Gum Disease

6040 Views 10 Replies 6 Participants Last post by breezeonby, Sep 12, 2010

barrie71

Discussion Starter · Aug 11, 2010

Hi, I have been a diabetic for 22 years, I am now only 38 years old and have a few serious complications. I have heart disease, Angina and Bad gum disease. I have now been told I have to have all my teeth removed and have dentures fitted as My control is up above 20 on average. I am petrified and scared, Has anyone else been through this process if so I would LOVE to hear from you please

thanks

barrie

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Shanny

· #2 · Aug 11, 2010

Hello Barrie, and welcome. It must be daunting to think of replacing your teeth with dentures, and while I have no experience with it, you have my sympathy & support.

Thank you for joining us - do visit often.

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breezeonby

· #3 · Aug 11, 2010

barrie71 said:
Hi, I have been a diabetic for 22 years, I am now only 38 years old and have a few serious complications. I have heart disease, Angina and Bad gum disease. I have now been told I have to have all my teeth removed and have dentures fitted as My control is up above 20 on average. I am petrified and scared, Has anyone else been through this process if so I would LOVE to hear from you please

thanks

barrie

Hi barrie and welcome to the forum! I had to have my bottom teeth removed when I was 17. I had my top teeth removed 8 years later. Getting your teeth removed shouldn't cause many problems. The healing process takes some time. It will take time getting used to the dentures being in your mouth. The hardest part for me was learning to talk normally. Gum disease can be very dangerous to your health, so it is best to do what you need to do to get rid of it. Good luck!

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Dr. Maritza Dominguez

· #4 · Aug 15, 2010

barrie71 said:
Hi, I have been a diabetic for 22 years, I am now only 38 years old and have a few serious complications. I have heart disease, Angina and Bad gum disease. I have now been told I have to have all my teeth removed and have dentures fitted as My control is up above 20 on average. I am petrified and scared, Has anyone else been through this process if so I would LOVE to hear from you please

thanks

barrie

Hi barrie,

My name is Dr. Maritza Dominguez, I am a dentist who treats diabetics and I am also a pre-diabetic. I see many patients with diabetes that come to me for a second opinion and that have been told exactly what you have been told.

Gum disease, depending on how severe it is can be treated and sometimes the teeth after treatment can be saved. This can be done in many ways. Unfortunatley, I can't give you specifics because all patients are different but I have done this many times.

Please I urge you to get a second opinion.

Once all the teeth are out you can't put them back.

Patients with diabetes have to be treated totally different than patients without. This is what I love about doing my work.

To me Diabetics are special in that they want to do everything they can to improve their quality of life and that is why I love to treat them. Especially when it comes to compliance.
Compliance as a dentist is one of the most difficult issues to deal with.
Once I finish their gum treatment and they experience how different their mouth feels they become empowered to continue with keeping up with their check-ups and most important their Oral Health.

I could speak about this forever you probably noticed with my post.

Please don't loose hope and don't be discouraged. I am in NJ and I give all new patients a free consultation. Wishing lots of luck and GodBless!

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Adjitater

· #5 · Sep 6, 2010

True enough that once your teeth are out you can't put them back. On the other hand once they are gone the problems you have had are gone and won't be either.

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Dr. Maritza Dominguez

· #6 · Sep 11, 2010

Adjitater said:
True enough that once your teeth are out you can't put them back. On the other hand once they are gone the problems you have had are gone and won't be either.

I understand your logic but what happens if you cant get use to a denture and you are unable to chew your food correctly?

Then you tend to go for softer more fatty foods which are worse and can cause more problems. Therefore, If you do have teeth that are bad and you have gum disease that can't be resolved then by all means remove the infection. But be proactive and visit your dentist every 3 months to have check-ups and catch any problem early before it gets to a serious state.

The problem is that gum disease does not hurt so once it does its usually to late.

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breezeonby

· #7 · Sep 12, 2010

Dr. Maritza Dominguez said:
I understand your logic but what happens if you cant get use to a denture and you are unable to chew your food correctly?

Then you tend to go for softer more fatty foods which are worse and can cause more problems. Therefore, If you do have teeth that are bad and you have gum disease that can't be resolved then by all means remove the infection. But be proactive and visit your dentist every 3 months to have check-ups and catch any problem early before it gets to a serious state.

The problem is that gum disease does not hurt so once it does its usually to late.

Sometimes one has no choice but to have their teeth removed and dentures put in place. You learn to talk and chew all over again. I spent a good 10 years trying to save teeth that were not worth saving. I had terrible gum disease that didn't respond to treatment so much time and expense was wasted. I don't miss my teeth because I lived on pain medication for several years while trying to save teeth and couldn't chew properly with them for fear they would all fall out. By all means try and keep your teeth if they can be saved but there are times when dentures become necessary. One thing I did not know is that you still need to visit a dentist once a year even if you have dentures. There are many low cost dental clinics that will check your gums and tongue for a low fee and it is worth the peace of mind.

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cathyy

· #8 · Sep 12, 2010

My sister recently got full dentures, non-diabetes related. She got used to the dentures right away and is very happy with them. There was a problem with the removal of the teeth; she had them ALL done at one go and nearly bled to death slowly over the weekend. We finally convinced he that she should not still be bleeding, so she called the dentist who saw her within the hour and stopped the bleeding.

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breezeonby

· #9 · Sep 12, 2010

cathyy said:
My sister recently got full dentures, non-diabetes related. She got used to the dentures right away and is very happy with them. There was a problem with the removal of the teeth; she had them ALL done at one go and nearly bled to death slowly over the weekend. We finally convinced he that she should not still be bleeding, so she called the dentist who saw her within the hour and stopped the bleeding.

Gosh, that sounds scary! Usually, the removal of the teeth is the worst part and severe post-op bleeding is not common-glad you got your sister to the dentist and got the bleeding stopped.

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Dr. Maritza Dominguez

· #10 · Sep 12, 2010

So glad that your sister was OK but she is usually the exception to the rule.
I have a patient which gags and cant wear a full denture so what do you do then?

Well, she is going to need some implants in order to make her a partial denture not covering her palate.

I usually do not extract all teeth at one time because of the same situation your sister had. Its to traumatic for the patient.

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breezeonby

· #11 · Sep 12, 2010

Dr. Maritza Dominguez said:
So glad that your sister was OK but she is usually the exception to the rule.
I have a patient which gags and cant wear a full denture so what do you do then?

Well, she is going to need some implants in order to make her a partial denture not covering her palate.

I usually do not extract all teeth at one time because of the same situation your sister had. Its to traumatic for the patient.

Dr. Dominguez-you seem to be against dentures. I am 50 and have had a lower denture since I was 17 and I had my upper denture since I was 25 or 26. The only real problem that I have is that I have lost so much of the bone ridge. I will need to have some dental implants in the future. Dentures are not the end of the world.

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