KWR: Dental Issues and Bad Luck

Ugh I'm sorry you're having such a rough week! Is there ANY way they can leave the tooth until after the wedding? If the risk of the infection spreading is high then I don't know if it's worth it, and they're probably right about it not being visible, but maybe it would give you one less thing to worry about at least until after the wedding?

ETA: Spelling is hard.

I am sorry! I work in a dental office and I totally feel your pain. See if they could pull the tooth and then just make you a temporary flipper for the wedding? Then you could focus on getting a bridge or implant after the wedding when you save more money. Your insurance will renew in 2017, so will they cover anything at the new year? You can have them pull it now and get the bridge before the wedding in 2017 when your insurance is not longer maxed out. At least it isn't an anterior tooth!

@Jenny, thank you!

@Kennedy, my dentist pointed out that it is at high risk to abscess right now. He doesn't want to let it go too much longer.

@Laine, I'm going to ask what the cost of a temporary bridge would be. The billing lady was out of the office when I was there. When my insurance kicks in next year, the actual bridge will be...more reasonable than out of pocket. Not cheap, but more reasonable!

That's a good idea! One of our good friends has a fake tooth as one of his front teeth and he broke it and has a temporary one put in, and he left it in for like a month or two and I couldn't tell the difference!

I'm so sorry!! I know the feeling! I have a tooth issue myself. LUCKILY my grandpa will pay to have mine replaced because I can't afford it. THANK YOU LORD. Oh boy can I relate to the weight, I'm trying to lose weight but this stress from the wedding and school is making food so much more appealing lol oh good luck to me.

I had a tooth in the top back pulled three months ago. Since it's in the back no one notices. I don't miss it.

I will say it being pulled was not as bad as I thought it would be. It went pretty quickly. I felt pressure but not pain. It felt like they were pushing something against my tooth and then it was out.

@Fall Bride, implants are wayyyy more expensive than a bridge (at least, from what my dentist told me). And it might not be possible for me because I have bone erosion around that tooth. The extraction will only be $75 out of pocket, which is doable right now.

@C2b, I bought my dress over a year ago. The holidays killed me, the studio that I worked out at temporarily closed (not that it's an acceptable excuse), then stress and a job change took over. I tried every kind of shapewear that I could find, but nothing sucked me in enough. Its just a bummer to "waste" that kind of money, between the dress and the alterations I did have done to it.

Ugh dental problems suck!

Forgive me I'm going to tell a long story here, but I think it will make you feel better about your problem....When my FH was younger, he was a bouncer at a bar. He broke up a fight one night and got hit in the face with a metal pipe and lost/broke a bunch of his front teeth. He went to a really shady dentist who did a crap job of fixing him up (she filed down his broken teeth to put crowns on them, but she filed them too much so the crowns keep falling out and the ones that stayed in are not the quality they are supposed to be so they allow bacteria in and the teeth underneath are basically decaying). Fast forward to 10 years later and basically he needs most of his teeth removed and implants put in in order to permanently fix the problem. He also needs the low-quality crown replaced in order to save what teeth he does have underneath. All in all, this will cost us about $30,000 dollars (basically the cost of our wedding) - none but the crown replacement and actual removal of the teeth will be covered by insurance (and even then we have a $1500 yearly maximum once he's on my insurance). And of course we found out about all this while we were trying to pay for the wedding ourselves - luckily my dad stepped in and offered to pay for like 90% of the wedding, otherwise we would have had to postpone.

I tell this long story to hopefully give you some perspective. At least you're only losing a back tooth that no one will notice if you can't do the bridge right away. And you do want to remove it sooner than later - FH also had an abscessed tooth a while back and even with antibiotics, that infection can spread to other teeth and then you'll have a bigger problem, plus the infection can be painful.

Chin up! Focus on the good, not the bad. You're getting married in nearly a month! Be excited for that and let the rest work itself out!

@Caitlin, its not really the actual extraction that scares me. Its knowing that I don't have a tooth that freaks me out. And I'm afraid that my teeth will "migrate" since there's a hole there. My parents paid A LOT of money for braces (two times!) when I was growing up.

@Emily, thank you for the perspective! I hope that all is well with your FH's dental ordeal!

Okay, got it. It does feel really weird having an empty space there at first. I'm usdx to it by now.

Also. I have/had infected teeth. I can't tell you the number of antibiotics, medicated mouth washes, and pain killers I've had to take. The pharmacist knows me now.

I know it's not ideal but definitely get it removed now. It can always be replaced later. I wish I hadn't put my dental work off for so long.

I'm sorry you're going through all that. I just wanted to suggest an implant instead of a bridge, I know it's a little more money but a bridge is subtraction dentistry. You're going g to file down two good teeth just to get a bridge to fill in the missing tooth, if something goes wrong with one of those two teeth you'll lose that bridge. Implants are the way to go and are lasting people a lifetime. Good luck

Your tooth behind the extracted tooth will move forward in time but you have time. Get the tooth extracted, ask for a bone graft to preserve your bone so you don't lose it and you'll get a good result with the bridge or implant which ever way you go. Get married and take care of replacing it afterwards. Whatever you do DO NOT WAIT to address it oral infection is no joke. Again best of luck to you.

I would listen to them and get it removed, the last thing you want is a swollen abscessed tooth at your wedding. It might take a week or so for the swelling to go down so I would try and get it done asap.

Ugh, I'm sorry you had such a bad week! I'm sorry about your tooth! My bottom teeth and top teeth moved after a couple years of having braces, and I went through a teledentistry to get invisaligners, and my insurance didn't cover the cost but it was pretty reasonable. It took 2.5 months for the aligners to finally arrive too! It sounds like you will def need to get the tooth removed - don't wait! I wish I would have gotten aligners a couple years ago.

ETA: I've had 4 permanent teeth removed and all 4 of my wisdom teeth removed. You won't even feel it! My teeth bled some afterward and they gave me painkillers too but that's it.

You see these teeth on your left? They are all implants. I had a very bad accident in my 20's and it did a number on my face and my teeth.

The money part sucks, but you'll get it taken out, you'll get an implant with a crown and all will be right with the world. If you need a terrific dentist in NJ, I have one, but don't be scared. The pain will be minimal, you probably won't need a bone graft if the rest of your mouth is in good shape.

But don't put it off!!

I'm also team-immediate-removal and team-implant. I had all four wisdom teeth pulled by a shady AF dentist when A- I didn't need it done and B- didn't have enough coverage for sedation. So he used a local anesthetic. It was as awful as it sounds. If I can get through that, you got this, girl.