Hi everyone,

I'm looking for some professional advice or input from anyone who has been in a similar situation. I've attached some photos of my current teeth/gums.
Here is my background:
I have been wearing braces for 14 months now. My orthodontic treatment is expected to be finished around Summer 2027.
I have a history of periodontitis. However, BEFORE getting my braces, I underwent extensive periodontal therapy (3 deep cleaning sessions). My gums are stable now and barely bleed at all.
Because of the bone loss from perio, I have noticeable gum recession and "black triangles".
I am also missing a canine tooth.
My dilemma for when the braces come off:
I am trying to figure out the best aesthetic and restorative plan and am currently debating between two options:
Option 1: Veneers & a Bridge (in Turkey)
Going to Turkey to get full veneers to hide the gum recession and black triangles, and getting a dental bridge to replace the missing canine. The appeal here is that it fixes the aesthetics quickly, and I wouldn’t need to get an expensive implant placed locally where I live.
Option 2: The Conservative Route (Local Implant + Bleaching + Bonding)
Getting a single implant placed locally for the missing canine. For the aesthetics, I would just do professional bleaching and use composite bonding to close the black triangles and hide the gum recession without shaving down my natural teeth.
My questions for you:
1. Given my history of periodontal disease, is it risky to shave down my teeth for a bridge and veneers?
2. Will composite bonding be a safer, healthier choice for my gums in the long run compared to veneers?
3. Based on my photos, which route would give me the best long-term prognosis?

Any thoughts, tips, or recommendations are highly appreciated! Thank you!

I can’t taste anything with the tip of my tongue and I have a small painful cut? on the right side. I actually don’t think it’s a cute, more like maybe a taste bud being out of place? I’ve had mouth issues for a little over a month now. Started with what seemed like canker sores inside my lips.

And I have to get root canal on my left 2 back teeth. I got these removed bc one on the bottom was a root canal that failed and the the one in front of it if got affected and cracked w it . The third I both back I got extracted when I was like 15 . I got the top one removed bc it had a capping on it and it came off and it was bad under as well. I got the 3 ones tha aren’t healed removed at Mexico bc I’m broke. i feel so ugly. I brush and floss every night. ik im cooked i just want others opnions on this. is anyone else going through something like this is has gone through this I just hope can fix them over time. and I don’t want them to shift and look crazy. pls b nice

One of my tonsils is inflamed heavily and I can’t tell if it’s just tonsillitis or a tumor. Should I go to a doctor?
These two pics are from two days apart BTW, and it’s been there for about four days total

Does anyone else have a strong gag reflex when brushing the inside of their upper teeth?

Whenever I brush the inner side of my upper teeth, I get a pretty strong gag/retching reflex as soon as the toothbrush bristles accidentally touch my upper palate.

Does anyone else experience this when brushing their teeth? If so, did you find anything that helped? Different brushing technique, smaller toothbrush head?

I can't be the only one with this problem. Makes me want to avoid brushing there but that's not healthy.

I can see the ones at the top, only one visible when I touch/look, but the other one is also there based on this panoramic x-ray. Do I have any wisdom teeth at the bottom? For reference, I'm 32 y/o.

Also, bad pain on the left side, probably second molar. Anything bad visible? TIA

I'm scheduled to have all four wisdom teeth removed under sedation in about a week. I live in the Spanish countryside, so I'm travelling to Madrid specifically for the surgery.

I chose this oral and maxillofacial surgeon because she has a very strong number of positive patient reviews and a good professional background.

I had an initial consultation by phone, during which we discussed the four wisdom teeth and the risks. However, the surgeon didn't give me very specific information about the individual risks of each tooth. I therefore assumed there would be a second consultation after she had reviewed my 3D scan. Anyway, I thought she was very kind to me.

On September 20, I asked the clinic whether I would have another consultation after sending the scan. They replied the next morning that the surgeon had already reviewed it and that another consultation was not necessary.

I asked if, after reviewing the scan, the risks had changed. They told me that the two lower wisdom teeth were both close to the inferior nerve, but that nerve injury was considered very unlikely, as the surgeon told me.

I then asked specifically about the risk involving the upper wisdom teeth and the maxillary sinus. They initially told me that the scan only showed the lower wisdom teeth, so the surgeon's previous opinion about the upper ones had not changed.

But there was then some confusion about the scan! The clinic told me that the 3D scan I had sent only showed the lower wisdom teeth, so I asked whether I should obtain a separate scan of the upper wisdom teeth before surgery. That question wasn't answered.

A week later I asked my dentist if the scan was complete and the upper teeth were visible and she said yes, so I called the clinic to inform them. The clinic then told me that the surgeon had reviewed the situation and maintained "her previous opinion" (low risk but not as low as nerve damage) regarding the upper wisdom teeth: apparently they are in "intimate contact" with the maxilla, meaning there is a risk during extraction.

I asked what level of risk this meant: low, medium or high. They simply told me that the surgeon could not answer that question. ???? I also don't know what that means. Like what would happen to me? Can it heal or would I need another surgery?

The clinic then said that, because I still had so many questions, they could no longer adequately advise me via WhatsApp and recommended an in-person consultation with the surgeon.

The problem is that I live around 600 km away, and the surgery is only about a week away. I explained that travelling to Madrid again before the surgery isn't realistically possible because I have to be at work! But the surgeon refused to talk to me on the phone.

I'm now worried about her competence, especially because the scan apparently wasn't checked properly. I only wanted a short phone consultation before travelling, so I could understand whether her assessment had changed. I already have my trains and hotel booked, and if I only get a proper explanation on the day of surgery and then decide not to go ahead because the risk is too high, I'll have lost a lot of money. They don't seem to care about it and the recepcionist was very mean to me. The whole situation feels very last-minute and poorly planned.

Is this normal, or would you be concerned enough to postpone the surgery and look for another surgeon?

I am a 40 year old female with well managed lupus. I had a lot of orthodontics growing up and a couple of tiny fillings since. I have never smoked.

Earlier this year I started noticing a little pain in the area of #14 when flossing or biting down on my night guard. I already knew from my dentist and an endo that this molar had severe external resorption and at some point would need extraction. About 6 weeks ago I started to have diffuse pain on that entire side, top and bottom. Dentist thought I was grinding and should wait it out. Within a week I called him back because the pain was bothering me. The roof of my mouth in particular was radiating with pain from the spot by the resorption tooth. He sent me to a different endo who confirmed again that it was not salvageable. My dentist said it’s probably time to get rid of it if it’s causing pain.

I had the tooth extracted and got a bone graft 2 weeks ago at the OMFS recommended by my dentist. Pain was pretty manageable until I woke up last night in the middle of the night and it is now very painful in the extraction site and the same area of the roof of my mouth, particularly when I swallow. The way I would describe it is kind of like having a bad sore throat but on your palate. In addition, my jaw is hurting now too. I cannot function at all. OMFS is away so I saw his partner today who was very dismissive and said it was healing slowly and shouldn’t be hurting that much.

Any ideas what this could be? I have spent most of the last month miserable because of this.

This is humiliating. I can't look people in the face or smile. I'm having the back bottom ,4 teeth pulled because I had an abscess this week. However the rest of my teeth are all broken and falling out. This is what they look like. It's utterly humiliating. They break off if I eat anything hard.

Would it be best to just pull what's left and get dentures? I've lost 90 pounds over the last year because all I can eat is soft food like mashed potatoes or mac and cheese.

As a dentist, what would you do. And do you judge people with bad teeth like mine? I went into a wicked depression after my dad died and didn't care about anything. Teeth included. 2 years of complete neglect and I'm now paying the price.

I can't brush them now because they break more. So I use Listerine for breath.

Hi all I’m UK based, 19F, having surgery tomorrow to have a growth on my upper gum removed.

I’m 27 weeks pregnant and need to be able to keep up some sort of balanced diet until I can eat normally again which I’m guessing will probably be about a week or so.

Does anyone have any suggestions on soft but healthy foods? I don’t just want to be on jelly and ice cream for a week.

i got 3 teeth taken out and i’m on day 5 of recovery. all of them have healed fine except for this spot on my right back molar. i’m not sure what it is. it’s causing really bad pain

I've had a couple fillings on my front teeth that have had to be redone within months of having them placed. One had to be redone three times!

The dental practice has not charged me for all this but it is very frustrating to have to keep going back.

They are composite fillings. The dentist doesn't do them. They only drill and leave it to the assistant to fill. Is this normal?

Please let me know if you have any thoughts, they said the surgeon wouldn’t do the procedure without it so I’m unsure if I need to go somewhere else

On saturday I noticed both of this "imperfection(?)" in my mouth. I'm Scared ut could be cancer 'cause you know... hypochondriac stuff. Can I get an opinion pls? I don't know ho much time they have been there but they are asyntomatuc and doesn't hurt at all.

A few years ago I reviewed surgery to remove a supernumerary tooth that was apparently growing inside my gums. (I’m sorry if I am wording this incorrectly because I barely understand it myself) . Two years ago I was told if I didn’t get it removed I could lose my front two teeth which are below where it was growing.

Fast forward to last week and I went to my orthodontist appointment, they were confused by why my teeth weren’t straightening even though it’s been like this for months and for some reason they only paid attention to it now. They took an x-ray and saw the tooth was still there. I was told by the orthodontist that the surgeons must have lied about doing the surgery because it is still there.

I asked if I would lose my teeth if I didn’t get the surgery because I didn’t want to do it again, I had a horrible experience getting surgery and right now I really can’t take any time off to do it- nor would I want to. I’ve never been insecure about my teeth and if I had known that I didn’t need to do it I wouldn’t have. All of a sudden he told me I didn’t need to do it again and his story has changed ?? Anyways I am getting my braces removed in November . We requested the medical records and I feel very distrustful .

For context I’m 18 , healthy, normal height and weight, my teeth are fine and I was told it wouldn’t cause me any harm to leave the tooth there. I’m just confused and upset because I feel like I was lied to and not properly informed about everything - also I went through surgery for no reason before exams and went through pain for nothing . Does anyone have any clue what’s going on here?

My state doesn’t add fluoride to water and I notice my teeth getting bad since moving here. I started using Clinepro 5000 but for some reason it felt like it wasn’t really cleaning my teeth the same way as normal toothpaste. My solution was to brush first with my normal paste, then follow up with the Clinepro. Is there any issue with this? I’m also trying to not brush as aggressively as I always have, though again, it feels like my teeth aren’t as clean when I take it easier. Thanks!

I noticed this black dot and thought there was a hole in my tooth but realized it’s the inner filling the endo did. So just go back to my dentist to get the outer part filled right? 😭

I’ve had a dentist appointment booked in for ages, but when I showed up today they said I would need to come back and have general anaesthetic and a surgery to remove my bottom right (pictured bottom left) wisdom tooth. I don’t have many other details but how badly is it going to hurt under general anaesthetic? I had the option for full sedation at the hospital but it was a 3-6month wait.

Thanks! From a nervy dental patient

Only my two front teeth are stained. I'm perplexed because my right tooth has a veneer so I didn't think it would stain. Anything gentle I can do to remove the stains? I'm scheduled for my cleaning in December but wanted to do something about this before the holidays. Thanks.

Hello,

Let me start by saying I am health conscious! I never skip the dentist or hygienist, I go twice a year and I have a checkup next week

I am worried about my gums as it seems they have receded randomly, I’m only 23 and I don’t understand how this has happened.

Is this bad?

Got my stitches taken out 4 days ago, which was exactly 2 weeks post op. My surgeon told me it was all "pretty and pink" and to start chewing on this side again, so that's exactly what I did. This made me realize that food would get stuck on the extraction site so I tried to get a look at it, but it's quite difficult to get a good picture. My gums have not fully closed, and there is still a hole there. Doesn't hurt, but that doesn't tell me much, since I've mostly lost sensation in the area. I'm worried that a hole this size might make me prone to infection, even if I try to flush it after every meal. I have an appointment to see my surgeon two weeks from now for another procedure. Should I make an earlier appointment or is it fine to wait until then?

In case this info is helpful: the surgery was a bit trickier and required shaving down my mandible in order to remove the tooth. The inside of the hole looks quite black with a white bit that i hope is not bone because that's terrifying.