I really should have acknowledged what I knew that was true about my teeth. I did acknowledge it to myself, but there wasn’t anything I could do about it.
Medicare and Medicaid take care of everything medical for dialysis patients accept dental. OMG what a mess. Your teeth are probably the single most important element of your body working well. Well, there are a lot of other things, but, your teeth are so very important. So, why the government has never decided to take care of dental work is beside everybody in the business.
My teeth were not all that good to begin with. I sure wish we’d had that coating that has been used on teenager’s teeth now for some years. I only knew about it because of my cousin’s children.
As I was growing up I had a filling or two. By the time I was 28 one of my teeth in the back came out; I never had the money to get it fixed. At one point I had three teeth on an upper plate and I could barely stand it. I’d start talking, trying to keep that thing in my mouth all the while gagging and grabbing to get it out. I had more dental problems through the years than I can even remember.
I started dialysis when I was 37. That really started my life on drugs; MANY have been on and off my list ever since. All those drugs effect your body and wear your body down. It’s amazing how well my body has stood up to all this. November 9, 1993, I had a kidney transplant (TX) and talk about drugs . . .
Starting at that point and lasting until the TX quit working the drugs were heavy, HARD on the body and very expensive. The first year out of the hospital the drugs cost $18,000 and the fifth year out the drugs were $22,000. Sorry, I’m actually sidestepping somewhat.
All those heavy drugs did a number of things to my body ... I had trouble with my ears, had tubes put in; I had cataracts and had them removed and a “lense” put in my cornea then I could see squirrels in trees three miles away!!! Then things, as a result of the TX stopped happening. Except for my teeth.
I have had an awesome dentist through the years and he has done work for me that he knew I didn’t have the money to pay him. My gums had grown up over my teeth and he lasered the gums and at that time I didn’t have any money to take care of what should have been done next.
Later, I needed to have a tooth worked on before a surgery. My dentist’s statement was that all my teeth needed to come out. There was infection in my gums. Still, no money. That was three-four years ago.
In the last month I have had four teeth break off ... they are not coming out, they are breaking off. That has not only to do with the TX but also dialysis itself. We take drugs so that the phosphorus stays in the bones. So, my guess is that I’ve not had enough of that medicine and now the bone content is “drying out” (that’s what the teeth look like).
To me, how your teeth look is a major sign of how you take care of yourself. It has always mattered to me. And, I’ve had to accept through the years that I couldn’t do anything about it.
Now, I’m sitting here looking like that recent movie about a nanny —> she has a very prominent large front tooth. Oh my.
Any questions?
