Oh I wish I'd looked after my teeth!

Oh dear I can commiserate Antonia

Have you thrown your sherbet away?

I had root canal work done yesterday so I know how you feel. Spent the evening curled up on the sofa but I'm glad it's all done now.
Take it easy and look after yourself.

Oh dear - hope it will all be better soon.

I commiserate with you Antonia ?
I hate a trip to the dentist.
I love that Pam Ayres poem!

I commiserate OP.I've got to my late 50s with just two fillings and years of trouble free teeth,but I'm horrified by the rate of gum recession lately.And also rather annoyed with my dentist,who when I said I was worried about bleeding gums said to brush as often and as hard as I wanted.Turns out its over brushing with a medium brush that's caused it,and I should have been recommended a soft brush.Grr !I also wish my teeth were whiter,I don't drink much coffee or tea, but compared to some friends feel self conscious recently of their colour.

Oh I so agree . Wish I had spent less time at the dentist and more on brushing my teeth. Think flossing is also important and keeping my blood sugars down.

Thank you all! I am feeling better tonight, the swelling has gone down. Next week is my second appointment to have the other side done but the dentist says it won't be as bad as today. Then it should be all finished. Interestingly, he said a lot of people around my age (mid sixties) have a fear of dentists, because of poor dental treatment in their childhood. My case absolutely.

Washerwoman
Ask your dentist about a teeth whitening kit. Mine was £300. Worth every penny.

How do people feel about the hygienist? My dentist automatically refers me but I don't feel comfortable about all that scraping. I floss and water pic as I have crowns so I am wondering if I really need it. It is a private dentist. It is difficult to find an NHS dentist here.

If think we had dreadful dental treatment as a child and it caused huge anxiety. I’m waiting for some treatment this morning! Can’t think of anything I’d rather do less. As a child I had multiple extractions, fillings, and just too much done to them I think. Then I was given sweets for going! I’m avoiding the hygienist and unless there are big problems, I also have reservations about unsettling the teeth with it.

There's another good reason to keep good oral hygiene; bacteria can enter your bloodstream via the mouth and one place they can lodge with disastrous effects is in the heart.

www.dentalhealth.org/blog/blogdetails/96

We are off the generation where dentists got paid to 'drill and fill'. At 12 my dentist decided to drill and fill all my molars and no injection. No wonder I hate dentists.
As for the Hygienist crazy. My new dentist does it all himself although I wish he'd give me headphones to cut out the buzzing noise. Just lost a chip of a molar so more drill next time. I also breastfed all my children which apparently doesn't help one teeth. I could go on about the 'gap' from another poor dentist for that's enough for today.

I'm going to change your opening sentence to "I wish my DENTISTS had looked after my teeth"'. I've been to the dentist every 6 months since 4 years old. My dental problems started post pregnancy. So you deal with it and have all the suggested procedures. All quiet until moved about 12 years ago when it all kicked off in a big way. Hard to find a decent NHS dentist but eventually went to one suggested by my SIL. Ended up with more problems resulting in me contacting NHS England for advice. Dentist found 'guilty' and had to repay all money I had spent together with cost of private root canal treatment. However the satisfaction of proving that his treatment was negligent in no way compensates for the aggravation and ongoing dental problems and I recently noticed he had opened a private practice.

NHS dental treatment is very hit and miss. I now go to a private dentist ..... Not that I'm overly impressed. But what to do???

I still find it hard to accept taking my teeth out at night!

I had a terrible dentist as a child. I was sent off to the dentist with my sister every 4 months, neither parent accompanied us, dad was at work and mum --couldn’t be bothered--didn’t think it was necessary. (We had a good mum, but her parenting style was very different to what would be considered good today.) Anyway every visit the dentist would ‘find’ at least one filling for both of us. No pain relief was offered; when I cried at 8 years old, because I’d just been told I was about to have 2 fillings done, I was told it wouldn’t hurt. It did! We had to take the treatment form home for mum to sign, and then my sister had to return it to the dentist. I don’t think I needed all those fillings, I never had toothache, except when he was drilling! He ruined my teeth; now I have a mouth full of amalgam and a few white fillings that have replaced some old amalgam ones, plus several teeth that are root filled, several crowns, and one implant, and one false tooth. All because he ruined my teeth by drilling them all, once drilled a tooth can never repair, only be redrilled or replaced.

It sounds awful. I lost all my teeth when I was 11, due to parental neglect. I have always felt extremely sorry for myself and it made my teenage years (especially) very difficult. Now I take comfort from the fact that I never need to go through what some of you ladies are suffering. Every cloud so they say

Teddy123 It may be worth going to sites like Trustpilot and putting up a review of the dentist so that other people are warned.
I did not have problems as severe as that but I did not find a good dentist until I was 60. Before that the dentist (whichever one it was) would say 'where does it hurt' I would point at a tooth and it would be filled and that was it. Then for a long time I couldn't find an NHS dentist.
At 60 I finally went to a dentist who treated my gum problems. I have had a tooth behind my teeth for a long time and have never been able to persuade a dentist that it was a problem as it was impossible to clean between it and my other teeth. This dentist immediately saw the problem and sent me to a dental hospital to have it removed. Unfortunately he has now retired but the young woman who has taken over from him is also good which was a relief.
I am lucky that I have strong teeth and have only lost one which is not in a place that shows and my other teeth have closed the gap a bit. I do wish that I had taken better care of them though. In fact, this has really been a push for me to get a new electric toothbrush. I put the charger for the other one in a safe place and I have run out of places to look for it. It is not much cheaper to buy a new charger than a new toothbrush so I must get on and do that.

Childhood visits to the dentist were awfully scary. At 12y I used to be responsible to take myself plus my 9y old sister. No mum with us either! I go regularly and visit the hygienist more frequently than recommended as (a) I try to avoid plaque build up so it’s less stressful and (b) I decided to look upon it as a self caring treat as I realised I’m happy to pay for manicures & pedicures without complaining about the cost Somy teeth deserved a similar level of care! It helps my mindset.

I have recently seen the hygienist as my gums were inflamed despite me looking after my teeth. She gave me lots of tips & to use bigger interdental brushes, also put mouthwash on the brushes to put between my teeth, use electric toothbrush (which I did anyway) & spend longer on each tooth. They definitely feel better. I blame my mother giving us so much sugar as children. She thought we needed it for energy & it was added to most things! We also had fillings as children.

Like many here, my childhood years were married by dentists. Like maddyone, I was never accompanied to the dentist and I had many fillings with no pain relief. I can clearly remember one dentist telling me that he couldn't carry on unless I stopped screaming and sat still! If I knew I had to go to the dentist I was called gibbering wreck for days on end. Tbh, letting a child go through that amount of fear and stress would be classed as abuse today. It seemed to be acceptable at the time because I know I wasn't the only one.

Good hygienist saved my teeth after the traditional neglect experienced by our generation finally struck! Meticulous cleaning & 3 monthly visits mean I still have the majority of them. I ask for numbing up before cleaning - I hate it! But I still have my teeth decades after my mother lost hers! I say I don't have jewels or other expensive items - I have teeth! I often think of Pam Ayres too.

I had a hiatus in dental care of about five years as one practice ended and i couldn't find a new one so it was a couple of years before my new dentist could (or would) take me on as an NHS patient.

I finally has a session with the dental hygienist who was apalled at the neglect (though I brush very thoroughly and frequently). It took her 40 minutes to scale and polish and I felt like a million dollars when she had finished. The results were amazing.

I agree Antonia child abuse indeed. After all these years, I cannot imagine what possessed my mother to allow a (in my opinion) mad dentist to take all my teeth out as a young child, even though it was only a few front ones that were decayed. I regularly re-live that time.

Child abuse indeed.I must have been lucky ...we had a Dentist in school grounds and were all marched down there regularly to have check ups.We didn’t have much pain relief only I remember a gas mask ( black rubber) coming over face if you needed ‘treatment’ better than nothing I suppose but it made you feel quite sick afterwards. I’m not scared of Dentist and would rather go to them than a doctor!! No fear of death sentence at Dentist eh!!

I have been paying to see a hygienist for the last couple of years and they clean my teeth, but it is expensive. I mentioned this to a friend and she says her dentist does it after her treatment and that it is part of what they should do and what you pay for. Is this correct?