of my teeth are going to h* in a handbasket from too much livin and not enough money lol

I guess I am fortunate I don't have wisdom teeth. They have never shown up in xrays and I will never have to go through that!

Hmn, lets see... have all but one tooth, that was yanked about 2 years ago because a dentist drilled and filled toooo close to the root. Actually, the filling sat directly on the root, and I couldn't chew on the right side of my mouth for a month(different dentist fixed that)... have ALL of my wisdom teeth, and no complications from them at all. In fact 2 are comlpetely out and very functional. I have 3 porcelin caps, from youthful adventures. My 2 front teeth and my left canine. got a few cavities, and when we have insurance, will have more work done.

I hear ya on the insurance thing!!! It took all we had to have my front four pulled and the two canines ground down to make a couple good hard attaching places for my bridge.....that was about 6 yrs ago now I think..... Hard to get insured these days.....rich keep gettin richer for sure for sure >

Did you hear that the toothbrush was invented in West Virginia? If it had been invented anywhere else it would have been called the "Teethbrush!"

Sorry folks...just a little local humor to lighten your day!
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roflmao toejo.......toothbrush don't help much after they been knocked out or loosed for ya a few times.....

I managed to inherit one of those big teeth/small mouth combinations (although my husband laughs any time I say I have a small mouth) - had to have all four premolars pulled and then pretty much all types of orthodontia known to orthodontikind. Genetics gave me two wisdom teeth (those came out in grad school, coincidentally). Poor oral hygiene as a kid (as they say these days) plus braces that I suspect weren't as closely fitted as they should be resulted in lines of silver down my molars and little fillings in between most every tooth. A lost filling led to a root canal which further led five years ago to crown #1. Biting a piece of popcorn three weeks ago and breaking a cusp off of a molar led to crown #2, which just went in on Monday. And it is a thing of beauty.

Regardless, my teeth actually look pretty good.

Aren't you glad you asked??

got all mine and i brush twice a-day to keep em