Denture Saga – 10 Tips

I had planned on giving the last 9 tips out of 10 in this post, but it is seeming this is not going to go away that easily and as per is my life, a saga ensues.

Really! I do not bring this on myself! I would stop if I could figure out what I am doing to cause this in my life. I admit when I make poor choices and I will take the blame for a lot of the shit that has happened in my life, but honest to God things like them dislocating my ribs when they attempted to put the defibrillator in, and me being in agony for most of last year; or the doctor quadrupling my heart medication, not following up and almost killing me and me having to figure it out on my own and the 4 year saga of trying to get Disability from welfare…… well I just don’t know how I can be to blame for that stuff.

Oh I know, does someone have to be to blame? Can’t I get over it and move on, harboring resentment isn’t going to fix anything. There are some things that are just are not right and a person does get to the breaking point and I guess my breaking point is being forced to face the world with no teeth. I knew I would be mortified if I had to go through life with rotten teeth, I knew how it was affecting my self confidence to have rotten teeth but even I did not know how devastated I would be to have no teeth.

Try to get angry and demand for the denturist to make things right when you don’t have teeth and can’t talk clearly, lisping every word, feeling so very vulnerable, and she refuses to admit she has made an error. I guess I should step back and explain what has happened so far.

I had to wait a week to get my dentures because my gums had to heal now that they couldn’t put the denture in immediately. The woman who was made my dentures wasn’t working that day but her assistant was there and she pushed my teeth onto my gums and I almost went through the roof!! The denture was too tall and when she pushed it up it hit that flesh at the top of your gum right in the front of your mouth. That is such a sensitive area!

I told her and she removed them, filed some off and tried again and AGAIN I went through the roof! 6-8 times she tried! I started putting them in myself but of course after that many times I was so sensitive it was impossible to know what was hurting. She was in filing them down again when my denturist arrive and I sighed with relief, now someone who knows what they are doing will help me! The assistant was saying I was too sensitive, I explained best I could what had been happening and I was basically ignored. The dentures hurt every where and were too big for my mouth, I couldn’t even close my lips over the teeth and I told the denturist they were too big. They went too far back in my mouth, they were too wide, too tall, in every way they were too big. She kept putting more filler in them so them would fit on my gums. Now, my gums are supposedly swollen and going to shrink, right? so if she has to put a bunch of filler in them NOW, when my gums shrink the dentures are going to be even bigger. I tried to tell her that but she said, “This is not the first dentures I have done. I know what I am talking about” and she refused to make any more adjustments. I couldn’t talk, couldn’t breath, and she said I just had to get used to them, my mouth would adjust. With tears brimming I told her I can’t wear them like this and she said, “Well then don’t wear them. I really don’t care” and she took off her rubber gloves.

I told her again they were too big and mentioned I had worn partials for years and she interrupted me and said dentures are totally different than partials and I just had to get used to these dentures. In 6 months she could make me dentures as small as I wanted but not before then. And I was dismissed.

I called my mom in tears. She said to go the next day and just tell the woman they were too big. I took Stella for a walk and cut it short so I could get home and take them out.

I had almost thrown my partials out earlier that week because they were useless to me now but for some reason decided to keep them, so I dug them out and compared them to the denture.

This is the picture of the partial totally inside the lower dentur

It’s hard from this angle but you can see the single front tooth of the partial is smaller than the front teeth of the denture

 

The partial fit inside the denture, as you can see from the pictures I had one front tooth on the partial and that is my saving grace. Most people would not have a leg to stand on because they pull your teeth and have no way of proving the teeth in the denture are bigger. But I had my partial plate! that phony tooth was the exact size of my real teeth (and I have photos to prove it). I wrote out exactly what I wanted to say because it is so hard for me to talk without teeth and I didn’t want to cry, which I feared I would if I had to speak.

The next day I went for my appointment with my partials and dentures in hand. She did not read my notes, did not look at the partials and again said I just had to get used to the dentures. I walked out after 5 minutes of her ignoring me and saying, “Don’t wear them, I don’t care.”, leaving my dentures behind.

My mom said she would come with me and to make an appointment for Thursday. We had to drive to their Abbotsford office this time. When we got there the denturist talked to my mother like I wasn’t even there. “She just walked out. She has to let me help her.” and my mom said, “Carrie is right here, you don’t have to talk like she isn’t.” She proceeded to lie to my mother, saying she had offered to fit them, but I just walked out and I said, “You are lying.” Well! she didn’t like that! Can we say narcissist? Don’t ever challenge them or even hint that they may have made a mistake. She insisted she wasn’t lying and I said then I had better start taping my appointments. Then she called in another fellow who works there as her back up and said I called her a liar. If it walks like a duck.

The fellow agreed with her that I had to get used to the dentures. They put them in my mouth and said they looked great and my mom said, “You can’t be serious! they look like horse teeth!” But you see the guy has never seen me before. Then I remembered the partial and showed it to them, it was obvious there was a big difference in size. She pushed my hand aside and he said, “Wait, let me see that.”

Interestingly enough, in her attempts to justify what she had done she admitted that she had made the teeth bigger because the way my teeth were was not “cosmetically appealing”. When I went in for my fitting she had said that I would have gums showing when I smiled and I said that was ok, I had always had my gum show. So, apparently, when she changed the size of the front teeth the machine automatically adjusts the size of all the other teeth. The fellow made many adjustments and it did help but I still looked like I had horse teeth and they were still too big. They shortened them up so they didn’t go as far back and adjusted the depth but there is nothing they can do about the size of the teeth. What right did she have to make that kind of decision? and how many other people has she forced into wearing dentures that didn’t fit? or look right? I am so angry.

Long story short, the woman dismissed us and said she was not wasting any more of her time with us. She refused to discuss anything. I walked out and my mom asked to speak to the guy who followed her out of the office. The waiting room was full so everyone got an earful I am sure.

When I got home I physically measured the teeth and every single tooth in the denture is 1/32nd of an inch longer and 2/32nds wider. 2/32 nds may not sound like very much but when it is in your mouth that ends up being 7/8 of an inch more teeth in my mouth.

So now my mom and I will be going back on Tuesday to get them to redo the dentures.

So Tip #2 is to get your teeth from the dentist when he pulls them or if you have a partial, save it until you are sure your dentures are the right size. I am sure eventually I will get dentures that fit but it sure is depressing until I do. My life is on hold until I get teeth. I could have gotten some side work and turned it down because I don’t want people to see me without teeth. I can’t go applying for jobs with no teeth.