Several years ago I began taking opioid medicines to combat the hideous pain I’d been living with for decades.
It worked and I began to experience the happy diminution of pain throughout my body.
But–there’s always a “but” in happy stories–a few years ago I switched to another opioid after developing tolerance to the first medicine.
While the new medicine worked well I quickly developed dry mouth that I dealt with on my own; I wasn’t about to let a little sub Saharan dryness diddle with my improved pain.
Yet it’s in the interstices of muting pain and acidic Saharan Zephyrs that brews disaster in the mouth of the blissful unsuspecting.
Yes, brewing calamitous enameled weakness.
It started with a ham a cheese sandwich where in my second bite I crunched something much too hard. Fishing it out I held on the tip of my finger that which could only be a chip of tooth enamel.
This dolorous calving of my teeth repeated itself over and over in the following months.
Dental care became a must.
However, my tale of ending up like Uncle Festus flamed up as if accelerants were deposited in those increasingly edgy spaces between my individual teeth: my unemployed wife, my inability to work, our son still at university, dwindling savings and the conspicuous lack insurance.
But we all know too well that dental insurance is…well…laughable.
Denial fell like a blackout curtain across my reason: The loss of enamel, like calving glaciers, would certainly end soon; I could ride it out.
I couldn’t.
And neither can you.
Denial crumbled like my teeth when I saw the gaps, the lost teeth, and the decay–Uncle Festus in the mirror.
Eventually, I sat in a dental chair for days over months at the University of California-San Francisco being worked over by a student dentist from India.
I got good care, though the out-of-pocket expense was, and is now, stunning.
Now living in Chicago with my wife employed and after selling one of our apartment buildings at the hands of eminent domain in Utah, we now have the thousands, I mean thousands, necessary to hammer, pick, extract, fill, bone transplants implanted perfect imposters.
I now look less like Uncle Festus and more like my aging self.
What is the moral of this posting?
There is none. We’re trapped between the Scylla of delicious opioid relief and the Charybdis of disastrous decay.
What’s to be done?
Change, if you can, the medication. Consult a dentist privately or at a University if possible. Drink more liquids than you can possibly stand. Suck sugarless mints. Mouth wash, mouth wash, mouth wash. Floss daily if you can or use a waterpik. Rinse your mouth especially after eating; rinse, rinse, rinse.
Oh, yes, contact your legislators and agitate for better dental care insurance.
Any suggestions from our sub-Saharan veterans is sorely welcome.
One of my pain syndromes is Sjogren’s Syndrome. Along with pain, Sjogren’s is most commonly associated with dry mouth, eyes, nose, etc. For me, this begin in my early teens. By the time I was in my late 40’s, I had lost most of my teeth due to severe cavities. Unknown to me, all this decay was caused by dry mouth, which reduces the amount of saliva available to protect your teeth. I had to get dentures.
When I learned that Sjogren’s Syndrome is what caused me to lose my teeth, I cried for hours. I had always believe that had done something wrong. That my dental problems were somehow my fault. What a relief I felt!
If you have problems with dry mouth, whether from medications or illness, have your dentist check your teeth carefully. You don’t want to end up with dentures, like me.
I am currently taking oxycontin 60mg twice daily for chronic pain. My question is what would be an equal mg of ms contin ? My reason for switching is tolerance to oxycontin
To Mark: I know exactly what type of Dental Horrors, Trials & Tribulations You must have experienced.
I experienced an almost-unbelievable 10 year Dental Horror Tragedy, that {literally} almost killed me!
In fact, my 10 year dilemma surpassed Dentistry & became a Medical Issue that culminated in my losing All my Teeth & a dangerous amount of my Mandible & Maxillary Bone {due to deadly Bacterial Osteonecrosis} that had to be Surgically removed by a Doctor {a D.D.S. & a D.O.} who was one of only 4 Specialists/Surgeons in the U.S.A. that did that work! It cost me Tens of Thousands of $$ by the time I had the work done by this Doctor {Dr. C. Hussar, who is now retired}. The only ‘good’ thing that resulted, is that I became an Friend of Dr. Hussar, who taught me the Etiology of Dental Cavitations. As a result,I have a lot of Experience in Consulting with people with your type of experiences,
In fact, The only reason I wrote all of this to you, is I gather from your effusive writing that you have been sold another Big Lie {by Establishment Dentists} about & are considering Dental Implants! I have extensive knowledge about & experience in tragic cases {like Yours & Mine} of severe Dental problems common in those who were victims of Severe Pain Syndromes first! If that is true in your case, I urge you to contact me so you can gain the knowledge necessary to avoid further, Terrible Medical problems.
Sorry to hear about your side effect. It’s a sad story. There is a product that can help called Biotene. It’s worth a try. Best of luck.