ok so I've always had dental issues.
i got crappy teeth thanks to my family genetics (peridontal disease)

anyway, last year i finally got a dentist.
i had no choice at this point i had an infection the size of a golf ball in my gums/cheek.
he told me that i should get several pulled and some repaired. i was hoping to get them all pulled and deal with it. (im only 25)

well i stupididly listened to him.
he pulled 9 teeth (most of my back teeth)
filled 10, one went bad and had to get a root canal.
Well, let me throw in that each time i went in i had to get numbed up via shot in the gum, and he would only do 2 at a time! so this was over 13 or so 1 hour long visits.

here's where this started to go all wrong!
so one of my back teeth got infected after filling,
this called for a root canal.
my bill was up to $5,000.00 (no insurance)
so he filled it and Never capped it. he said we should wait til my bill was down some.

so.. its been a year.
that root canal was a disaster, the filling part recently fell out, the tooth is cracked in 3 places (this is the only side i can chew on)
my other side the back filling fell out,
my 2 front teeth filling came off and threes barely any tooth left (one fell off tonight)
my top fillings (3 in a row on the side i eat on) its starting to hurt.

we finally got ahold of the dentist and my husband complained quite a bit.
so i should go back soon.
only problem is, i DONT want to go through this again!
i dont know what course of treatment to request.

also i had been doing great on my diet but now i need to go with soft foods.
anyone have some suggestions???
i can deal with every meal and snack except what about dinner???
i cant afford seperate meals so it has to be something easy and such. (we try eating chicken and sometimes ground beef)

anyway, sorry bout the whole story, its just making me crazy.

so, if anyone has any suggestions please let me know.
thanks.

couponmom,

Sorry to hear you are having so many problems. Hopefully, you'll get to a dentist soon & get those issues resolved.

As far as your diet goes, you didn't say what kind you are on, so I'm not sure how helpful my suggestions will be. I would turn as much as possible into soups. If you have a blender, take any food you like & turn it into a pureed soup. When I had some dental work done, I got tired of smoothies quickly & wanted something that tasted like "real food", so I threw some pinto beans, chicken broth, a hunk of ham & some canned tomatoes into the blender & whirred away. Then I just heated up a bowl of the stuff in the microwave when hungry. I would also take a can of any low calorie veggie I liked ( green beans & asparagus were my favorites) & just dump them in the blender liquid & all with spices I liked & pureed, then heated. They tasted pretty good to me when I couldn't chew anything.

Hope you work this all out pretty soon. Good Luck!

I would find another dentist, Is there a dental school anywhere near you? You can get work done much cheaper there.

I'm on low a calorie diet.
i am going to pick up a new blender tomorrow.
so hopefully i can eat without pain for a little bit.

I'm not sure if there is a dental school (could be one though) nearby. ill have to look into it.
the only reason im using this dentist is because i can make small monthly payments i can afford.


my biggest issue is i just hate the pain.
i hate pain pills, they never take all the pain away, so i try to avoid them. (they usually make my stomach hurt anyway)
oragel is a joke, effective for 5 mins with the pain i get.

but anyway, thanks for the advice

I know its been a while since this post, but I am new, and I kinda have a similar problem!

I started losing my teeth when I started having kids...I am now 35 and only have 6 teeth left I do have dentures, but thats a novel in itself explaining that one!

I took desperately need to find something I can eat that is soft, but healthy, and tastes like "real food"....there is nothing worse than looking at food day in and day out that you just cant eat cause there is no way to chew it I tend to end up eating pasta pasta pasta, and I know thats not good. I just dont know what else to make!

As for your pain...over the years I had so many issues (I had the last 12 teeth pulled about a year ago at once)...and pills just didnt cut it anymore, one thing I found that really helped was tea bags.

Brew a cup of tea (just regular Lipton tea)....squeeze out the tea bag, and put it on your gums between your cheek and gum, on the teeth that hurt. (let it cool so it doesnt hurt, but warm is good)....the tannins in the tea are antinflamiotry, and also numbing....and its a cheap and easy way to ease some of the pain.

Hope in the last few months though you have been able to go back and get them fixed!!