Dear NiNi,
This subject is very close to me and very personal. I have a somewhat rare medical problems. They "clashed" and the consequences were devistating. But we didn't find out until after I lost all my teeth......
I was on vacation. We were at the cabin. I had made breakfast on the griddle and we all sat down to eat. I picked up a piece of sausage, bit into it and a tooth crumbled out. I looked at it in my hand, completely shocked. When I went to examine it between my fingers it crumbled just like chalk. I was unnerved. It did not hurt at all. So, I put it in a bag to take to my dentist saying, "He wont believe this one!". So off we went to get ready... think we headed of to Bandolier that day. Any case, I got showered and cleaned up, then went to drink the last of my milk and another one fell out! I fished it out of my milk. When I picked it up it crumbled like Chalk!.... thinking this is getting scary I put it in with the other tooth. It didn't hurt at all.
......by the time my vacation weekend was over I had lost 4 teeth. When we got back home I made an appointment to see my dentist. I have always had a problem with my teeth, every few years my teeth always cost no less than 5K. Usually no more 8-9K. I was no stranger to unusual dental problems. My dentist always remarked that my teeth were "soft" and always had to take great care when working on my teeth to not cause more damage. I had many single implants. All my teeth has something done to them. Caps, implants, fillings. So, while I waited for my appointment the following week..... 6 more crumbled out. Fillings, caps, it didn't matter. They crumbled out with the caps still on. In 2 of them the metal of the filling plopped right out, then the tooth crumbled. So scary.
I get into the dentist. He is shocked. He isn't sure what to do. He calls and friend, an oral surgeon, sends me down there after giving me information about "mini implant systems" . So, I head down to his friends office. He talks about my enamel, he already knew about it. He is very concerned because something more is happening than just my congenital enamel problems. So he prepares me and teaches me about what he needs to do to reconstruct my mouth. He will take it all out. The top would be plain old denture. Bottom will "lock" into place. Something about the "structure" of my face and me being so young. But, he says I need to see my doctor before we can begin. He will go through the motions on his end. My dentist and the oral surgeon already have everyone and everything picked out, they are fine tuning the details. They promise to make it cost as little as possible. In the mean time, I have to see my doctor.
...So, I was a bit shocked. I made an appointment with my primary care, but cant be seen until the following week. I did have an appointment with my spine specialist the next day... At that point I am very mortified. Everyone saw me like that and in between seeing all these people more and more teeth are falling out. So, I see my spine specialist. He is shocked. He starts making calls while I am sitting there. Sends me to the lab, then sets up emergency appointments with my primary and an endocrinologist way out in the other city....
After all these tests and doctors they find out two things. First and foremost I have Hypoparathyroidism. It caused my cataracts (born with my first, second when I was 7....), my tetany (to me it felt like crying in my throat all my life), parathesia, memory loss..... So many things I had my whole life, but it was all "normal" for me so I never thought it was not normal. The second thing happening was my calcium "rate" was 0.0025 to 0.0028 (humm or was it 0.0058?) too many 00s apparently. So the IV treatments and ergocalciferol begin. My hairs beings to feel like silk. My skin starts to look gorgeous. I don’t pass out (I really thought it was just passing out all my life), I still had memory problems, sop many many things stopped. But the best part!! I stopped having teeth crumble out. By that time, a few months after my first tooth crumbled out, I had 6 teeth left. Total. Apparently only 4 of those were "stable".
Then finally I am cleared for oral reconstructive surgery! And I begin what turns out to be a full year making my mouth whole again. The oral surgeon & techs, lab & techs, dentist & techs all worked very hard to make me whole again. At a minimum cost. Most of their time and facilities were donated. Some supplies, even the custom shading specialist donated his time and materials too. Word of "me" and what had happened traveled fast.
When all of the scary teeth stuff started with my teeth... they just realized I had multiple progressive spinal deformities. I had just begun to look "disfigured" on the outside. I had just lost my vision again, for the second time and had to do surgeries on my eyes the same week of my oral reconstructive surgeries. I did try to get my epidural series in during that same week too, but my nurses just cried and my spine specialist told me I was one tuff cookie, but I needed to go to bed. He would take care of things, work with my husband, get me in as soon as I had recovered from my other surgeries.....
I highly recommend this Astra tech abutment system if it is possible. Also, I am unsure how old you are, but I was 29 when I had mine done. Shading specialist to take care of "coloring" my teeth. They look very natural. "off white" and the tips look "lighter" just like "normal" teeth look like a touch of "translucent" shading. No one can tell they are not my teeth. They look very real.
The recovery, the healing for the top of the jaw is hell-ish. It is so easy to irritate the top gums the first 6 months. I highly recommend getting a prescription for peridex. It is normally used for people with gum problems. It also is helpful for damaged gums while you are healing from reconstructive surgery. Also, TMJ.. You will get surgically induced TMJ for a few months. Your jaw will ache and hurt. I highly recommend getting "Arnica Gel". Arnica is a natural anti inflammatory herb. You can get it in pill form or gel form at any "whole food" or "Natural remedy" store. It will help to ease the TMJ in your jaw joints.
I am so sorry you have had to deal with this. No matter the cause, having to go through the process is mentally, emotionally and physically challenging. I am so very sorry you have had to go through the process. Hang in there!
*hugg*
dani