not happy with my dentist

So, today I went to the dentist for some impressions of my teeth for a new night guard as the other one is getting chewed up, literally. They also took impressions for my partial denture, or prosthetic, or "cast partial free end". Whatever, fake teeth to replace the ones I have ground out.

That gets all done. Then! The dentist starts to tell me about my new "partial". It will put stress on the remaining teeth, especially the ones at the ends. 

What?! You told me way back that it would help anchor those, and all my, teeth. 

Oh, I never said that. (He did.) 

Well, it would have been nice to know that back then.

Well, that's why we're having this conversation now.

(Now?!) He was getting pretty snotty with me at this point too. I actually considered walking out. I was pretty pissed about this being sprung on me after all the crap and pain I went through. Not to mention the run-a-round the wife's new insurance plan is giving us. I kept my cool as best as possible and decided to carry on for now and stayed in the chair.

I am thinking that if the conversation was had properly all those months ago, I would either have pressed to pull all my upper teeth for a full denture, which he did refuse to do at the time. Or I would have just had the one seriously messed up tooth pulled and the other one left in and moved on. 

Regardless, I would have done further research back then. He tells me to check out the Ontario Dental Association website for more information and the American Dental Association as well. You see, he had no information pamphlets for partials, just for a full denture plate. Well, I could find no information on either site. They are pretty crappy actually. I even checked the Canadian Dental Association site. That one is even worse! For as cutting edge as I tend to find dentists now-a-days, their umbrella organisations appear to be bogged by bureaucracy and putting on a smiley face.

There is a ton of info here on how to make them. Try finding information on the stresses it may cause to existing teeth. It is like pulling teeth. (Ha, ha. Get it?) This guy is not too bad, but still? I need the information! (Hey! I figured out how to link to a specific timeframe in a Youtube video. Yay!!)

Well, here was some information about stresses. Blah, blah, blah?? Then I found this:

“Many people are not aware of the effect that partial dentures can have on existing teeth.....Partial denture wearers are almost twice as likely to lose the teeth next to their partial denture, compared to the rest of their remaining teeth. It’s important to be educated about how to properly care for your partial denture to help protect your remaining teeth.”

Okay, something concrete mentioned. I have combed through a bunch of sites and most just talk about different options for replacement and how to keep dentures clean. I know all that already and apparently, according to more than one dental type guy I have already consulted, a partial would currently be the only successful way to go. 

It just rankles me that I am told that I will continue to stress the teeth I am trying to save and may actually hasten their failure with a partial. Some interesting gobbledygook here. Again, it does not help me decide what I should do though!?! For frick's sake!!!

I am going to try to get an opinion from the wife's dentist. The wife considers her capable and smart. Good enough for me for another view. However, it is looking like I am going to take my chances without the dentures now. Hey, I have adapted to living without those teeth. (My teeth are my own private Marine Corps: improvise, adapt, overcome.) I can save the $1700 for when more teeth turn on me or when some day I need a full upper.

I just remembered. My mother lost all her teeth by the time she was twenty-five. So, I am not doing so bad. I still have about two thirds of my teeth and almost double her age. Maybe I will spin the wheel of life here and let it happen all organically. I will know in a day or two what I am going to do. With that, and the status of my relationship with my dentist. (He really pissed me off today and as I have mentioned before: I am a bridge burner, I have no problem with cutting off and walking away.) Now, I have to kick in some figurative teeth in for some other matter. blbbl