Q. Dear Dr Glaister, I consulted your site in 2006 and was delighted with your speedy and informative response, therefore, now that I have saved enough money to pay for the dental work that I need, I hope you will be able to help me once again. I decided to send my qustions to yourself as i understand you have great experience with cosmetic surgery and feel my question slighlty steps over the line from required treatment to cosmic treatment. From the start I should say that during childhood and my early teenage years I neglected my teeth insofar as I didn’t brush them at all; I didn’t even go to the dentist until I was seventeen. Four years on from my first visit and I have finally found a dentist who actually seems like he wants to help rather than inform me that I should have looked after them when I was younger in a patronising yet cheerful tone as my previous dentist often did. I have been going there for around six months now and as such my check up is due. When I visit at the end of this month there are a few things I will be asking the dentist, but thought I would get your opinions first: One thing I noticed since I first started going to the dentist is that after I had received all the necessary treatment, a few weeks later I would need to go back to the dentist after experiencing tooth pain, only to find I need another filling, and also by the time my next check up was due, I needed a whole host of work. Even though I brush my teeth twice a day with Colgate total and use Cordosyl daily (as recommended by my dentist) my teeth still seem to be going from worse to worse every few months, or in some cases weeks, and have been for the last few years. To the stage where I am sure the next time I go I will be told I have gum disease as lately my breath has an unpleasant odour and one of my teeth has started to hurt; a pain that I can only describe as being inside the tooth, yet not part of the tooth but rather up inside the gum. This is the main factor that I am holding back from spending my life savings on private treatment, i.e. crowns/bridges. Insofar as I do not want to spend every penny I have if the teeth the crowns are fixed to will still be rotting away underneath and thus the crowns fall out and I have wasted my money and am left with small stumps for teeth and no money to fix the situation. So could you please advise me as to whether it is possible for the teeth to still rot away underneath the crowns? Or if, once treated the gum disease is likely to cause problems for the crowns/bridges? I understand that you obviously cannot comment on me specifically, and even if you could, would need to examine my mouth before answering, but I am asking, based on the information provided, i.e. teeth keep decaying and worsening even with proper care and attention, is it possible and if it is how likely, that the teeth and will rot away underneath and cause the crown to fall out. Could you also please advise; on an estimated timeline from the start to the finish of treatment, detailing what procedures are involved. I am looking to have sixteen teeth fixed and would greatly appreciate your advise, because as you can imagine with my current smile of autumnal colours I have no confidence and do not even want to go to job interviews or out with friends as my teeth become the focal point for everyone, and there is only so much abuse and embarrassment you can take. Even going to the dentist themselves has become a struggle as I feel as though everyone must be talking about me, as I am told I have the worst teeth he has seen in someone my age. Plus it has now become a practical decision, in that even eating is now becoming more of a challenge as hot and cold foods and drinks seem to aggravate different teeth on different days as and when they desire. If you think having crowns would be a bad idea as it is the likelihood that the teeth will indeed continue to decay underneath, is their anything you could advise as an alternative as I don’t really know what to do. I have a budget of £8000 and obviously cannot afford to have implants. Also, it is the upper and lower front four teeth on the left and the right that I want the work to be carried out on. Thank you for your help, I hope to hear from you soon.