Speaking of Trips to the Dentist

I hate bringing up another topic about Dentistry, but for the past week or so have been dealing with an infection in my upper left eye tooth. My dentist gave me a prescription for anti-biotics and started to set me up with a root canal.

My teeth have been going severely downhill for the last couple of years. The last root canal and crown I had done on a back molar only lasted about 6 months before cracking in half and was pulled. Just a bit over a year ago, I had the entire lower right set of back teeth molars (that were a bridge) extracted due to a severe infection.

All of my upper right chewing molars (2 of them) need to be root canaled and capped due to the grinding in my sleep punishment I gave them struggling with that lower bridge that was removed. Now there is nothing for them to do anyway without the lower teeth.

Anyway, after some very intense soul searching, I have decided it is time for me to become a member of the denture wearers club. Going to have all of the 12 remaining upper teeth pulled and fitted for an upper plate and have the dentist patch up what is left of my lower teeth so hopefully will get a bit more chewing power than what I have been living with. She wanted me to get a partial plate for my lower right side, but I opted to wait on those. I have heard a lot of 1st hand bad experiences with partials from family and friends.

I know around here the costs of dental work is very high, but pretty sure it is high all over. Just for doing all of the upper work is estimated at 10 grand. The lower fixing hasn't been estimated yet. Had I have tried to save what I have, those figures for the top would have been close to double!!

I'd like to hear from any members who wear dentures about how you are faring and any advise you may have would be much appreciated! Sorry for the long post. Joel