It might seem a strange question but is very much on my mind at the moment. My dentist of thirty years is going private (and very upmarket) and pretty much told me that my teeth are so awful I can't afford him any more so I should find an NHS dentist. I am really upset by all this, and one big issue for me is whether, with all the pain I get from my back teeth, I should carry on trying to save them with crowns, root canal treatment etc or accept it's time to give up, in which case I might as well find myself a new NHS dentist. What is it really like having dentures or loads of missing back teeth? How do you eat? Does it hurt? I've looked on websites and some of it seems terrifying but other people seem to say it's a relief after all the pain.

its very rude of your dentist to say you cant afford him.

but my grandma had dentures and seemed quite happy with them.

the only advice i would give is to use a good fixant...a girl at work was serving a lady and the lady spat her teeth out at her!!
lucky enough the lady found it highly amusing too!! coz the till girl couldnt stop laughing, she was almost on the floor crying (infectious laugh)

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R.I.P Sammy x

Well, he wants to get rid of me because I have been a very nervous patient in the past. The idea of spitting my teeth out at people doesn't exactly cheer me up, I must say, and I remember all my elderly relatives' pink dentures that just looked like they belonged to a plastic doll. My relatives could never eat anything and they were always moaning about pain, plus their faces often looked a bit weird. I think/hope dentures have come on since then but I'd really love to hear from anybody who actually has them, or hasn't got them but copes with loads of missing teeth (as the dentist said it was best not to have dentures until you will down to about eight natural teeth).

to 8 teeth....thats quite a scary thought actually, you would be very limited to what you can eat with even 10 teeth!
spitting them out wont happen....you just need to make sure you fix them in

ive not noticed faces looking funny with dentures in, only when people dont have any dentures in, which makes sense if you think about the way our cheeks fall and shapes etc.

as for pain i really dont know....my grandma never moaned, but i should imagine the pain of having all teeth removed will be there for a while, and then the actual getting used to the dentures would be a pain in the bum, but after everything has settled im sure it will be fine

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R.I.P Sammy x

Oh well, it looks like either nobody has dentures or nobody is willing to admit to it, I'll have to try again later. I feel like pulling my teeth out with pliers at the moment, they hurt so much!

No please dont pull them out yourself ouch.
I think you need to find a good NHS dentist in your area.
I have a few crowns,at the back of my mouth.
I get on just fine,you will soon get used to the crowns and its better than missing teeth.
Then at least you can eat everything.
I am so scared to go to the dentist, but honestly its well worth asking about crowns.

I've lost quite a few of my teeth to the point I can only chew my food on one side. Having 5 kids seemed to affect my teeth, they were never the same. I'm still quite young but I'm having to face up to dentures...rather then living on soft food. Its hard to find an nhs dentist these days but if you look on the NHS website they have lists of nhs dentists still taking nhs patients.

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Hi there, some of my hubbys teeth got bad thro' diabetis and others just got very loose because of receiding gums, so he have top and bottom set done. He had them done two years ago, and find them ok.. The first week was weird as he had to get used to having them in his mouth and trying to talk and eat etc, but after a week he was fine, he uses a good fixadent paste to hole them in so he feels more relaxed about them not coming out, but he can eat apples and steak etc like normal. He had a full top plate and found that he was gagging with it in his mouth (like having a full mouth all the time), so the dentist made it into a horseshoe shape by taking the roof part out, he dont know he have them in now. He said to tell you he recommend it, and is laughing as he just said at least if anything happens to them all you got to do it hand them into your dentist, where as if we have anything wrong with out teeth we have to sit and wait AND then go through pain of a filling etc. He is right in a way lolololol Hope it helps. xxxxxxx

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Curtesy of Smudge..... Thanks xxx

Sorry, I was only joking about pulling them out myself! I spend half my life at the dentist and the reason I'm in pain right now is connected with a new crown not settling down, but the dentist has said it's gum trouble and unfortunately there is only one answer to that, which is extraction if I can't cope with the pain. I'm on antibiotics for my gums at the moment so can't even drown my sorrows.

They say having kids takes the calcium out of your teeth don't they (no idea if it's true, though, not having had children). I used to be so terrified of losing my teeth but now I'm in my fifties I think I can just about cope with the idea, I hope.