Do you still have all your own teeth?

I’m 84 and have all my own teeth except for one molar and my wisdom teeth. They seem quite sound, but aren’t a good colour. I blame too much tea!

Not all areas of U.K. have added fluoride in water yet, although in some areas it is naturally present, but I think the government has a bill in progress to do so this year.

The evidence is strong for better children’s dental health in fluoridated areas. Dental health has also improved since fluoride toothpastes became available, but there is an ongoing battle against consumption of sugary drink and food.

We have fluoride in the water in the UK. I don't know since when, but neither of my children (40s) have a single filling and stepson (50s) has one filling.

We have fluoride in the water which protects our teeth. When I was a child in the UK I lost 2 back teeth but no more since. My children and grandchildren have never had fillings, they don’t know what they are. Lucky them.

It’s good to know that many of you are looking after your teeth and doing well. This doesn’t work for everyone. I was taken regularly to the dentist throughout my childhood and ate very few sweets. As an adult I go very often and do everything I can. I still have terrible teeth. My mouth is full of fillings, crowns and a bridge. One of my DDs also has very poor teeth. The other one has almost perfect ones. It’s not all about neglect.

I had orthodentic treatment as a child and had to have 2 teeth out because my jaw was overcrowded and that was the only way to straighten them. So any gap was very brief

I had my wisdom teeth out for the same reason. More recently I had a tooth out because it broke badly and had an implant to replace it.

I read recently that problems like mine, with too many teeth for their jaw size, is a growing problem and it is being pur down to the fact that most of the food we eat now is easy to chew and in societies where the diet includes a lot of food that takes a lot of chewing this shrinking jaw isn't a problem.

A good reason for eating properly baked bread and chewing your crusts.

That is very sad Kate1949 and I also had similar neglect but luckily held on to some of my teeth, apart from a molar extraction aged 14, which I’m sure I didn’t need whilst in a forces boarding school in Germany, and a canine tooth extraction aged 17 and molar aged 19 due to decay, and have since been almost neurotically attentive to my teeth.

This has resulted in 2 bridges plus crowns, plus 2 implants after failed root filling, costing a fortune. All front teeth still intact 🤞
It’s not just vanity which fuels my dental neurosis, but I think comfortable eating and jaw alignment are important too.

Many of my friends are paying for expensive tooth whitening/bleaching but It doesn’t alter the fact that the enamel is getting weaker, just looks better (or more artificial) for a while.

I lost one tooth , I cracked it on an olive stone , so had to have it extracted and now have an implant. I’m 64 and have quite a few fillings , all done in the 60s and 70s . My AC have no fillings and lovely straight teeth .

Chestnut

You've mentioned your teeth before Kate1949 and it always makes me sad. 💐

My mother had all her teeth removed in 1955 aged 40 which is still very young I think. We had been abroad so that was her first chance to see an NHS dentist. He told her they had to come out because of gum disease, but I find that very hard to believe. A photo of her shows she had nice teeth, I just think it was too much effort to treat her because the dentists had so many people requiring treatment. Since 1948 the NHS had been struggling to cope because so many people had not seen a dentist for years, or maybe never.

A bit of dental history from Wiki:
When the NHS was established in July 1948 dental treatment was free. Demand on the service was enormous. About a quarter of the dentists joined the NHS and by November 1948 83% had joined. Dental health in the UK was worse than that of Germany. In the first nine months of the NHS 4.5 million teeth were removed and 4.2 million teeth were filled. In 1950-1951 65.5 million artificial teeth were fitted.

It is a very sad piece of history. Due to the poor dentistry , I have not manyleft.Even though I'm lucky enough to have a NHS dentist, their apathy about saving teeth,perhaps it's my age, is apparent. One even filed a broken crown tooth down, and said it would be fine, that's the thing to do he said, 2 abcess later, another dentist said it should be removed. Difference to my family in Germany, one goes reg every six months, and can get same day appoint if needed, the other is having very intensive treat to save all their
teeth,or as many as they can. The difference is apparent when we talk about treatment. Her health insurance will cover most of the €3000, if not all. Recent independant assess re this. How's that for care.

So far so good. I had to have a root canal done recently but should really have just gone with an extraction. I didn’t want a gap nor did I want to fork out for an implant.

My late DH died at 69 without a single filling or extraction and thankfully our four children seem to have inherited his strong teeth as they have no fillings at all.

I do think dentists back in the day did an unnecessary amount of fillings, my mouth is full of them.

Kate1949 💐

Bump

I have all the front teeth but the back ones have broken....due to crunching on too many nuts, I think.

I dread to think how much I've spent over the years on my teeth. I have always attended regularly for check ups and treatments but have still lost several teeth and have a partial denture!!!! 🦷🦷🦷🦷🦷

I still have all of mine and despite a few fillings, they are in quite good condition. I am still teething though - one of my wisdom teeth has been erupting for at least 30 years.
Frankly, I don't have room for all of them, so if anyone is interested, I could easily spare a few! 😁

My brother, on the other hand, has had no end of dental problems since he was a child.

I had fantastic teeth until the menopause then they went to pot. I had two implants that cost a fortune but had to be removed 15 yes later due to infection. It cost an arm and a leg to have them removed. I now have a plate which I paid for that I will never wear, I can even speak with it in, never mind trying to eat - it has never made it out of the bathroom but my dentist insists it's a good fit, in my opinion it's a total waste of money and I've sold a pup but what can i do ? Look after your teeth? I always did and then was blind-sided by all these issues that came out of nowhere.

I always attended my dentist regularly. Got two front lower crowns at 26 because of extreme grindir. Free as I was pregnant at the time. All ok with the occasional filling until I was 60 when the top ones gradually started breaking off at the gum line. I now have a top denture and one back molar. This has been out down to possible use of the drug Pregabalin.
Bottom teeth have one missing at the back on each side. As pp has mentioned they have yellowed

Kate2949 I always think of you whenever there is a discussion on here about teeth, as you have mentioned your story before.
What happened to you was simply appalling.

Kate1949

I had all mine taken out aged 11 due to parental neglect. It's been difficult to put it mildly.

Kate1949
😘

Yes, apart from my wisdom teeth.

I had all my wisdom teeth removed between age 20 and 25, as there wasn’t room for them. I lost a back tooth aged 33, when I was punched in the side of the head by a Met policeman. Another was broken badly in that incident, and has been crowned ever since, but has somehow survived. Other than that, yes. I’m 68 in a couple of weeks.

Germanshepherdsmum

💐*Kate*. You are the mother that sadly you didn’t have.

I have had masses of fillings but only one back tooth extracted after failed root canal treatment. I am very lucky.

For sure. x

Kate1949

I think those dentists back then experimented on people.

My dentist back then was an ex army dentist. He was a real sadist. Thanks to him I was afraid of dentists for many years. I will never forget his horrible weasely face, ghastly man. He never gave an injection before a filling (that would probably have reduced his profit from the NHS).

lemsip

a 90yr old lady I used to visit would answer that question with *; yes all bought and paid for'*

Well said!

I have had full dentures since my early 40s. Probably should have had them sooner but I was scared. I have a genetic condition that causes a Lott of issues with my teeth , on top of several pregnancies with major complications and vomiting literally dozens of times a day the entire time. I eat anything and everything and hardly even think of them anymore unless I’m cleaning them etc. I even sleep in them. All these years later it was still the best thing o ever did for music health wise.

I have most of my own teeth, a few gaps and some crowns, but most teeth are filled. My mum was terrified of dentists so we didn’t go to the dentist until we complained of toothache. As sugar was rationed until I was 6 it’s surprising that my teeth are so bad.
My dentist is brilliant and determined that I should keep the teeth I have, especially as I have osteoporosis.

Yes...but I'm 59 so not surprising....but my mums got all her own too and shes 88