Friday, September 25, 2015

Wisdom Teeth Hell

 
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I made a huge mistake about two years ago I am probably going to pay for big. One misstep when you are poor and everything can fall apart. I thought you had to be put out to get wisdom teeth out, and misunderstood. 

This upsets me because I remember mentioning this to people saying my risk of death was high if I was put out and no one addressed the error. I was in this charity dental program that would have paid for the wisdom teeth to come out but because I was puking half the month and in severe pain, I just couldn't take more medical procedures. I was scared too because I threw up without warning and didn't know how teeth sockets were supposed to heal.

 Let me be frank while I did the other major dental work there was serious musing as to whether I would outlive the year or not when I didn't know what was wrong yet.  Grinning and bearing it for an hour to have a cavity drilled on and worked on was different then praying I wouldn't puke for three or four days. I was having dozens of kidney stones where they were coming out of me like gravel and later had to take a special expensive drug to shrink one that got stuck and even was huge. I'm on this drug now so they do not come back. I still feel like I have trauma from the pain of that year. My bowels joined the party so intensely that I thought I had colon cancer.

I asked them if I could wait, and they said, "No". Now I need all these teeth out and one has a hole in it. Nothing is infected yet, but I wonder how I am supposed to pay for this and am scared witless. Well the other day I went to the free clinic to have my teeth out which I always saw as the back up and the dentist tells me there, that the nerve is twisted on one and I could have nerve damage unless it is done right. I am a medical freak of nature so it has to be a higher level oral surgeon. Maybe I should have kept my mouth shut about my health problems and scared her off. She told me a oral surgeon takes low income insurance in a town two hours a way. I am not sure if I can arrange this but will try. I don't know if I can even get there. They have me on some insane spend down anyhow. I feel like an idiot for misunderstanding the part about being put out and for neglecting this. Now I am screwed.

To be honest all of this is a result of early medical neglect. I only saw a dentist twice when I was a kid and both times remember a teeth cleaning and wearing this teeth mold with some kind of bubble-gum flavoring on it. I never had my wisdom teeth addressed as a teen which is when most people get them out. For some reason I think my brother and sister have theirs out and I know my brother even wore braces, so guess who got shunted aside? I only saw a dentist once in 25 years when my husband had dental insurance for a very brief time until 2013. Then I went on the waiting list for the special dental program I found online and got a charity dentist. He's filled at least 12 cavities and provided teeth cleaning and treatment I should have had years ago and has taken me on even after the program expired but he doesn't do oral surgery. When we discussed moving out of here, I actually said, "What about my dentist?"

I do feel dumb for misunderstanding but then know I was very overwhelmed at the time with the other medical problems and just trying to stay alive.

4 comments:

  1. I'm sorry to hear that you had a scary day at dental office. :( I had nightmarish dental experiences myself for years but managed to save my teeth. I'm glad you got your teeth cleaned and fillings you needed. I hope you will not get all of your teeth out in order to pull one bad teeth. Make sure you find a dentist will know how to pull one bad teeth without pulling out all of your teeth, and how to deal with patient who have diabetes. You don't want to find out years later that you could have saved your good teeth if you found a right dentist. I will pray for you. <3

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    1. This guy saved three near the front teeth the free clinic wanted to pull so I actually saved my smile and teeth going into this program. I make him cards twice a year and will send him a holiday one to thank him. I never in a million years could have afforded this dental care and my mouth hurt all the time. The wisdom teeth he could not save. I have to make phone calls today and Monday to help me figure out how I am going to deal with this stuff. I may ask my present dentist to appeal to the program detailing my Aspergers and confusion about what taking out wisdom teeth entailed. I really was confused and overwhelmed.

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  2. All this dental trouble does start in childhood and even earlier. I visit my mother once a year in order to learn more about what happened to me in childhood. It is risky emotionally but I do find out stuff. I recently realized that my teeth were a battleground when I was a kid. My mother thinks teeth care, even simple brushing, is unnecessary. My father lost most of his teeth early in life and was really hyper aware of the need for teeth care. My mother seems to think tooth decay is a sign of weak character. She was really trying to undermine my father in a passive aggressive way with her neglect of any home hygiene at all. She says she never had a toothbrush when she was growing up. She tries to undermine my teeth hygiene routine even now! It drives me crazy - even brushing my teeth makes me inferior and wrong to her.

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    1. So supposedly she has these super duper teeth, that never rot even from never being brushed. Yeah that is psycho-city. Didn't it occur to her you could have inherited your father's teeth. This brings back the memory that my mother bragged about her teeth and blamed people for having bad cavities.

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