My MS Teeth

I remember when I was younger my Granddad told me, “Always take care of your eyes and your teeth because you only get one set of each!”

I went 5 years without going to the dentist once because I couldn’t afford dental insurance through my job or to private pay for services. When I finally got dental insurance, they only found 1 cavity. I was so relieved it wasn’t worse.

On Friday, I was eating and suddenly felt something “POP” off my tooth. I looked in the mirror and couldn’t see anything but I could definitely feel a hole in my tooth. I called my dentist’s office and they said the soonest they could see me was Wednesday because they are only taking emergencies in first come, first served order and seeing regular patients half day to keep the waiting room to a minimum. I said Ok and took the appointment for today. My tooth hurt really bad on Friday but by now, it’s just more annoying that I can feel the hole on the side of my tongue. I also have to remember not to chew with that side of my mouth or it does bother me quite a bit.

I was a little scared to go today. Just being in a waiting room with other people and have my mouth exposed without a mask while they looked at my tooth made me really nervous. I have gone to my current dentist for 7 years; I trust them it’s just the social anxiety of Covid lurking now.

When I walked in, they had every 2 seats roped off so you couldn’t sit directly next to someone. They installed plexi-glass windows above the counter now to talk to the intake staff. There are signs every where that masks are required or they will not see you. There was only one other person in the waiting room when I got there.

They took me back for x-rays. Then the dentist came and looked at my tooth. He asked me how much pain I was in. I garbled my reply. He said, “WOW! You must have a really high pain tolerance, because this should have hurt you enough that you came in months ago. You need another root canal!”

Yes, another! I have had 3 in the last 6 years. I get a cavity and it morphs into a root canal later down the road. I am not sure if it’s because of MS or because of my meds for my MS but my teeth are definitely not in the best shape anymore.

Since I was there, I got my cleaning that I was due for in July. I said goodbye to the ladies up front and when I was back in the lobby, there was only one man there with a face mask on.

Medi-Cal won’t pay for root canals so the dentist has a grant program that will cover it at no cost to me so they said they’ll call me back in a few weeks so I can come into get it patched up. I think it’s weird Medi-Cal won’t pay to take care of your big damage to your teeth. Studies have shown not taking care of your teeth leads to so many other health issues. Has MS (or another autoimmune disorder) messed with your teeth?