Friend undergoing surgery on the 5th.

GL · Jan 25, 2009

My friend has a hereditary dental issue.
Imagine your last bad toothache. Now imagine it lasted two years and there was a minimum of four of them happening at any given minute simultaneously, that's where she is at. She will be having 24 extractions in one day on the 5th of February. It has taken her 2 years to save the money while she has had this constant dental agony. Last year when she went to get it done she was $600 short so another year of broken teeth and abscesses was her reward for being poor. She is only able to have this done at a certain kind of clinic out of state that specializes in extreme dental surgery. Otherwise it would cost over $200 per tooth and only 4 at a time with three weeks in between.
I will be her driver this year since obviously she will be unable to drive herself home afterward.
I am looking forward to her not having constant pain.

Anyone else have dental issues?

fossis · Jan 25, 2009

It is so sad that people have to live in pain because they can't afford dental care or health care.

good luck to her.

Fossis...............

GL · Jan 25, 2009

She is terrified but hopeful.
I have had a toothache before and it is nothing to sneeze at. The last one I had was an abscessed broken molar and it got so bad I contemplated half a bottle of gin and a pair of pliers to make it stop. It's like no matter what you do you cannot escape a real toothache. It is like a bright, white lightning bolt of the worst agony imaginable right in your face. You can do nothing but moan and keep busy in hopes it will die down to a semi tolerable scream.
She has endured this for three years and her teeth are so bad she cannot work. No one will hire her due to her smile. No doctor will prescribe her medication to ease the pain because they assume she is a drug addict from her appearance. She is wasting away from stress and malnutrition and pain. Dental issues aren't covered under any assistance plan offered by the government and her husband supposedly makes too much to qualify for anything(then why is he always broke?). She was a teacher once upon a time.
This girl is a dear friend and I think the world of her. I can't stand to see her in pain so this will be bittersweet.
She is only 28 and she will be completely toothless in 10 days. So sad I can't stand it.

Montana Jim · Jan 26, 2009

My thoughts to your friend... what a terrible experience and a terrible situation.

I'm glad she's finally able to take care of it and I hope she heals and comes out having spent the money in good health!

Lowbatts · Jan 26, 2009

We've spent nearly $25k on our two daughters dental work over the years. Worth every penny but yeah, it's very sad that some can't get it done.

The younger one inherited my teeth unfortunately. Basically she had 10 extractions when she got her first permanent teeth. Six more followed that. They removed 8 of her permanent teeth so she could fit them all in when she was just a little tyke. In my case they didn't do that kind of stuff back then so my upper canines went backwards almost up into my nasal cavity. Sure not visible and hey, they can maybe get used as spares someday when I start running out of originals?

Then again at the rate I was getting punched/clubbed and kicked as a young hooligan it would have been a real waste of money.

Best wishes for your friend!

GL · Jan 27, 2009

Well the surgeon checked over some Xrays and reduced the extractions to 19. So she will have a full upper plate and two partials on the bottom with her real teeth in front.
This also reduces the bill and the recovery time so she can get back to some sense of normalcy.
I just want to see her smile again. She has been so miserable for so long.

GL · Feb 7, 2009

The surgery is over. It came to 24 extractions under full sedation with full upper and lower plates. $2365.00 total. $100 for a two night hotel room stay. Locally this would have cost around $7000. No insurance means full price. Insurance costs too much per month to cover dental. Even basic coverage is outrageous.

Her teeth are now perfect and since the swelling has gone down she looks fantastic. She has begun eating again and she smiles now where she used to smirk or grin. The dull red soreness is a marked reduction from the blinding white pain she had previously. Pain is a color when you have it. The worse it is, the lighter it gets until it is so bright that you can't see around it and all you can do is curl up and cry from it's heat.
The plates fit fine and she is healing up nicely. She looks great. If there is anyone reading this that has bad teeth either by genetics or poor hygiene or poor choices, the result of having this procedure done is nothing short of miraculous. This is a life changing point. I liken it to crawling over broken glass to a cliffs edge and jumping across. The other side is wide open and the possibilities are endless. The skies are blue and the weathers fine on the other side, you just need to make that leap and trust that it will be better.

I guess it doesn't really matter now but this was my wifes surgery. I didn't want to say so out of some sort of selfish notion of the kinds of comments I'd get. On rereading the thread maybe it was easy to tell who she was? Anyway.
Typically a thin young lady with rotten teeth is instantly dismissed as a basehead or a meth addict or a nasty person and my wife is none of the above. She is an unfortunate victim of genetics and as such she was undeserving of the looks and comments she would receive. She was unable to work due to her amount of pain and peoples perception of her based on nothing more than her teeth. She was passed over for a part time position as a cleaner at the local dog shelter and we both knew why.
Unfair? Yes.
Unfounded? Not really.
Understandable? Certainly. No one wants an addict hanging around.

I feel that she now has a chance to live her life free from stares and criticism based on her appearance. Now she will be like everyone else and that is all we ever wanted.