Oh I wish I'd looked after my teeth!

I just wish you could all meet my wonderful NHS dentist who managed to get me over my fear enough to have implants. I once had a tooth pulled out when it wasn’t numb despite me saying over and over I can still feel it, I was told it was all in my head. My wonderful dentist is so gentle and at the end of any prolonged treatment we have a group hug, me, dentist and nurse.

My sympathy to all. I've just gone through the mill a bit myself. Here's hoping we can all keep our teeth in our heads!

You have my sympathy. Off to the dentist tomorrow emergency appointment. Nearly ended up with sepsis last time. Have horrible teeth partially caused by a drug J had to take as a child for asthma that they later found out was bad for children's bone formation and also poor dentistry. I can remember one school dentist actually putting his knee on my chest to brace himself to extract a recalcitrant tooth. Also being sent to a convalescent home for 3 months as a 5 year old only seeing parents 4 times and being s end off to hospital and given a general anesthetic to have a tooth out those experiences stay with you the rest of your life. Don't mention hygienists to me two caps came off that were perfectly stable before and neither tooth could be repaired afterwards and had to be extracted. I could go on and on.x

My mother was very strict about cleaning teeth and having regular checkups every six months.

She has bad teeth and my father had bad gums (or was it vice versa?) However, no amount of regular thorough cleaning or regular visits to the dentist has prevented my teeth from being awful. It's all in the genes.

I am eternally grateful that all my three DSs have inherited the tooth genes from my husband's side - my MiL still had all her teeth at 69, and all three of my boys have beautiful teeth, and none of them ever had to even wear braces.

Fennel - it was no urban myth. In the 1950s it really did happen sometimes.
Far more people had all their teeth out and wore top and bottom dentures in their 50s and later in life.

I have had my teeth whitened and it has not weakened them at all. I was fitted with a gum shield and now twice a year I buy from my dentist two phials of 10% peroxide and put a small amount in each space on the shield and wear it over night. I do this for 3 days. My teeth look so much better and when I see photos of myself in the past I notice how yellow teeth were.

I haven’t read all this thread so apologies if I am repeating what others have said.

It cost £350 for the shield to be made and I was given 5 phials of peroxide to start with. Now each year the two phials cost £40. I am very pleased with the results.

Apparently the fluoride in water has helped.

Has anyone else noticed how perfect everyone's teeth seem to be on TV now? If you watch an old repeat it comes as quite a surprise to see how bad some teeth were.

Like almost everyone else suffered with teeth for most of life, but then I do love to eat sweet things! The mention of the gas mask has brought back such bad memories. Had a very talented dentist for fifteen years or so and he managed to save most of my teeth. I try to have a drink of water after sweet stuff to at least clear some of the remaining gunge around my teeth. Thought teeth whitening weakened your teeth at a certain age?

Like many of the posters my teeth were overfilled as a child. I had a horror of dentists due to pain during unnecessary fillings and since my dental care was left up to me from the age that I could get to the dentist on my own, I didn't bother . Tooth cleaning was never supervised by my parents. By the time I was responsible enough to go to the dentist, I needed loads of work. Since then I have been made to feel terrible by various dentists for the state of my amalgam filled mouth and felt I should be apologising and trying to explain that having badly cared for teeth in the past doesn't make me a bad person. I worry about my teeth but luckily I have a very kind dentist now. Just another thing, I have stopped using an electric tooth brush now, as I felt it was too vigorous for my teeth and have gone back to a small headed soft ordinary tooth brush.

I will ask about the teeth whitening at the dentist.That doesn't sound too bad,hadn't researched it but thought whitening was far more expensive. However I'm beginning to query wether my dentist is a good one.Also queried with the receptionist why every time either myself or my daughters have an appointment we get a quick check over,then have to rebook even for a scale and polish, which takes only minutes,and his waiting room is empty.DD is suspicious that they are claiming for two visits,when really only one is necessary .The receptionist looks a bit sheepish.The last time I did only sign one form one my second visit.

I wish I could take you to my dentist Harrysgran. I’ve had all sorts of horrible work done (thanks to my previous dentist!) and, apart from pain following an extraction recently, he has never hurt me at all. He’s absolutely brilliant and a lovely man. All the staff are the same. It’s called The Friendly Practice!

I worked with a lovely lady from South Africa who appeared to have beautiful teeth. When we got to know each other better she confided they were false; the custom where she came from was to have them all out when you got to about twenty one so you would never have any trouble!! Like many posters here I have masses of fillings as it certainly was the practice to drill and fill everything in your mouth. I still have most of the original fillings too - fifty odd years later. I'm really pleased to say that my children have one filling between them!

There was a story that I was told when young (urban myth?) that for their 21st birthday, people had all their teeth removed plus a gift of false ones:
qi.com/infocloud/false-teeth

There is a downside to healthy teeth - I still have a full set, including all four wisdom teeth (at least two of which are still erupting), but there isn't room for them all so my front teeth have become horribly crooked!

This makes flossing difficult too. I have to avoid a lot of brands of floss as they get jammed between my tightly-packed molars.

I suppose that if I had the money, I could get this sorted, but I don't, so I can't.

The hygienist gave me the ultra sound which I'd had before. Still a certain amount of (necessary) poking and prodding but my teeth look and feel fine! All over for 6 months.

Hope it goes ok terrified of dentist I have a missing tooth at front I wear a palate I wish I could pluck up the courage to have a bridge fitted

I have sjorgens which gives me a dry mouth and eyes. As a result my teeth have suffered however much I cleaned and looked after them. After what felt like a life time of root canals, crowns and bridges I finally plucked up the courage for dental implants. I couldn’t have the fixed implant type of teeth but instead had the rest of my top teeth removed and five implants inserted along with bone graft, all under sedation. Then had a plate of top teeth that just pop into the implants and it is the best thing I have done. I shall have the bottom lot the same if needed. I have since needed no more treatment, just a check up and saved a huge amount on dental fees. Bliss

I was a dental nurse years ago, and Wednesdays were my favourite day, because it was 'gas' day.

I had to go to the school dentist as a chid to have four teeth removed because of overcrowding. They administered gas and yanked them out--- the only problem was that the gas canister was empty.! I couldn't tell them I was still awake because my mouth was wedged open, but you would have thought they could have guessed from the screams!!

I must be one of the lucky ones, didnt have to have much done as a child, havent had a fear of Dentists, and now this Dentist I have is lovely, he gives a hug when he opens the door, then he has a chat first and we have a really nice time before he examines my teeth, after he has done that and if nothing needs seeing to, I go upstairs to a wonderful dental hygienist, he is a lovely boy, and with him we also have a chat before he begins to work, when I go into the receptionist she always comes to the waiting room with a cup of tea, I always say to them its like coming home going to the Dentist! I have a Dental Plan insurance and it doesnt cost anything if I dont need any treatment.

It's probably a symbol taken from an iPad Humptydumpty. Yes, it's a yawn.

OldMeg what is that symbol, a yawn? (can't see it on the list at the bottom of the page)

I'm also one of the generation who had perfectly good teeth filled for the sake of it, my own dentist told me that's what they used to do. When he retired I looked for an NHS dentist as although good he was expensive and the extra visits to the hygienist were extortionate. I had a dental plan but it never quite covered the cist Said!
Anyway, now have a young female dentist who sees me every three months to keep an eye on my gums, she does the clean and polish bit herself as part of normal checkup.

My 27 year old son doesn't have a single filling yet, although my girls, both in their fifties do have some.

Nothing personal.