Dentures!!

I'm in a similar situation Qrooq, I've had 6 teeth out and a 7th is being extracted Friday, all molars but I do have an upper denture including a front tooth.
I too am finding it difficult to eat but it is improving and I hope that when I get my lower denture then things will improve.
Mine were all due to one infection spreading along my jaw, not funny.
Good luck!

Dentists usually offer alternatives to removing a tooth especially as its a front tooth. I guess thats neither here nor there as its already done..
It will get easier Qrooq you have to persevere.. OH had a denture fitted and it took him a while to be able to eat with it but now he is much more comfortable with it.

Oh Qrooq! I think it will get better. It's bound to feel odd at first. Just keep reminding yourself you don't really need your front teeth to chew. Try to munch merrily away like you have always done. Carry on enjoying your food. it will feel normal again soon

loopylou that sounds horrible. Hope yours is all better soon.

Thank you jingl, it's been a long 15 months!
I'm really looking forward to when I can eat crunchy food again and enjoy a steak!

Yes, it will get better. I've had two false front teeth for many years after the crowns I had originally couldn't be replaced and although I did struggle for a while with both eating and talking, I soon got used to them.

jingl's right, you don't need those front teeth as much as you think you do to eat with, you will naturally adapt. Good luck!

DH lost one of his front teeth in a cycling accident and he never did get used to it, left the denture out and over time the gap closed up.

I feel for you Qrooq. I lost a front tooth last year and was provided with an NHS upper denture with three teeth on it. It looked ok but didn't work properly and made me very miserable. In the end I went to a Smile Centre which I think is a franchise and therefore all over the country, where a very kind man made me a metal denture. It is brilliant and I can wear it all the time without even knowing it is there. You've guessed, of course, that I had to pay but I can honestly say it was money extremely well spent. The same denture can have additional teeth added should I need to do that so you have to weigh the cost against that. Go for it if you can.

In the spirit of trying to make you all feel better, I lost all my teeth due to neglect when I was 11 and have had full dentures ever since. Fifty four years later I have got used to it (well accepted it because I have no choice) but could still cry my eyes out if I let myself really think about it.

Oh Katyk how very sad . I would also weep. But I am sure you don't. I am sure you get on with your life smiling.

Thank you ann I do try to get on with it. Never been too good at smiling though in the circumstances! I can appreciate how people feel losing a tooth, I'm not making light of it. My DD has lost a tooth recently and is going to great pains to get it replaced and I don't blame her.

Qrooq - I think you mean what I call a plate. I had to have a front tooth out a few years ago and chose to have a plate rather than a bridge or an implant (too expensive.)
I know what you mean about eating, when at home I take it out before eating ,but when eating out leave it in , and I've slowly got used to that. It's made from a weird mix of plastic and metal, I had to pay quite a bit for it. I take it out at night too.
The main advantage is that other teeth can be added, if you lose any more (I've lost 2 more.)

Yes I had a bottom tooth removed and a denture fitted. I frequently took it out and wrapped it a tissue and sort of left it around the house wherever I was at the time. Well the inevitable happened and it got lost. That was about a year ago, the gap has now been filled by the other teeth,, and guess what I found the lost tooth about a month ago down the bottom of the laundry basket - so I have now thrown it away as it isn't needed any more.

Do persevere as jing says munch merrily away!

"munch merrily away" -That's easy to say, but I found I was munching bits of skin off the inside of my cheeks at first.

I think perhaps Qroqq is meaning that the plate that is attached to the dentures is what may be causing her to be upset. I believe that there are options for you Qroqq--there is a procedure called Maryland Bridge that will mean you no longer will need to wear the denture.

Good luck with this - I do hope things improve with time.

I never bite into apples etc as one of my front teeth (not the two middle ones) is crowned and I worry that it will fall out. I had it crowned when I was pregnant with my first child 40 years ago.

One tooth? Coo - you wait until you have a complete clearance! Sadly that happened to me some years ago, and I have lived with complete dentures ever since. Fixative is my friend... given that, I can live in peace with them as long as I remember to cut up things like apples and pears.

There comes the awful moment, when the lower mandible breaks as you chew on something - that is really unpleasant - as is the bill for repairing it.
Or there is the sickening realization that a tooth has vanished from the upper plate - and where it has gone is a mystery... sort of. That's a bigger bill than the other one.

There was a fascinating programme on BBC4 about the history of dentures last night [or the night before ].Perhaps better that Qrooq doesn't watch it yetawhile, but it is interesting. The mouth is very very sensitive and it takes a while to get used to any changes in it.

A Maryland Bridge costs from around £700 according to Google, so not within the budget of everyone. Not available on the NHS.

I have a partial denture made of metal. Aluminium perhaps.
It is very lightweight and I forget I'm wearing it.
It cost around £500 compared to the cost of NHS of perhaps a quarter of this for a plastic one. This is my second one.
Thoroughly recommend it. Worth the extra if you can afford it.

Aaaaggghhhh..... brushing my teeth tonight and a tooth L4 upper has sheared off at the gum. Now, this tooth was the one that the wire of my metal Denture clips to. I reckon it will need a crown and hope that a crown will be suitable as an anchor for my denture.
It will be interesting to see where this leads.
Certainly cash will be involved.

Ouch Coolgran! I wish I'd trained as a dentist, mine's making a fortune out of me!
I've got a new denture like yours and I agree, it's expensive but great, well worth the money. Coming to the end, at last, of protracted dental work hooray!

There is certainly a period of mourning after the loss of teeth and that's probably why you are feeling a bit weepy. My Mother cried when she lost he first one at the front as did I. I've now got a little upper denture with four teeth on and have slowly accepted it as one of my quirks.

Loosing front, or other noticeable teeth, is somehow an unpleasant rite of passage and I think its more about the loss of 'youth' than anything else. I've had to accept that whole crisp apples are a thing of the past as are toffees (no bad thing). I take care with a few other things as well and its become just part of me now, just as I avoid raw onion nowadays (indigestion) I also avoid really thick rustic bread and such things as corn on the cob.

As time passes and you get used to it I'm sure the shock of the loss will lessen.....I explain that I'm a pirate to my GC....when they spot the flash of metal in my mouth.

Metal dentures are usually chrome cobalt......... I think.

just back from the dentist myself, persuaded her to let me hang onto my troublesome LL3 for a bit longer, but she thinks it will have to come out next check up in August. That will mean either a gap or a denture