Last Thursday I had to head out for the oral surgeons office. Like so many of you I have suffered the wrath of bad teeth my whole life but I never thought I would be LOSING one.
I mean before the age of 70.
The story is that somehow during my pregnancy I lost a filling of that back molar. Around my 7th month I went in and asked them to fix it. The dentist said no problem but that due to the filling being so large he was just going to cap the tooth. We set the appt and when I went in he went about shaving the tooth down for the cap. However when he got down to the base of the tooth he realized I didn’t need a filling but I needed a root canal. When you are pregnant you cant really get a root canal. It requires that you lie on your back for several hours and heavy sedation.
Unfortunately, this put me in the position of having a fully shaved down molar with no cap and no way to get a root canal.
Ugg.
At some point between the end of my pregnancy and several months after having Phoenyx (recovering from a C section) I fully broke the tooth. It’s not a surprise considering it was just a weak structure at that point, but I broke it all the way to the gum line. When I went into the endodontist he told me that “sure, he could perform a root canal just fine” but now the tooth was damaged beyond holding a cap at all.
Double Ugg.
Next stop? Oral surgeon.
I have spent the last several months fretting on what to do and avoiding the inevitable. I researched all sorts of routes on that tooth and have had nothing but more questions.
- Would I need to get an implant?
- Would I lose the top tooth that sits on it if I didn’t?
- Would all my teeth shift?
I started imagining myself with no teeth.
Of course the dentist and endodontist both support an implant solution. And minus the serious pain involved with that, it’s NOT covered by dental insurance at all and the price is no picnic. It’s cost is in the thousands. Thousands with an S. The price lands somewhere around $3K to replace that molar.
2 weeks ago I finally gathered up enough courage to go have “the talk” about my tooth fate.
Thankfully the oral surgeon made me feel better. He has no personal stake in that tooth and other than doing a bone graft should I want to put in an implant, no financial gain for me going that route. This is what he told me should anyone else be facing the same situation and a few pieces of valuable information:
- Teeth move forward, not backwards. Because it was my 1st molar, the ONLY tooth in danger of moving was my wisdom tooth (2nd molar).
- You don’t really need a 1st molar to eat. They are rarely used.
- The first molar has no cosmetic value.
- The opposing tooth CAN loosen but it takes a long time and isn’t as common as people have you think when you search the internet. He also said my wisdom tooth, which is fully in, partly supports my top molar so it does have an opposing tooth (score one for not taking it out!).
- If you fill that spot, you will only be doing it because you don’t like the space in your mouth in the back.
In the end, I opted to leave the space empty. I really could find better uses for $3,000, including focusing on keeping my other teeth healthy for the upcoming years.
The surgery? Well, they knocked me out. The doctor said that sometimes the pulling or tugging can scare you so it was my best option. That whole twilight sleep was something else.
It was like I was there…….and then I wasn’t.
The only thing I have left showing me that it really happened is this nasty little IV bruise.
Honestly I could have been abducted by aliens and I wouldn’t have known.
Recovery hasn’t been perfect. I have a high pain tolerance but I am knocking back Lortab like it’s candy and just got the oral surgeon to up me a second prescription yesterday. The first few days were fine but then it hit me like a ton of bricks. I finally feel like I am going in the right direction. I can exist on Tylenol or Bayer, but I look forward to the moment I don’t have any pain at all there. Ironically the tooth itself did NOT hurt prior so this wasn’t a relief other than getting the decision out of my life.
Have you ever had a tooth pulled? How has that space reacted?
Trisha I’m so grateful that you’re talking about this. I am loaing my first molar on BOTH sides because the dentist botched up as well. I am getting an implant in one spot (another footh), and I was worried about the procedure & the pain. I feel a little better after hearing your story.
Overall I will survive. I thought it would be so wierd to not have a tooth there but its not. I dont really miss it cause its so far back. I think Cat had an implant if you want to ask her about that procedure.
KNOCK on Wood, no I have not. So sorry to hear the pain you went through!
I lost my first molar when I was little kid. It was a baby tooth that had no permanent tooth underneath. My dentist tried to scare my mom into having a false tooth placed or my other molars would shift. Turns out it was too expensive for her so they just skipped it and left the space empty. My teeth never shifted one bit. Of course that’s all a mute point now that I only have 9 teeth left. My advice, screw the cost (if possible) … do everything you can to save your natural teeth. No matter what anyone tells you, false teeth are NOT even remotely close to an acceptable replacement functionally.
I had a tooth pulled in a few months ago. Mine was a year long expedition so it sounds like we had a similar “adventure”. 3 Dentist later, two infections (What a horrible pain) and close to $8000 later the took the tooth and I had to have a bridge put in since it was the first molar in my mouth. Your dentist was nice to you. Mine just gave me Novocain and it was infected! Yeah I think I would have like the twilight sedation! Totally feeling your pain! Here is my whole story if you want a god laugh/cry! http://mysavinggame.com/2012/06/one-year-chewing-one-side.html
Oh yeah a bridge! I forgot about that. The endodontist mentioned that but the oral surgeon squashed it. He said that no one is gonna bridge a wisdom tooth..its basically a terrible decision. So i knocked that out too, although a bridge would have been covered by insurance.
I had a baby molar (first one in the front, top right) that never had an adult tooth grow in below it. A smallish cavity turned into a huge crack while I was pregnant with my second child, so when he was 3 months, I had it pulled and had an implant placed. I was poppy for about 3 days.
Getting the crown on the implant was interesting because by Tue time we had money to do that (after spending the 3k on the implant, the dentist wanted 1600 for the crown! Not at all what I had been quoted originally), I was pregnant again which meant no x-rays. After Shiu 4 months with a temporary crown, we finally did the real deal. 3 years later, I’m glad I went that route but really only because it is such a visible tooth.
Yes, the crown! So it really was like $5K in the end. I could probably get 4 veneers for that kind of cash.
Oh ouch, Trisha! That sounds like such a nightmare. I hope you are pain-free soon! You made the same decision I would have. 3k? Yikes!!
I had one pulled in college (couldn’t afford the root canel…it’s in the back on the bottom. It hasn’t bothered me at all and the other teeth around it haven’t moved either. No biggie!