It wasn't out of laziness or anxiety that I hadn't seen a dentist. For the first few years I was too busy fighting for my life. The last time I'd seen a dentist was 4 years ago for a brief set of x-rays, but no work was done on the cavities because there were too many life-threatening things going on.
I knew my teeth were getting worse, and I fought hard for them. Problem is, I'm intolerant to any vitamin D supplementation or D-rich foods, which are pretty essential for teeth. I tried every which way I knew how, and watched as new cavities formed and existing ones grew deeper. The large ones would generally occur overnight - I'd wake up the next morning and what had appeared quite small was suddenly massive. Large, gaping holes that packed with food whenever I ate, causing screaming pain.
I did the best I could.
I knew I had all the symptoms of abscess. My jaw would swell up from time to time. My adenoid closest to one abscessed area would swell intensely every time I managed to get drainage going. The pressure on my sinuses was so extreme that I'd have to get myself upright and do a bunch of stuff to bring that swelling down. I had 48 hours at a time where I could not take the heating pad off my jaw for a second else the pain would become too severe. I had nights where I whimpered for hours under the excruciating pain.
And it all steadily worsened. Months went by, then a year. I was trying to get in to the dentist, but structural issues were interfering with being able to open my mouth all the way for work to happen. I knew a good MCS dentist, but the cost was prohibitive.
With all the structural work, I learned the importance of letting things drain, and whenever my teeth flared up I worked so hard on them. I couldn't get them to drain properly if I had too much stress going on, and anything sweet was a killer even if it didn't even touch my teeth. I used certain syringes to flush out the holes when floss could no longer reach. I learned that oregano oil and other antibacterial herbs and tinctures help. I learned to have a heating pad with me at all times.
And then the extreme pain began to subside, in fact, I began to lose all feeling in them. My goal with working on my teeth became to restore pain. Pain was good - it meant the nerve was still alive. Barely. I knew I was losing the battle.
When I finally made it to the dentist last week, it was one of the best experiences of my life.
As it turns out, despite my teeth being abcessed for so long, the abscesses are extremely small. At first both the dentist and I assumed the teeth would have to be pulled (we both agreed root canal wasn't a good idea in my case). After studying the x-rays of my roots, though, he thinks we've got a shot at saving them! I was pretty amazed, especially as it's obvious on one x-ray that over 1/3 of my tooth is entirely gone from the cavity, which has reached the nerve.
All this work that I've been doing has paid off with having a shot at saving them. Once the cavities are addressed, the tooth root will no longer be continuously re-infected, and then we'll see if my body can fight it off an heal it. He says my young age helps, and I think what also helps is my intensive focus on my healing path right now. I will, and have, cut off relationships solely to save my teeth, because I absolutely must have a healing environment. And this is validation that my efforts were not in vain, and that the long haul is almost over.
I'm also crazy excited about how much my health will improve with the abscesses addressed! I've been improving regardless, but having infection constantly fed into your bloodstream can't be a good thing. Every time I focus on draining my teeth I get pretty fatigued and general "sick" feeling (as in, flu sick).
Who knows just how much this might slingshot my health forward?? Not to mention improving my quality of life. *happy sigh*
I knew my teeth were getting worse, and I fought hard for them. Problem is, I'm intolerant to any vitamin D supplementation or D-rich foods, which are pretty essential for teeth. I tried every which way I knew how, and watched as new cavities formed and existing ones grew deeper. The large ones would generally occur overnight - I'd wake up the next morning and what had appeared quite small was suddenly massive. Large, gaping holes that packed with food whenever I ate, causing screaming pain.
I did the best I could.
I knew I had all the symptoms of abscess. My jaw would swell up from time to time. My adenoid closest to one abscessed area would swell intensely every time I managed to get drainage going. The pressure on my sinuses was so extreme that I'd have to get myself upright and do a bunch of stuff to bring that swelling down. I had 48 hours at a time where I could not take the heating pad off my jaw for a second else the pain would become too severe. I had nights where I whimpered for hours under the excruciating pain.
And it all steadily worsened. Months went by, then a year. I was trying to get in to the dentist, but structural issues were interfering with being able to open my mouth all the way for work to happen. I knew a good MCS dentist, but the cost was prohibitive.
With all the structural work, I learned the importance of letting things drain, and whenever my teeth flared up I worked so hard on them. I couldn't get them to drain properly if I had too much stress going on, and anything sweet was a killer even if it didn't even touch my teeth. I used certain syringes to flush out the holes when floss could no longer reach. I learned that oregano oil and other antibacterial herbs and tinctures help. I learned to have a heating pad with me at all times.
And then the extreme pain began to subside, in fact, I began to lose all feeling in them. My goal with working on my teeth became to restore pain. Pain was good - it meant the nerve was still alive. Barely. I knew I was losing the battle.
When I finally made it to the dentist last week, it was one of the best experiences of my life.
As it turns out, despite my teeth being abcessed for so long, the abscesses are extremely small. At first both the dentist and I assumed the teeth would have to be pulled (we both agreed root canal wasn't a good idea in my case). After studying the x-rays of my roots, though, he thinks we've got a shot at saving them! I was pretty amazed, especially as it's obvious on one x-ray that over 1/3 of my tooth is entirely gone from the cavity, which has reached the nerve.
All this work that I've been doing has paid off with having a shot at saving them. Once the cavities are addressed, the tooth root will no longer be continuously re-infected, and then we'll see if my body can fight it off an heal it. He says my young age helps, and I think what also helps is my intensive focus on my healing path right now. I will, and have, cut off relationships solely to save my teeth, because I absolutely must have a healing environment. And this is validation that my efforts were not in vain, and that the long haul is almost over.
I'm also crazy excited about how much my health will improve with the abscesses addressed! I've been improving regardless, but having infection constantly fed into your bloodstream can't be a good thing. Every time I focus on draining my teeth I get pretty fatigued and general "sick" feeling (as in, flu sick).
Who knows just how much this might slingshot my health forward?? Not to mention improving my quality of life. *happy sigh*
