I don't remember a topic on our spouses' (spice) teeth and their deterioration. I have been having my husband's teeth cleaned every six months. Last week when I took him in for his cleaning, the dentist found a cavity, also that his bridge had separated from one of the teeth and another tooth had broken off! The dentist was nice enough to take him in today and do all the repairs at once. Since they were on opposite sides of his mouth, they would normally do it in two appointments. Surprisingly, my husband was still for the entire hour it took to make all of the repairs. My husband had never mentioned that he had broken a tooth, nor had he complained or said anything about pain. I don't know if any of the problems hurt him at all. He still brushes his teeth by himself daily, with a vibrating toothbrush, so it didn't occur to me to check his teeth myself (I honestly don't know if he would let me).
Have any of you found that there has been dental deterioration with AD?
Mary,A couple of yrs back my DH had a cracked molar and i didnt know either. he never complained about it but it had to have a crown or pull it -DH was meticulous about his teeth and they are so nice, so i couldnt bear not having it crowned. he needs to go in again but have issues with any treatment he may need. maybe a quick trip to let dr look around. xrays will be hard for DH..without that dr wont get a good idea..sigh...another thing on my list.. Dh never complains about anything that ails him these days just will do a facial frown-. you just have to try to figure it out if things are right with them. i dont think they have a good sense of pain maybe- or cant express it..maybe thats a good thing with AD. Divvi
Pain is something I do worry about. They feel it but cannot express what hurts. They are suffering enough without the extra burden of pain. An earache could be expressed as a stomach ache. Just have to observe and try to guess. But aren't we getting good at guessing
We had two incidents recently with my husbands teeth. They just fell out. One involved a very expensive bridge replacement. The other the dentist was able to but the crown back in after doing some work with a post. Each dental trip involves more and more expense. Although he has insurance, it doesn't pay much. It also involves much anxiety for DH. He still brushes his teeth himself, but I am not sure how well he does it.
carosi I was wondering about you. Computer gremlins are at work. We had a Basset. The first time he bayed he looked all around trying to figure out where all that noise came from.
I moved Carosi's post to the dog thread. I copied it....I couldn't take off what is already here though. I was wondering where she was going and how it was going to get to teeth!!! <grin>
speaking of teeth,my mother was in a rest home for two years,one day when I went to visit she said someone stole her teeth,when we inquired at the desk they said she wouldn't accept the ones they found in her dresser she wanted her "pretty" blue ones
well i had my consultation and good news is its only 300dol to extract this tooth from hell on friday insted of 1600 for root canal! and yes i took the advice of yall and signed up for laughing gas!! should be interesting... and better news is i only have a tiny cavity that was on the other side i didnt break the molar only chipped it slightly eating candy peanuts (i think..:) and it can be repaired hopefully. so far saved @1500dol-
cant wait to get this sucker out! my jaw still is in pain after a week on antibiotics.. other than that i am good for now! divvi
ps oh, and the dr was hilarious and i told him my DH has AD and life needs some perks he says he will turn up the juice on friday! haha.
My DH was the most meticulous man in the world when it came to his teeth. We would often laugh at his routine. He'd bush, then floss, then brush again..and finally 'squish' for what seemed to be five minutes. He would encourage his little granddaughter to come 'scrub her snags' when he did...using the second sink in the bathroom. NOW, that's all history. He refuses to use his Sonic Toothbrush, preferring to put the toothpaste on his index finger. No flossing. It's such a hassle. I thought this practice would be stamped indellibly in his mind and he'd always practice good dental health regardless of his AD. I will call his dentist and wondered if he'd have to be put to sleep while the dentist worked on his teeth. And! if we did, if he'd have the same reaction he had when he had anesthesia for his hip replacement! He was terrible then!
my DH was one of those fastidious teeth cleaners. thank goodness his teeth are in good shape from yrs of care. he will brush for 30sec and so i give him one of those throwaways buzzer ones and he walks around with it all day so hes using it more. if i didnt insist he'd never do it anymore. and i floss his teeth for him in the shower! he bites me and his grip is like a pitbull:) divvi
Dental, oh my! My husband had all his upper teeth pulled a couple of years ago and had 6 implants put in. He now has 'permanent' dentures. For some reason he had 3 dentists calling us to get appointments for us and I just took him into his original dentist because I couldn't figure out what was going on. One of the others called back and said that Mark had to go in every 2 months to get his teeth cleaned. I scheduled the appointment and went in with him. I also spoke with the doctor and told him about Mark being diagnosed. He told me he thought something was wrong before and shared with me his experiences with Mark. Needless to say, after the teeth cleaning, I went into the consultation to hear how to clean them. He has awful teeth and doesn't tell me when something is wrong. At the last teeth cleaning, they told me he had a severe cavity and was surprised he was living with it. I guess going into the dentist every 2 months is the only way to stay on top of it. I now clean his special denture and teeth every night.
what is the "throwaway buzzer ones?" I've never heard of them. What are they?
My DH does NOT have great teeth. Greyish from an accident 30 years ago. Our dentist told me over a year ago that DH had need for teeth being pulled, and a bridge put in (thousands of dollars of work) and that DH was telling him he wanted Veneers. Our dentist is such a cool guy. He has known of DH's AD right from the start, and he told me NOT to make the appts for DH to have these things done. Instead we make regular appts for him to get his teeth cleaned.
I mentioned in another thread that I gave DH his toothbrush with paste on it already and told him he needed to brush. He came out a couple minutes later asking what to do with it. Even with my instructing he couldn't figure it out so I guess I am now brushing his teeth too.
NR-Oral B Pulsar toothbrushes!! they are pulsating and only good for the duration of their internal battery but i got at biglots a pack of 3!!!! AND a bottle of crest breath rinse for 10dol!!! i buy them by the half dozens:) DH just LOVES the buzzing action and vibration,,,uh---he leaves it on and puts it into his pocket..dont ask! haha..but he leaves it running all the time. even running all day they last quite a while! i just turn it off at times and then give it back for him to use with tootpaste. i find the childrens toothpaste taste like candy or bubblegum he loves and will use it more than adults. he also swalllows or eats it off the toothbrush so dont put too much:) its better than nothing. i go thru alot of them but they are really cheap if you can get them at discount stores. if not, CVS or walgreens has them usually just one in a pack too. they are pulsar types and about 4dol a peice or so.. hope this helps. i thoroughly recommend them for AD-it entertains them -divvi
New Realm, divvi had talked about them earlier and I got my husband one. He walks around with it for several hours a day. He enjoys turning it on and off and sometimes even brushes his teeth with it! <grin>
Mary, hi, glad to see you! youhave been MIA lately! man i swear the more i see the more our DH are twins it seems except mine is more hooligan..:) glad you found the toothbrush. get the kids toothpaste they love the taste, like candy. its better than nothing! divvi
Will do! - It has been hectic ever since we returned from the cruise, and my computer acted up for a couple of days which kept me from here. I decided to take time to read Jane Anne Krenz' new book before getting on the computer. I had read Teena Cahill's while on the cruise, and it was great. I have been reading the books written by the husband of one of our ladies here, and they are so good! I was ready for some "escape" reading and caught a chapter here and there during the last three days. I'm still not finished with it, nor can I see that I've accomplished that much around the house. The suitcases are unpacked; the laundry is done; meals were prepared and eaten; movies watched with the husband (he won't stay in his recliner unless I'm in mine!!!!!) and he follows me and tries to "help" me (but doesn't remember how - :( and makes it harder for me so I have to wait until he dozes and rush around). I'll be glad when warm weather returns and he can sit in the gardens and pull weeds again! <grin>
There is a Big Lots (i hope still) in Vancouver, about a half hour South of me so I'll make it a priority to get down that way one day this week while a caregiver is here. I love to get away to Walmart Superstore, a decent Mall, and lots of stores we don't have here. I'll be scouting out that Big Lots for those pulsar things. Here I'm gonna have a little free time (and I mean little) this week, but until I saw "BIG LOTS" in type I wouldn't have thought to do that with my time. THANKS divvi for the info that sparked a fun idea in me.