Would a dentist have any ethical problems about removing all my teeth if there isn’t a medical necessity for it? I really hate going to the dentist. It makes me physically ill. I just feel if I take out all my teeth and get dentures.
Stacey A. – Little Rock, AR
Stacey,
It sounds like you have a pretty severe case of dental anxiety. I know the idea of not having to deal with teeth sounds appealing to you, but I can assure you that it will bring with it a whole other set of problems that are significantly worse than what you’re experiencing currently. Many patients are absolutely miserable with dentures. Even the best fitting denture appliances cut your chewing efficiency in half. Plus, the dentures move around. Your food gets under them and they even slip out, sometimes in public. Yet, all that isn’t the worst part. Once your teeth are removed, your body begins to reabsorb the minerals in your jawbone. Eventually that leads to what is known as facial collapse. As that happens, your dentures fit less and less and it becomes almost impossible to keep them in. When they are in, you’ve got sores from them moving around so much and are in almost constant pain. I’m not sure you’ll find it worth it.
Fortunately, there is a solution. It sounded to me, from your question, that you’ve had a traumatic, painful dental appointment— maybe even more than one. What you need is to be able to experience the dentist without pain. With sedation dentistry, you can get your entire appointment done without feeling a thing. Not every dentist is a sedation dentist, and each sedation dentist is different in what levels of sedation they do. You would need to have oral conscious sedation or I.V. sedation in order to have a pain free appointment.
This blog is brought to you by Seattle Cosmetic Dentist Dr. Brian McKay.
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