Should I be concerned?

[stillhaveall32]

I'd like some feedback on my current situation. Due to a number of challenges, I've gone through a period where my dental health and physical health has been neglected, but thankfully things have taken a turn for the better. A quick history:

I'm 47 years old, have all 32 teeth, and never had a cavity until 12 years ago. At that time, I had a dental plan where I paid a monthly and annual fee and received discounted rates from certain providers. After having gone several years without, I went in for a checkup, getting two opinions from two different dentists (in Atlanta, GA), and I was told that I had multiple cavities and that I had periodontitis, and for that reason, I could not be given a normal cleaning. I was given the full mouth debridement / root scaling / planing three times over the course of the year and had my cavities filled.

Fast forward six years, and then under a dental plan provided by my employer, which paid for everything up to $1,000. I went to a new dentist (in Monterey, CA), and was told I had periodontitis, with "pockets of 3s, 4s, and 5s", as well as 16 cavities that needed to be filled. There was more work that needed to be done than I had coverage or money for, so I told the dentist to address the most important cavities. I had 8 cavities filled and deep cleaning done twice.

Now fast forward to the present day. I'm now in Los Angeles, CA, and just received coverage under Medi-Cal (Medicaid), provided through Liberty Dental. I went in for a checkup and got a complete set of X-rays. The dentist then came in, looked at the X-rays, asked me "Do you have any pain or discomfort?" I said no. He then looked in my mouth and said, "Everything looks great! You just need a normal cleaning." No measurements were taken to check for receding gums. The person who did the cleaning commented that there was some bleeding and recommended that I start flossing twice a day.

I am so happy to have been able to get a professional cleaning again! Every time a cleaning special or discount is offered, I had always been told I was not eligible because I needed a deep cleaning and they could not do a standard cleaning.

So now I'm a little confused. Is this a case of my current dentist seeing that I had limited coverage and thus just gave me what I was eligible for and selectively ignored the rest? (if so, I'm still grateful for the cleaning) Or did my previous dentists possibly oversell me on an unnecessary deep cleaning? Or did my gums somehow suddenly recuperate? And what about those eight-plus unfilled cavities from six years ago? They couldn't just go away on their own, could they?

I'm not in any pain or discomfort. Should I be concerned (or look for a new dentist next year)?

Thanks in advance for any input.

 

[movemen]

It's hard to say without a set of xrays to look at. But I can tell you that every dentist can look at a case and diagnose differently depends on how they are trained, their experience, and their belief. To me, when a patient come in for a cleaning, I have to check the xray to see any buildups under the gums and floss around to find if the surfaces in between teeth are smooth or not. If xrays show significant buildups and rough when flossing then a deep cleaning is recommended. deep cleaning enable me to thoroughly detail every surfaces deep down the pocket and smooth out the surfaces so the gums can heal and educate and enforce daily hygiene with brushing especially flossing.

let me ask you this, do your gums bleeding when you floss? and how often you floss or are you not flossing at all? check to see if its rough when you floss. when you go to the dentist again ask to see the xray to see any tiny projections/tags along the surfaces in between teeth. the one thing you can do for yourself and may prevent lots of dental visits and problems is flossing. I cannot stress that enough to my patients.

about the cavitiies, its all subjective. what i mean is some dentist might see an incipient decay and decide to just watch, some just want to be safe and fill it. may be next year go see another dentist and see how that go. good luck

 

[stillhaveall32]

It's hard to say without a set of xrays to look at. But I can tell you that every dentist can look at a case and diagnose differently depends on how they are trained, their experience, and their belief. To me, when a patient come in for a cleaning, I have to check the xray to see any buildups under the gums and floss around to find if the surfaces in between teeth are smooth or not. If xrays show significant buildups and rough when flossing then a deep cleaning is recommended. deep cleaning enable me to thoroughly detail every surfaces deep down the pocket and smooth out the surfaces so the gums can heal and educate and enforce daily hygiene with brushing especially flossing.

let me ask you this, do your gums bleeding when you floss? and how often you floss or are you not flossing at all? check to see if its rough when you floss. when you go to the dentist again ask to see the xray to see any tiny projections/tags along the surfaces in between teeth. the one thing you can do for yourself and may prevent lots of dental visits and problems is flossing. I cannot stress that enough to my patients.

about the cavitiies, its all subjective. what i mean is some dentist might see an incipient decay and decide to just watch, some just want to be safe and fill it. may be next year go see another dentist and see how that go. good luck

Thanks for the reply.

I had been flossing almost daily (maybe sometimes missing 1 day a week) and would occasionally get a small amount of bleeding (maybe 1 day a week). I had been been flossing in the morning, but now have been told that at night would be better, and now to floss twice a day, after lunch and dinner. I also wasn't using a technique that was thoroughly flossing the areas; I was only going up and down each surface once, instead of multiple times. It does not feel rough when I floss though.

Thanks again! I will try to use this information and not miss any days flossing either.

 

[movemen]

No problem. The key is to have the areas in between your teeth clean and no rough surfaces. Very straight forward. Good luck