Here we go again....

So it's been just over 9 years since I had my braces.  I've had no end of trouble with my teeth since then.

Firstly, I had my teeth whitened, which was great (for about 2 weeks as I used to smoke) and I ended up having my gums contoured.

The gum disease I have meant that my gums soon grew back and so I had to have them cut back again, but this time the dentist cut too far back leaving me with gaping holes in between my teeth.

So, next step I went to another dentist and had composite resin applied to hide the gaps but this has made my teeth look wider and every so often I have to have it taken off and reapplied as it stains (this time due to tea as I no longer smoke).

Due to the gum disease, my teeth have moved again. Although this time, because of the retainer holding them together, they've moved forwards, as one, so I have an overbite. And I have two massive gaps - one on each side of my 6 front upper teeth. They're so massive that the last dentist I saw thought I'd had two teeth taken out!  Two other top teeth have moved backwards into my mouth and are so wobbly, they feel like they're going to fall out at any minute.

And then last night, my retainer from 9 years ago started to fall off. I noticed from reading this blog that I already had a problem with a retainer snapping at the time and that the dentist had to put a double strength one on. Well, the retainer is fine but the stuff that holds it on has busted. It's now only held on by three teeth. My teeth are determined to move, aren't they!  I have an emergency appointment at the dentist for 10.45 this morning but the only thing she can do is remove it  completely. So I'll have to fork out a load more money to a. get it removed and then b. to have another one put there in the future by which time I don't know if my teeth will have moved back to where they were originally so I'll have to go through the whole thing again. And still end up with awful looking teeth.

And don't even get me started on the bottom ones. I know they've never had a mention in the blog before but that's mainly because I have always been able to hide them when smiling, but the two at the very front have moved so much and are so wobbly, there's no hiding those babies anymore. Not even going to talk about those ones, I'd be here all day!!

Here's an interesting piece of info. I was seeing a dentist for many years (the one who put the composite resin on my teeth) and he never once mentioned that I should see a hygienist to clean my teeth. So in all those years, my gum disease has steadily been getting worse and worse.

I visited a periodontist in January and she refuses to do anything other than give my teeth a deep cleaning. Which she scheduled for May but then rang me up to re-schedule for August as she's away.

What I really want is for my front teeth to be removed and be done with all this. I've spent thousands of pounds on my teeth over the years and they still look terrible. And now with my retainer hanging off, they're going to look even worse!!

No-one understands how depressing this is for me. Every single person I speak to (apart from hubby) tells me that I don't want false teeth at my age, there's nothing wrong with my teeth, etc. etc.  Well you have them then! Seriously, I've lived with this shit since I was 12 when I had my first brace, when do I finally say enough's enough? Just because I'm not in any physical pain (although I am at the moment, with the retainer constantly digging into my lip), doesn't mean I'm not in any mental or emotional pain.

Right, I'd better go and get ready for the dentist - again...... :(

EDIT:

So I've been to the dentist. She took off the part of my retainer that was hanging off.  So now I have a piece of retainer on one tooth (???!!!), nothing on the next two teeth and retainer on the last three. So the retainer DID snap. Seriously, if a double-strength retainer won't hold (I know it's been 9 years but even so) what chance have I got?!   I have to go back in two weeks and they'll fit a complete new one. Will cost me about £200.  Although I have a suspicion that my teeth won't stay still that long and by the time I go back, I won't be able to have a new one fitted cause my teeth will have moved. Took two months last time, but I have a feeling it's going to be a lot quicker this time around. I'm going to see my ordinary dentist again on 5th June though, so maybe he'll finally realise that we're flogging a dead horse here. Watch this space....