My teefers hurt. (chelsea_b)

Chelsea - I'm telling you this as a former dental asst and a friend - go and at least get a check-up. You can always walk away and choose to do nothing, but you may be surprised at how willing they are to work with you. We bent over backwards to help people with treatment plans that worked with their budgets, their time constraints, etc. They're in the business to do that and fully understand people in your situation. Honestly, no one will criticize you (if they do - walk away) and if it takes working on one tooth every 6 months, you'll still be taking control of this. Tooth decay won't get better and when it gets worse, you will be in serious pain. If you already know of a good dentist, give them a call. If you don't, ask everyone you know and when you hear one of them rave, give that one a call.

Talk to everyone, find someone who's willing to work with you.  I have dental now through work, but my family never ever had any form of dental insurance.  Our dentist is a friend of my uncle.  He lets us pay what we can, when we can even though there's a sign in the office that says you have to pay after the visit.  There's always a thousand or so owed on our account.  He also uses cheaper materials when he can or gives us breaks here and there.  He pulled my wisdom teeth because I could not afford oral surgery.  One of them was the most embedded tooth he has every dealt with.  Most people think you HAVE to have surgery for that type of thing, but it's not true at all.  I have poor teeth as well.  I had sealants put in my molars when I was little, but they wear out after a while.  Because I have such deep teeth, "soft" teeth (very little fluoride even though our city was the first in the world to fluoridate water), and teeth that touch/overlap, I get tons of cavities no matter what I do.  I had several molars my pediatric dentist insisted had to have root canals and crowns.  The regular dentist said that would be a rip off.  He was able to fill them and rebuild them.  It takes some skill, my mom calls him "an artist".  We were lucky to find him.  He sent us cards on our birthdays, graduation money, and called me after my wisdom teeth to make sure I was OK. Like others have said, the decay is not going to stop or go away.  Trust me, I know how it feels.  My brother broke his arm and my sister needed her appendix out so no one went to the dentist for about 5 years.  I can't remember how many teeth my dentist had to work on, but I finally got caught up after two of my molars fell apart, I spit them out in pieces.  You just have to find someone that understands you can't be expected to pay for it all at once.  As long as we make an effort and just pay something each month, he let us come back and add to the bill. 

Oh, I feel your pain.  I agree with everything Cathy said.  We have all done it.  Priorities make us think of our oral health last for some reason or until something really hurts then it's like WHEN was the last time I went to the DDS.  I had a bad habit of chewing ice when I was pregnant with the twins.  Then I'm a worry wort so I grind my teeth in my sleep to the point I can't open my mouth in the morning.  I found a DDS (by word of mouth) that I swear is an Angle in disguise.  She worked with me and my budget and my unbearable fear of having to hold my mouth open for even a minute because of the jaw pain.  Long story short... I go every 6 months for my check-ups.  I'm pain free with a healthy mouth.  The bonus I get is she massages my jaw when she is done and it's heaven.   I hope your as lucky to find a good DDS.   Oh yea, even though I brush all the time I wasn't doing it right and would floss even worse.  Good luck.....

 one of my former coworkers got his dental work done at a dental college for an extremely discounted rate. perhaps you could look into that.

Wish I knew a good dentist here, but I don't. :( Feel better!!! But get those toofers to a dentist already! 

its been a while for me too, and i'm in the same boat. i never drank any kind of colas.. just tea or water.. but then i met my husband who is a coke head... total addict.. now i am too - i have more will power than that! 

the other thing that has effected me (and i was WARNED by someone with dentures!!) was to make sure to take extra extra care of my teeth while pregnant and breast feeding... well i shrugged off that advice. i brush my teeth and floss, but i should have been drinking more milk or at least taking calcium tabs or SOMETHING for myself. now, of course, i drink at least two glasses of milk every day - or eat ice cream.. something with calcium in it.. but its still too late.

i know i could find a dentist that will work with me.. its the pain i'm scared of. last time i was at the dentist it felt like they were trying to remove my jaw... and like you, my back upper molar is in the same condition.... it doesnt hurt YET.. but its difficult to chew hard things sometimes.. like chips and what not.

i'm glad i read this thread... i need to do the same thing.. just suck it up and go to a dentist and at LEAST ask. 

 Sigh, me too... I hate the dentist.  Two of my wisdom teeth are broken.  Both broke during pregnancy.  And I have a filling that fell out.  I gotta just suck it up and go.  I'm more worried about what the dentist is gonna say about the shape my teeth are in.  Lectures mortify me.

I've set my appt for the 11th....DON'T WANNA!

It's been longer in my case Chelsea lol. I do indeed...feel your pain!

This is actually a good option.  You aren't really "practiced on", the students work on you under the supervision of a professor of dentistry.  I know a lot of people growing up who actually got their braces done at a dental school fro a really discounted rate.  No one had anything bad.  I wouldn't think twice about going to get my teeth taken care of at a dental school. 

rwbeagles

I've set my appt for the 11th....DON'T WANNA!

Gina - I know this probably doesn't help much, but it's unlikely that they'll do anything other than x-rays and an exam on the 1st visit. Hopefully getting thru that will give you the confidence to tackle anything that needs to be done.

I'm sure there are some jerk dentists out there, but I'd hope that most were like the ones I worked with. Some were better than others, but all were understanding of the many reasons people had for not getting regular checkups and treatment. 

The suggestion of finding a dental school near you, is an excellent one and definitely worth checking in to.

the thing that scares me most is if they say they're gonna have to pull a tooth.... i am a real wimp with pain like that.  lol do they still knock you out?? 

and thats another concern.. wisdom teeth. i dont think mine have come in yet. or maybe they have. when i was about 11 or 12 some molars grew in the back .. didnt lose any teeth. they just grew in. someone said thats normal for that age, but my mom said they were wisdom teeth.

if they are then i wont feel bad if i have to lose one! still...... i hate lectures too.. and dont like sharp things anywhere near my face... especially things that drill.

anyway yes i'm a coward with bad teeth lol and clenching them in my sleep like i do doesnt help matters i'm sure.

Chelsea thanks for making this thread! i didnt know anything about dental schools. i'll have to look around my town for one. 

Usually they don't like to sedate you to extract one tooth, but trust me, if you insist and you have the money, you shouldn't have trouble finding an oral surgeon to do it. Personally, I would only have my 3rd molars (wisdom teeth) extracted by an oral surgeon. They're better trained than general dentists to deal with complications such as a fractured root. They usually do it faster than a regular dentist and that means less trauma and less pain later. The ones I worked with were amazingly good at what they did and having also assisted with a regular dentist trying to do a complicated extraction, well let me just say, it was funny, unless you were the patient

If you had molars come in when you were 11/12, they were most likely your 2nd molars. Wisdom teeth don't generally come in until your later teens. If you have all of your teeth, there should be 32, if your wisdom teeth haven't erupted or have been extracted and you haven't had any others removed, you'd have 28.

drat.. counted 28.. well... my husband never had his wisdom teeth pulled because they didnt bother him.. though they made his teeth a bit crooked, but i think thats cute, so what ever lol he has a smile like Ewan McGregor

and i was afraid you would say that about having the money to afford being gassed. tell you what though. as long as i dont feel anything i dont care.. i know i'll feel it later, but i can take something for the pain now!!