Dentistry Thread #2....self-extraction...

[PCIntern]

I'm a dentist, as some of you may know...
so I know a little something about this stuff...

In the early days of the colonization of the US, what people with a toothache would do, is go out to the barn or a nearby tree, throw a rope over which was connected to a small wire noose. They then put the noose around the broken tooth and use their body weight over an indefinite time, sometimes hours, to slowly extrude the tooth. As you can imagine, this was often froaught with complications and failure.

First thing to know, is that no one, not even dentists, 'pull teeth' which are in bone to any degree. What we do is expand the bone and the tooth lifts out. Thus, the term 'elevators' - the periodontal ligament is widened and the tooth 'rotates' out of the socket. In a severely abscessed tooth, there is little or no bone holding it in, and it will simply pull out of the soft tissue. Those cases are similar, but not exactly, like the loss of a primary tooth.

As you can tell, I could go on and on, and probably ruin quite a few dinners in the effort. Suffice it to say, that the dental system is in horrendous shape, that I agree with all of your surmises about insurance, about public health, about the fact that it's not part of Medicare, and it's a travesty all the way around. Months ago we had a great thread on dentistry one Saturday afternoon and I really was amazed at the depth of frustration here on the board with the practice of dentistry. When I'm sitting in a restaurant here in Philly, at least one of the 4-5 conversations going on around me involve dentists, dentistry, or teeth problems. It is an endemic, pandemic issue, which is heretofore, unsolved in this country.

Just so I don't get flamed, I must tell you that much of my time is taken up with promotion of DU ideals in my practice - I was just posting on another thread that I'm going to be having dinner with Joseph Wilson next month, (an honor which even I can't conceive of at ths point, and I dined with Eliot Richardson not long after he left the nixon Administration following his refusal to fire Archibald Cox in the Watergate days), I take care of people in pain even if they can't pay, and I generally campaign for universal dental care among my peers.

Ths is a very serious world-wide problem - and the ill-informed anti-fluoridationists are not helping much.

[uppityperson]

1. Thank you. I just had work done, no insurance

severely abcessed tooth causing me no pain but big lump and feeling really crappy. I ended up going across the border to Canada because it would cost 2/3 what would here in USA. My options were pull tooth, let the molars on both sides break, pull them, etc etc, or go into debt. So, thank you for your posting and for continuing to work onward with helping humanity.

[Kingshakabobo]

2. Anti-fluoridationists ? Are they still around?

I thought that went out with Frank Burns and General Jack D. Ripper?

That being said, I wish I could get my dentist to get my new crown to adjust properly. I've been in three times and still no dice. I've been living with low-grade pain for a month.

[Ediacara]

6. They're alive and kicking in Montana

Most municiple water systems here don't fluoridate and they don't because of the anti-fluoridation nuts that write idiotic letters to the editor. An example of what they might write:

"The dictionary has this to say about Fluorine: 'A pale-yellow, highly corrosive, poisonous, gaseous halogen element, the most electronegative and most reactive of all the elements.' Do we really need to be putting this poison in our water? I for one don't, and only fools would not see the dangers!"

Of course these kinds of letters ignore the very clear and obvious science in the matter: the fluorine is disolved in water, at extremely low concentrations, and replaces the hydroxide ion in hydroxiapatite in your teeth, creating fluoroapatite, which is stronger and less prone to corrosion.

You could very easily write a letter to the editor using this same logic claiming that people should avoid potassium because in it's pure form your stomach would explode in a fireball!

[politicat]

3. Thank you!

Both as a child of parents who grew up without fluoridation (they grew up on well water) and as someone who has worked with the uninsured before... thank you.

I don't think most people realize just how critical dental health is, and how easy it is to minimize major problems if we just put fluoride in the water.

A good friend of mine now has a 14 inch scar from her collarbone to just below her sternum because she had an abscessed tooth she couldn't afford to get taken care of. Debt versus pericarditis is an easy choice for me.

[NJ_Lib]

4. You know when it's 3am and you start worrying yourself...

... into a frenzy...? My teeth problems are #3 on that rotation... It's incredible how much dental health (or lack of) can effect your life. Acchhh, I don't even want to think about it, let alone discuss it on a public forum. My smile is such a source of shame, I only laugh in public if my hand is covering my mouth. And I'm only in my 30s... I can imagine how much of a problem this is for the elderly folks...

So thank you for talking about this issue because it's that important. It's comforting to know there are people like yourself in this profession. Thanks for being a great Doc to your patients...! :)

[Whoa_Nelly]

5. Healthy teeth and gums are so important to overall health

Spent over $8K on my teeth last year...cleaning, scaling, caps, an infected molar removed and caps...and it was all worth it!

'nuff said.