Advice Please - Thanks!

[Ant1988]

Background: 20 Years Old, Male - Haven't visited dentist now for over 2 and a half years due to chronic phobia. Last treatment(of major NHS treatment I was receiving) was removal of two bottom teeth(back ones one either side not wisdom though, wisdom have since come through and closed gap)

Currently: One decayed tooth at the bottom infront of left wisdom, has a 'dressing' on as more than half the tooth is missing from an accident falling over when younger. Another bottom tooth(next one up from previous mentioned) decaying and slowly losing more of the tooth.

At the top, my left back tooth (infront of wisdom) has no tooth left, just a root I believe, this needs to come out but I am scared without being put to sleep. My two front teeth overlap and i desperately want this to be fixed as I am suffering a major lack of confidence and hardly ever smile again, when laughing I try to cover my mouth also, very conscience!

What I would like, is the teeth straight, especially front two. All decayed removed(I guess all 3) and the ones that have to be, replaced.

What should I do? I desperately want all of this resolved and I now have a few thousand pounds from sale of my car. I feel I need to get this sorted before I can have any confidence again.

Thank you very much in advance

[Dr Sepehrara]

Before thinking about any cosmetic treatment, the active disease, ie decay or any gum disease has to be treated.

Once this is done then you can consider having cosmetic treatment.

If you are really nervous about dental treatment, I would advise you to find a dentist experienced in treating anxious patients.

There are different ways of overcoming dental phobia:
- find a good, sympathetic dentist with a great team...that is often enough to help you feel more relaxed once you build that trust

- distraction methods during treatment, DVD goggles, listening to music etc

- sedation

Hope this helps

Best of Luck

Raha

[sarahburch]

i can vey much sympathise with this but i urge you to take action. i have a very bad fear of dentists. this was due to a dentist putting me to sleep and taking it upon himself to remove all of my teeth from my upper jaw. this was completely without my consent and aged only 23 at the time, you can imagine my dispair. i now have an upper denture aged 32 and have not been to a dentist since. my lower set of teeth are in a drastically bad condition and although i know that if i do not go to a dentist i will end up with a lower denture also. i am on longterm antidepressants now and my denture man has advised that i do not have enough bone on my upper jaw to support implants so i really do not have any way forward. i rarely leave the house, never have a picture taken and never speak to anyone unncessarily. please just go to a dentist before its too late and you end up like me.

[Dr Pav Khaira]

Sarah, that truly is a sad story. There does come a time where not enough bone is left to be able to place implants, however I would recommend in these extreme circumstances you seek the advice of a specialist. There are a few dentists out there who can place implants in extremely difficult cases with success

Kindest regards