Oh I wish I'd looked after my teeth!

My dentist had a special offer for teeth whitening before Christmas £199 instead of £299 .... My teeth are in good shape but were so yellow I hated speaking to anyone.. I had moulds made of teeth and came away with 6 little syringes of peroxide stuff to put in the moulds every night.. I am so pleased with the results-- and I still have one left to top up if I want to... I can buy extra ones from dentist for £12 each as well.. I am so glad I did it-- Christmas pressie for myself. I have so much more confidence now.. They are not bright white like Ryland's just a lovely natural white.
My childhood dentist were horrible-- had to have fillings without pain relief every time I went--and am sure I didn't need them..not needed any treatment since adulthood..

Not to mention the pain of paying.

Very interested in all your experiences at the dentist. I hope your treatment is soon finished Antonia. I am feeling very sorry for my eldest son at the moment. He and his wife ( who has early dementia) are staying with me at the moment as he is finding it hard to cope with a dental abscess (front tooth) and now Bells Palsy which has badly distorted his face and his eye won't close. He thinks this may be something to do with root canal work on same tooth which is not finished as despite three courses of antibiotics he still has abscess. Doctor has given him steroids and more antibiotics which dentist is telling him not to take ! He has now lost confidence in the dentist and can't sleep because of steroids ( and wife ). Has anyone had experience of Bells Palsy please ?

I had a an elderly aunt who had never been to the dentist in her life. She died at 80 with a full set of gleaming gnashers! Thanks to regular dental checkups, meticulous cleaning and the occasional rogue dentist, mine, on the other hand, are like bombed out houses, precariously held together with amalgam! ?

I really did look after my teeth from adulthood but still ended up having an extraction. I was mortified at losing a tooth at 60, even though the dentist said I was just very unlucky and not at all negligent. Some of it is down to inheritance, shape of jaw and type of saliva I understand, and there’s not much you can do about those. I tell myself it would have been worse if I hadn’t done all that flossing!
By the way, this is news to you as it was to me: it’s not a good idea to brush straight after eating. Always wait 10 or so mins, or so the hygienist (and her leaflet) said.

There should have been an ‘if’ after by the way in my post.

I was a dental receptionist/ nurse for 6 years, and during that time I had one filling in a front tooth due to chipping it, and 3 wisdom teeth removed because there was not enough room for them to grow through properly. I left when I was pregnant, and moved house. At the time you got free treatment for a year after having a baby, so off I went to a local dentist. Result was 4 whopping fillings on both left and right side. It wasn't till years later I found out the dentist had been struck off for doing fillings which were not needed on many patients. Since then the only trouble I have had is with the teeth he filled, I have had 3 removed and umpteen replacement fillings on the rest. The filling in the front tooth has never needed replacing, and is so good you can't see it at all. Choose your dentist well!

I'm another one terrified of the dentist due to childhood horrors at the orthodontist and dentist. After years of trouble with my teeth and gums and dentists, I've recently found out that it's due to a long term autoimmune disease and the medication I've been on for years in the past. Apparently it erodes the gums and bone therefore teeth get damaged. Now being taken care of by the dental part of UCH, Eastman dental hospital in London who are absolutely amazing. Just home recovering from a minor operation and extraction. Can't fault the care but just wish I'd known this year's ago.

Childhood dentist - what horrors! And again in adulthood, moved to new town and signed up with the Dentist From Hell, put me off for years. I am now on Denplan with a lady dentist so lovely, funny and kind that I wish she was my friend and not my dentist! She even made root canal work un-horrible. My Denplan monthly fee covers all the work done by my dentist apart from cosmetic stuff, plus up to 4 hygienist visits in a year so I think it's good value.

I'm another who has horrendous memories of visits to the dentist as a child.

I try now to see a hygienist as regularly as I can afford it, because in spite of the horrendous pep talk etc. it has helped a lot.

My main regret from my childhood is being told that bleeding when brushing my teeth was 'normal'...

Re whitening kits/toothpastes/dental whitening procedures, does anything really work?

Blueskies, I have just had my teeth cleaned the ultra sonic way and will never go back to the old way. No scraping no digging and above all no pain. An absolute breeze.

Did the hygienist do that, LouLou?

LouLou21 That sounds ideal. Is it more expensive.

Have to make an appointment for check up. Got away with just a clean last time, hoping it the same this time.

Some years ago I was very ill and my teeth became victims to the point they weren't worth saving after a few years of the dentist doing his best so I had the remaining ones out and it's been BLISS ever since. I can eat what I like - I've just eaten some nuts which I love - and its so much easier to keep the dentures and my mouth clean. No more pain, no more scraping, no more injections, no more fear. The false teeth look very similar to my originals - they're not gleaming or anything - and I can forget they're there once I put them in in the morning and take them out to clean at night. I still see the dentist regularly for a mouth check but now I can relax in the chair. I did look after my originals but to no avail and I've no regrets.

Starlily you say choose your dentist well but how do you do that? I have no confidence in my dentist but am on his NHS list and unless I go private have no choice.

I'm another one who has had check ups my entire life. I would like a dentist to explain why I have had two extractions, crowns and a mouthful of fillings. Surely the check ups should prevent any decay getting a hold. I remember when I was pregnant treatment was free. I went along for a check up and the dentist said I needed nine fillings removed and redone. I trusted him but I now feel he was just making work for himself.

Thank you Bamm, hopefully next week should be the last but who knows. I don't have any experience of Bell's palsy but on the NHS website it says it can be treated and usually gets better in about nine months. I hope this is the case for your son.

By Pam Ayres

Oh, I wish I’d looked after me teeth,
And spotted the dangers beneath
All the toffees I chewed,
And the sweet sticky food.
Oh, I wish I’d looked after me teeth.

I wish I’d been that much more willin’
When I had more tooth there than fillin’
To give up gobstoppers,
From respect to me choppers,
And to buy something else with me shillin’.

When I think of the lollies I licked
And the liquorice allsorts I picked,
Sherbet dabs, big and little,
All that hard peanut brittle,
My conscience gets horribly pricked.

My mother, she told me no end,
‘If you got a tooth, you got a friend.’
I was young then, and careless,
My toothbrush was hairless,
I never had much time to spend.

Oh I showed them the toothpaste all right,
I flashed it about late at night,
But up-and-down brushin’
And pokin’ and fussin’
Didn’t seem worth the time – I could bite!

If I’d known I was paving the way
To cavities, caps and decay,
The murder of fillin’s,
Injections and drillin’s,
I’d have thrown all me sherbet away.

So I lie in the old dentist’s chair,
And I gaze up his nose in despair,
And his drill it do whine
In these molars of mine.
‘Two amalgam,’ he’ll say, ‘for in there.’

How I laughed at my mother’s false teeth,
As they foamed in the waters beneath.
But now comes the reckonin’
It’s methey are beckonin’
Oh, I wish I’d looked after me teeth.

Taken from the The Works: The Classic Collection 2008.

I think dentist were very different many years ago. I was terrified of dentist. And have quite bad teeth, but now have a very nice dentist and hygienist who help me back on track, although still get very nervous whilst sitting in waiting room

Just seen my dentist who found no treatment needed by my (rather reduced in number) teeth! Waiting to see hygienist, feeling quite apprehensive re the scraping etc. Then I look at Gransnet and find this thread!!

My father died just before I was born and all I was told was he died through having his teeth out. (1947). I remember vividly being taken to the dentist by an uncle to have a tooth out. I was scared! There was a case on the chimney breast wall full of pressed butterflies. The. Dentist had his knee on my stomach pulling the tooth and said "if you don't sit still I will press you and put you with my butterflies"!
My uncle got him by the back of his dirty white coat and took me out of the chair, tooth still in. The next day he took me to a different dentist to finish the job.
I laugh about it now. Mr Russell, named and shamed! ( he'll be long gone)

?

I had horrible teeth due to years of NHS neglect. The dentist wanted to take them all out and give me dentures at the age of 55 so I saved my pennies and went private. Five years later and I have a selection of crowns and lovely teeth. It was mega expensive but worth every penny. I am happy to pay for the check ups and hygienist every 3 months because I don't want to have dentures.