Dental Awareness

Soul Mate

There was a "ghost" post recently that talked about dental and it reminded me to post a caution based on DH recent experience.

A couple years ago when DH was early into stage 5 he kept asking when his dental appointment was.  He never said he had a bad tooth but when the appointment came it turned out that he had a wisdom tooth that needed pulling.  We were referred to a dental surgeon.  Turns out that afterwards he developed a "dry" socket which created pain and we wound up making several check up trips to the surgeon's office until it finally healed.  

A year later another wisdom tooth needed pulling.  We were very careful this time to do everything possible to avoid another dry pocket.  And thankfully were successful.

And then early this year  a cap came off a different tooth and had to be put back on.  Several months later the same cap came off again.  At first I wondered if the problem was the dentist.  But the next day I saw my husband bite down on a rather large radish.  Historically I haven't bought radishes a lot.  But DH was recently diagnosed with stage 3 kidney disease and I have had to eliminate salt as much as possible.  The radishes were an attempt to offer a salt free "treat".   I never dreamed they could cause a different problem.

But now I am on "high alert" to ensure that there are no radishes, nuts and other hard foods around. Makes it hard because he is already on a diabetic diet as well as kidney friendly.  If there is one saving grace, it's that he doesn't remember what he had for his last meal and so I can repeat the same menu quite often.

CatsWithHandsAreTrouble

I saw that zombie thread too.

I've been worried about my mom's teeth because she's always picking at it but both my sister (ex dental hygienist) and mom's new dentist didn't see anything wrong. In fact the dentist said everything looked good. What a relief!

 One of mom's "tasks" that she does out of habit is brushing her teeth so maybe brushing them so often has helped! Worried about the fluoride though... 

ZackFootInMouth

I'm worried too, but also what is an "elderly dental specialist"?

It seems like a catchphrase more than a certification.