Serious dental problems: All I want for Christmas is a new set of teeth

People everywhere have problems with their teeth. Broken teeth needing extraction, loose teeth, gum disease and teeth needing fillings all cause suffering and are some of the dental problems we can be faced with.

"All I want for Xmas is my two front teeth" goes the old song but in my case I think I could do with a whole new set but I am still hoping to keep as many as I can.

Since I have been living on this island, and knowing the prices of dental treatment can be very expensive, I haven't been in four years and unfortunately my neglect has finally caught up with me and I have several loose molars from gum disease as well as a broken back tooth.There is also a loose crown and probably a cavity or two.

The back tooth broke many months back, funnily enough after I had been wishing I could get rid of all the amalgam fillings I have. There was one in the tooth and it came out along with a chunk of enamel and has left a jagged rim I can feel with my finger and a hole going into the root. No pain though.

I developed an abscess that made the gum swell and badly inflamed around the teeth next to it and I had that about three months back and couldn't eat on that side. I got it down with hydrogen peroxide and colloidal silver but the teeth are loose. I have a loose one in the front too that I also had an abscess on about three years ago. It was already a bit loose before I moved but now it is very mobile. Nothing wrong with the tooth, just that it wiggles about.

I have told friends about all the dental problems I have been having lately whilst upping my own dental care regimen, which BrainFire gave me a great suggestion for, which was to use tea tree oil. So now I was using colloidal silver, hydrogen peroxide, tea tree oil, Co-enzyme Q10 plus regular cleaning and flossing.

The big problem though, is that whilst these substances can keep the germs down and the inflammation at bay they cannot repair broken teeth, refill holes or scrape away the tartar and plaque that sticks on the teeth and makes pockets causing gum disease.

Another part of my problem I have is that while I am asleep I tend to snore and have my mouth open, which websites tell me encourages bacteria to develop in the mouth that gets dry. I have a deviated septum caused by being punched in the nose many years back and had considered, horrible as it sounded, having an operation to fix that. I saw a specialist back in Wales and was relieved when he told me that if they operated there was no guarantee it would stop me snoring and so I never had it done.

CJ Stone advised me well suggesting that at the very least I should get my teeth scaled and that would hopefully save them.

Everyone else I had spoken to said you really do need to go to a dentist, Steve, and finally I made an appointment with one who can speak English. There was no way I was going to attempt to sort my mouth out in Spanish.

In the meantime, of course I had been reseaching online and saw all the dire warnings about losing teeth as well as dangerous conditions that can ensue if the problems are not dealt with. Searching on "wisdom teeth" brings up no end of very scary stories with people experiencing real nightmares having them out. Whichever way I looked there was no potential good outcome and so it is still.

If I am going to lose any I knew that the replacements are all very expensive with dentures and bridges being the cheapest and implants, which all dentists here recommend, a completely crazy price that only rich people can afford.

My father has very kindly offered to help me with costs for dentures if I have to have them and other treatment but the idea of dentures is not one I was looking forward to. Researching online again I found no end of information about problems they can cause and knowing how badly I get along with glasses I am sure I will have problems with false teeth.

Having missing teeth though I read can cause speech problems and your face to change shape. Grim visions of not being able to speak or sing anymore coupled with an ugly appearance depressed me further. I decided to grow a full beard just in case and have done so as you can see.

I began thinking about how Shane MacGowan copes and why with all his money he doesn't get his teeth fixed. I spent time on YouTube trying to work out if having missing teeth spoiled his ability to sing and it doesn't. I also got to considering Van Gogh and how losing seven of his teeth added to his depression. I consoled myself with thinking that having a terrible mouth hasn't stopped Shane having a successful career and a girlfriend.

Some dentists here I was told offer a plan so you can pay in instalments from your bank but as there's hardly ever anything much in mine I couldn't see that working.

I have never got along well with much medical treatment of any kind and over the years I have become increasingly distrustful of medical treatments and prefer to look after myself and to use alternative remedies and therapies. It is obvious to me that dentistry is a business that is more concerned with making money than about people's health and it is only recently that some dentists have stopped doing amalgam fillings, which to my mind cannot be healthy containing mercury as they do. Not only that but most dentists still recommend fluoride which is a poison.

Unfortunately I have reached the point where as far as I can see I have no option but to consult conventional medicine and in particular a dental surgeon.

Anyway, yesterday I got up really early to get the buses to get me to the town I was going to in time for my appointment at 10 am. I was hoping the dentist would scale the teeth as CJ had suggested. I was hoping she would give me a list I could consider, and that at last I would have a professional opinion and the costs and some treatment.

I told the dentist that I don't have much money, which is why I have neglected my teeth and I realise that they are a mess but I need something done so can she give me the cheapest method for sorting my mouth out. The dentist had a look in my mouth and tapped on teeth asking if it hurt and it didn't but it would have not so long ago when my teeth and gums were inflamed, I admitted. She said she needed a full mouth X-ray and that would be €30.

I had that done but then she needed another four side views to see better how badly the teeth and roots were. I had to consent really although I also hate having dental or any sort of X-ray due to potential dangers from the radiation. Will you be charging me another 30 for each of these I asked and she said no, they would just charge me for one more.

Finally she showed me the main X-ray and said I would need extractions including back teeth plus root canal work but she thought she could save all the front ones. It was good and bad news and I told her I knew I was going to have to have some bad news whatever the outcome.

I was asked if I am allergic to penicillin and I said, no, and she wrote me a prescription for two drugs I had never heard of and said I must take these for a week before I come back to have the extractions done of which there are eight.

I said I have to travel for over an hour on the bus and then another before I get home so don't know how well I will feel and she said the extractions could be done in more than one visit, and we would have to see how we get along. She told me another member of the staff would give me a list with all the prices of recommended treatment.

I finally got the list and it said €320 for eight extractions, €200 for the tooth needing root canal treatment, €50 for a full cleaning and an additional recommended but not as high priority periodontal treament at €300. I was told by a friend I trust that these prices are very good indeed for the island.

So I left realising that although my New Year would start very painfully and with probable problems for a day or so after the extractions at last I would be getting my dental nightmare dealt with.

I wondered what Augmentine 875 and Omeprazol were though so have done a lot of searching online and find that that the latter is to counteract bad affects of the first drug, and that gastric upset and diarrhoea can be expected. It turns out that far worse things can occur too including anxiety, strange feelings, vivid dreams, skin rashes, blood in your stools, tiredness and inability to sleep and many more disturbing symptoms.

On a site where people descibe their experience with the drug I read a "never again" and "not recommended" and plenty of alarming descriptions. Bearing in mind that I am prone to depression and anxiety anyway, plus that I have to work each day and that I have important visitors to see in January and will be giving a talk to a school, says to me not to take the muck. The prospect of being really ill due to the Augmentine coupled with the pain, swelling and bleeding from the extractions means I am likely to be in a terrible state in which I will not be able to cope and my situation will be much worse than it already is.

So now what? I have just sent an email to the dental surgery saying I will not take the prescribed drugs so can I have an alternative prescription please? At present I am seriously feeling like cancelling the appointment and will then be back to square one. Xmas and the New Year - not a good time for the dental nightmare blues!

UPDATE:

Eventually after giving me an antibiotic containing poisonous aspartame, which I refused she gave me a third prescription for Flagyl (Metronidazole) that I have had before and had requested. I went in for treatment and the dentist said she had been talking to a senior member of staff and he had looked at my X-rays and said I actually needed 14 extractions and dentures plus root canal work. She said I had to take another course of antibiotics. I said can you just scale my teeth because I don't want all that done? Eventually she agreed to this but I had to sign a waiver saying I refused the recommended treatment!