Gum Disease and No Insurance
Question submitted by Andrew:
I have a problem with my teeth. I’ve been told I have gum disease and that I need to deal with it. I don’t have dental insurance, so I have been waiting until I can get some to take care of this. What I’m worried about at the moment is that I have three teeth on the bottom where the gums are lower than they should be. Those teeth are loose and I’m pretty sure I’m going to lose them. What can I do to save my other teeth. Will the other teeth move over to close the space?
Andrew
Dear Andrew
While your teeth will shift with an empty space there, they are not going to completely fill in the empty space. And there is no guarantee that they will shift evenly. In fact, it is very unlikely. This throws off your bite and could even lead to migraines and painful TMJ disorder.
If you have some teeth already loose from your gum disease, then your other teeth will not be far behind. You need to take this seriously. Don’t wait. Either get your dental insurance right away or just pay for the dentist yourself but you’ve got to get on this or you won’t have any teeth left.
The sooner you get to the dentist, the less expensive it will be for you to get things fixed. Once you are at the dentist’s, the two of you can triage what are the most urgent issues to deal with first. Be upfront with him or her about your situation.
You’ll also need to really dig in at home and be ruthless with your oral healthcare. Brush and floss after every meal. Be religious about it.
There are going to be teeth that can’t be saved because it sounds like you are in the advanced stages of gum disease. The best tooth replacement is a dental implant. However, you will need to have the gum disease under control as well as build up the bone structure you lost because of the disease. There is a bone grafting procedure which can do that. Once those are done, you should be fine to get the implants. Until then, dentures can be a good temporary option and will at least allow you to feel like you have teeth there.
This blog is brought to you by Tucson Prosthodontist Dr. Howard Steinberg.
