Saturday, April 23, 2011

Root Shortening

2 weeks ago, I went to the dentist for my normal 6 month teeth cleaning.  It was also time for the routine xrays. What came out of those xrays disturbed me.  My left front tooth's root has shortened more than before. I'm not sure if you remember that after my braces and jaw surgery, my orthro told me that I lost about 10% of the root of my upper teeth and bottom teeth.  Now the root loss has progressed from 10% to 40% for my upper left front tooth.  The others remained relatively the same as before.  I asked the dentist if there is anything we can do - either to reverse it, or to stop the loss from getting worse.  And the answer came back as No.  My heart sank.  Nothing can be done?!  The dentist explains that it is like the body reacting to tooth, and is "eating up" the root...similar to what it does on baby teeth...except I won't have a replacement tooth! The body has already grown bones in the gap the root has left behind.  The root will never grow back.

So when the root gets 'eaten up,' my tooth will not have the anchor to hold itself...so guess what? My tooth will fall out!! I can't believe that after so many years of braces, surgery, etc... I will have to lose a tooth due to root loss.  And it's my front tooth too!!  I am already having nightmares when my tooth falls out, in public!!  The only option is to have a tooth implant.  I really can't imagine how that will be.... I am so scared thinking about all of this...  Maybe this is God's way of telling me that I'm not meant to have straight teeth, and when I took matters in my own hands to get braces and jaw surgery, I still can't win.  :-(