The Young and The Toothless

A blog dedicated to my experience with dentures at a young age.

[denturelife]

It Gets Better

Apologies for the long leave of absence. But since my procedure, the end of July, things have gotten better. 

Never did I believe that I could live a normal life after getting dentures at such a young age. I thought no one could ever love someone my age who has dentures. Not to mention that I am a plus size girl, so that was always another factor dialed against me. I never thought I could eat my favorite foods, get a normal job, or anything of the like. 

But I was Wrong..... 

Since the procedure something amazing happened. Life became more normal. 

I met a wonderful guy and we are dating 

I got a job, my first since graduating college with my Bachelors in may, and it’s in my field! 

I’ve been able to work with horses more and more, a huge passion of mine. 

There are still days that are hard. Since the shrinkage of my gums, my temporary dentures have become too big. I honestly haden’t even noticed until adhesives became less and less effective. I tried all kinds of pastes for the same results. (I looked for the powder but none of the small stores in my area carried it). Finally after developing a sore, I found an adhesive to hold me over until I get into the dentist. 

All in all things have gotten much better. I can eat my favorite foods with ease. I can even eat chips! And whenever i mention my false teeth, i’m told that people couldn’t even tell they were false. 

Keep your chin up! It gets better! 

P.S If you ever have any questions for me feel free to ask! I will be as help to the best of my ability! 

[denturelife]

Will It Ever Get Easy?

I feel like the struggle continues forever. No matter how hard I try my mouth still hurts and aches. My bottoms are too big now, so talking has become more difficult. I can eat without my teeth in and that’s pretty easy as long as i cut the pieces up. But it still hurts to wear my dentures and attempt to chew with them. It’s all so frustrating. It’s been 3 weeks now since I’ve had all my teeth pulled. Will it ever be easy to chew? Will they ever fit properly? 

[denturelife]

Trying

I’ve gotten to the point where I have more good days than bad. I suppose this is a good thing, but I’m still not used to seeing myself with dentures. It’s still a struggle to find myself attractive. I’ve always had rather low self esteem, but I feel like it’s even harder now. I will feel pretty until I see myself with these new teeth. I feel like they’re too bulky for my face and for my mouth. I know they are immediates so they are going to be Bulky, but it’s still hard for me to accept that my mouth will look like this for the rest of my life. Was this the right choice? 

Eating regular food is getting a bit easier now that my gums are healing up a bit better, but it’s still difficult. I’m not starving so much anymore like I was. I was hardly able to eat small meals once a day. Chewing was such a task I would be drained after a few bites. 

Hopefully things continue to get easier. I still feel a bit discouraged. 

One step forward, two steps back

[denturelife]

There Are Good Days, and There Are Bad Days....

Yesterday was a bad day. A very very Bad day. 

One of my cousins graduation parties was yesterday. I felt really confident that I could go. I felt good, I was able to eat breakfast, I was feeling pretty happy. 

All was well until I actually got there and tried eating, and saw all my family. They asked how I was doing and I told them okay, in a lot of pain still but I was managing. They responded with “Oh you’ll be fine“ 

None of those who said this have ever had false teeth, or full upper and lower dentures. And None of them have had their entire mouth full of teeth removed on one day with immediate dentures put in the same day. It’s been a real struggle. 

That was manageable until I tried to eat. There were Hot Dogs, Hamburgers, Salads, etc. The normal variety of things one would see at a outdoor party in the summer. I was determined that I would be able to eat something there. That I would be able to finally feel full for the first time in a week. I was wrong. 

I tried to cut my hot dog into tiny enough pieces for me to chew, but I still had trouble and it caused an immense amount of pain. I got frustrated and shoved my plate away. I sat there for several minutes fighting back tears before asking my mom to go to the bathroom with me. Before leaving for the bathroom several relatives passed me by saying “You’ll be okay” “It’s fine” “It will get better i’m sure” 

This only frustrated me more since I knew none of them could relate. When I left for the bathroom i locked myself and mom in the largest stall and just broke down and cried. I couldn’t eat, I was in pain, everything seemed so miserable. I knew my mom couldn’t help and couldn’t understand the mixture of emotions I have been going through, but she hugged me and told me it was okay, it was okay to cry. I don’t care if it makes me a baby to need my mom still. She is the most caring and kind person I know. I am sensitive and I cry easily.

I returned to the party and felt a bit better. I took my pain medication and tried for the remainder of the party to eat. 3 hours of trying to finish a meal without success. But still I remained optimistic until my mouth got extremely sore to where it was unbearable. And for some reason we still couldn’t leave. So i went into the truck and laid down until we finally left. 

When we returned home I removed the dentures and rinsed them off before putting them back in. That helped quite a bit until I took them out that night and saw the holes in my mouth. I started panicking. Did I really have dry socket in all my teeth? I was trying to hard to live a normal live, or at least try to return to normal that I may have neglected what the dentist told me to a point. I thought I had waited enough time to try a little bit harder things. 

Did the suction from the top dentures remove the clots that had formed? I am still in quite a bit of pain. I was freaking out. I kept the dentures out and laid in bed thinking, as well as looking up signs and symptoms of dry socket, all of which seem to fit me. I can’t call the dentist till tomorrow and I only have 2 pain killers left, though the only thing that helps when my teeth are out is Ibuprofen. 

Hopefully today is better, but once again it seems like there is no hope on the horizon this time. 

[denturelife]

Progress :D

Day 5 of living with dentures. 

Yesterday I went to the county fair, my first time out of the house with dentures not counting the dentist. I had a Great time! I was in a good mood, and I went with my best friend. It really helped. I got Hungry during the fair and was craving a blooming onion. I haven’t eaten anything but Yogurt, Pudding, and small Raviolis since monday, so I’ve been extremely hungry. But I was able to eat quite a bit until my gums started acting up. 

Then today my grandma asked me to go to lunch with her, and feeling brave I agreed. I ordered one of my favorites, cheese fries with ranch, and ate nearly all of it!! That’s more than I’ve eaten in the past week! I feel so accomplished and proud! Living with dentures is starting to feel more normal. I just hope that soon the dentures will feel more natural. I can’t wait for my gums to heal. 

[denturelife]

Day 2

I went to the Dentist for the third time this week for adjustments to my uppers. They have rubbed sores in my gums that make it super painful for me to put the dentures in when I wake up. 

On the plus side I am healing well and my speech is better than most at this stage. I’m trying to stay confident. I’m getting used to seeing these teeth when I look in them mirror. I’m trying to stay confident and I’m going out into public for the first time since the procedure on monday (4 days ago). I’m nervous. The pain in my gums is the most discouraging and the fact that I still can’t chew anything more than Ravioli, which is still a hassle. 

[denturelife]

The Beginning of The End

It was only two days ago that I had every single tooth pulled at the ripe old age of 23. When most people picture a young twenty-something year old they picture a beautiful young person with a beautiful smile. 

That was never the case for me. 

A combination of bad genetics, being on countless medications for illnesses and a more severe form of asthma, and a most unfortunate love of soda left me with very brittle teeth. As far back as I can remember I was constantly having tooth pain, getting infections on the nerve as well as having teeth break on the softest foods. I grew up in a small town in a rather poor family, so it was very rare occasions that I could see a dentist, and usually only in most severe cases. 

At the beginning of the summer of this year (2015) I had a toothache, much like many others that I had experienced in the past, only this time I had Dental Coverage, for the first time in my life. So I went to the dentist expecting the usual Antibiotic and Pain Killer to combat the infection and then would later return to see if they could fix the teeth. Never in my life could I imagine what I would be told next. 

X-Rays revealed that the infection on that tooth had eaten away at my jaw bone so badly that any minor trauma could break my jaw. I had very few options since the infection was spreading to the surrounding teeth. I was then told that because of the frailty of my teeth and the damage that had been done, it was unlikely that the rest could be saved. Trying to save them would leave me in pain for years without a sure chance that they would be fixed. 

My best option was to have every tooth pulled and given full upper and lower dentures. 

Considering I already had rather low self esteem and a poor self image, this was a huge blow. I couldn’t believe it. How many people at the age of 23 lose all their teeth and have dentures? Aren’t Dentures for old people? Would my friends still accept me without any teeth? How on earth could anyone ever love me knowing I had dentures and I wasn’t even 30, not even 25?

These were some of the thoughts that raced through my mind. That day they pulled 5 teeth on the bottom, all molars in the back, but that was the least of my worries. Not soon after hearing the news I spiraled into depression, something I have suffered from my whole life, but it hit me hard. I would cry for no reason, lock myself in my room and smoke all day watching nothing but netflix and trying to forget my worries. This lasted from mid june until my birthday in July. The day before was one of my worse days. I wanted to hurt myself. I needed to get out of the house and be distracted. Luckily one of my friends did just that, as well as gave me a cat to help with my depression and distract me.

Exactly 2 days ago I had all my teeth pulled and was given my immediate dentures. Already I feel so discouraged. The pain is near intolerable since they still don’t fit quite right and I am still healing from the procedure. How on earth do people do this? I thought it would be much easier. 

My hope is to be able to reach out to the countless others who are in my same shoes. Help others feel better about the difficulties of this procedure, and to hopefully gain some friends who have undergone similar procedures. This is only the beginning, but already it feels like the end. 

Never in my life have I ever had white or straight teeth. I keep telling myself that I will have a pretty smile with Dentures. But it’s so hard. I’m still not used to them.