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Wow, this is such a useful forum I found today by chance.
Okay, I am almost 25, and had great teeth until I was about 17/18. I had braces, retainers, and two cavities and then I got my wisdom teeth (only had three; two tops and a bottom) out almost exactly 7 years ago. That was unpleasant, as that's how I found out I am allergic to most prescription pain killers. Anyway, it's at this time, that my teeth problems began. The wisdom teeth incident was also the last time I saw any sort of dental expert.
For the first week of healing, I could not open my mouth wide enough to brush my teeth. For a month, I couldn't open my mouth entirely. After that month, I had a buildup of permanent grime on my front teeth. A while after that (6 months to a year), my molars that happened to be next to where I would have had wisdom teeth slowly started deteriorating painlessly. When I was 19, I chipped one of my front upper teeth, which was fine, but slowly, more and more pieces have been chipping off (still painlessly). And now, for the last week, my bottom right, 12 year molar has been agonizing me. It's gotten to the point where underneath my jaw is very tender, my ear aches, and forget about eating on that side of my mouth. Now, I have not had any dental coverage since I turned 18. I finally broke down today (after I spent two hours crying from pain) and called my old dentist to get in there tomorrow morning to deal with what I assume will be a nasty root canal. This will cost me at least $1100.
Now, I want to get my mouth back to better health (I hate being so self conscious about smiling and laughing). However, I cannot afford it, as I am a poor college student who somehow manages to live off of a $700 a month income. I noticed that you recommend getting work done at a dental college. I happen to live relatively close to Tufts University (and from what I hear, they have a great dental school). I was just wondering, exactly what is the price difference between my overpriced dentist and say getting it done by students? I have never liked going to the dentist; I fear mouth pain and the sound of drills. In fact, I adored my orthodontist as a child, but I never came to like the dentist. I assume the price I was quoted is just for the root canal and does not take into account the crown that I will need. I simply cannot afford to pay thousands of dollars, but I am willing, despite my fears, to get the damage to my once pristine teeth fixed. I want them cleaned, the top 12 year molars fixed, the chip fixed and whatever else is having issues fixed. But right now, I need this one tooth immediately fixed (I kept hoping and hoping the pain would go away, but I can't sleep at night anymore, and I am sick of the ridiculous amounts of ibuprofen I have ingested over the last week). Also, is it just coincidence that the deteriorating molars are next to where I had my wisdom teeth removed? I had them taken out long before they neared the surface (so as not to ruin the thousands spent on orthodontics), but I just think it's quite odd that these are my major problem teeth. Perhaps I inadvertently neglected them, feigning sensitivity, despite the fact the sockets had healed. Also, I should point out that I am a smoker and a coffee drinker. I do not drink soda, and I dring 6-8 glasses of tap water daily for the flouride. I brush my teeth at least once a day, but most days I brush twice. I try to floss often, but I'd be lying if I said I did it daily. Also, since I am such a wus about pain, is there anyway to be knocked out and have everything else fixed in one clean sweep? Any advice/comments are very much welcome, and thank you so much for taking the time to answer all of these questions.
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