I have had unexplainable full mouthful of teeth pain. RD says it's not RA related and xrays and exam by dentist had no explanation.

I have periodontal disease. I had to have surgery about 1 1/2 years ago on my gums. My peridontist did Lanap surgery, instead of the traditional surgery. I had some really bad pockets, loose teeth and my gums bled pretty bad.

At my one year check up, my pockets are almost back to normal. I have 2-3 that are still a four, and they were a 10 at the time of surgery. Anyone needing gum surgery, I highly recommend the Lanap (laser surgery). The only problem I had with it was loosing my taste for about a year. Sweet stuff tasted salty, and salty stuff tasted sweet. It was really wierd. My periodontist said he had never had that happen to anyone. Guess I'm just a bit different.

I've not been affected as explained in the article, but my teeth have moved some since getting RA. But maybe everyone has their teeth scoot here and there.

yeah, 8 root canals, 10 crowns, 3 extractions, two bridges, and one implant later, yeah, yeah, and oh yeah, yeah.

its too bad I can't drive my teeth around because that would be like owning a gold plated corvette

Gaitless, question for you. I have no dental insurance and was wondering if your gum procedure was covered under medical? I fear dentures will be in my future! I've been taking a low dose of Keflex for a couple months now to keep my gums and teeth from killing me. If I miss a dose it starts up again. I can't afford to go to a dentist. :((

The last time I went to the dentist, the hygienist noted how "inflamed" my gums were. She even showed me a slide under the microscope of my tissues (there were a greater number of "thingies" (I jest) on the screen than normal. To this day, my question for her is "yea, so what?" I know I have RA and I know it causes systemic inflammation. I honestly think the reason my gums were more inflamed than normal was because I don't floss regularly, but I do before I go in to the dentist. (Stupid, I know.) But, flossing hurts my fingers! Good to know about the laser surgery, gaitless.

At the time, I was not diagnosed with my RA yet. I had my apt to the Rheumy made, but it was not until after my hysterectomy surgery. If you already have a diagnoses of RA, it might be covered under your medical, but I don't know.

I have dental insurance, but it really doesn't cover much. I get 2 cleanings a year, and I believe it pays about $2000 a year toward covered dental work. As much as dental work costs these days, doesn't take long until you have reached your max. I don't think there is any dental insurance that pays much more than that, but I really don't know. I have to get my teeth cleaned every 3 months. I go to the dentist one month, then 3 months later I go to the periodontist, then back to the dentist. This Sept will be 2 yrs since my surgery.

My insurance covered less than half of my Lanap surgery, I had to pay the rest. My Peridontist let me make monthly payments, with no interest. I also had to have 4 of my lower front teeth pulled and a partial put in. Now that he looks back at how well I've done, the periodontist says he thinks he might could have saved my teeth instead of pulling them. But, I was going in for surgery in a couple of weeks, so they needed to come out since they were so loose.

The temporary partial (flipper) cost about $500. I had to pay that myself since my max had been reached by that time. I wore it for about a year, and just recently had my permanent partial made.

My dentist gave me two choices, I could have all my teeth pulled and have dentures put in, or I could try the Lanap surgery. With the cost of pulling the teeth and having dentures made, the Lanap surgery didn't cost all that much more. Of course, there was always the possibility that it wouldn't work, and I would have to pull my teeth any way. I'm glad I went with the surgery. My partials drive me nuts! It fits really good, but I don't like them. It is the third thing I take off when I get home from work, LOL.

If you want a rundown of the total cost, I'll look it all up over the weekend and post it here when I get it together. It did cost a lot, but I'm so glad I kept my teeth. I would do it all over again.

@Trooper45yrs ~ I use those little dental floss stick thingys. I can't use the floss wrapped around your finger. It's just too difficult to maneuver.

Thanks for the reply and information gaitless. If you don't mind posting the cost I'd appreciate it. I'm still paying off my wrist surgery and a visit to the ER, so what the heck, I'll add one more payment plan to the group in the near future!

I have noticed that sometimes out of the blue all of my teeth hurt. They hurt to the point where I need to take a Tylenol or two. I have had periodontal work years ago and I have regular dental and periodontal check ups to keep on top of any dental issues. I have an appt. on Tuesday with the hygienist at the periodontist office so I will ask them where this could possibly stem from.

Leahdh ~ Sorry it took me so long to get back with this. We've been busy with prom at work and this past week I've been really sick with this crud that is going around. It has my asthma flared and my RD flaring.

The total cost for what I had done was $5,140.00. My insurance paid $1,360. I paid $1,300 down and financed $2,480. I paid $275 for 9 months to pay it off.

I've had a couple of teeth pulled several years ago that he is wanting me to replace with implants. I'm not going to have that done. He will have to do bone grafts since the bone is eroding and then the implants. I'm looking at $6,460.00 to do this. After the insurance paying only $600 for the bone grafts, and nothing for the implants.

I had Blue Cross/Blue Shield at that time. I have Cigna now which isn't nearly as good as the BC was. We had to change insurance due to the ACA. I'm paying much more and for less coverage than I was. I'm also paying a higher deductible.

Yours may not cost as much, it just depends on what you need to have done. Go in for a conference and see what they say.

gaitless - thanks very much for the reply. Ouch that's a big chunk of money! I haven't made an appointment yet, but know I need to.

I have to wait until I find out about an out-of-network provider I was referred to and had sacroiliac injections from. I should have checked to see if she was in-network but I had never been referred to an out of network provider and assumed they would do a prior-auth for the procedure. They didn't. I've called the insurance company and the Doctors office each six times to try to get the info the insurance company wants. Last week...finally...the insurance company has the info (W-9) and retro-auth it was asking for and the claims are again "in-processing".

If the insurance doesn't cover any of it, I'll be looking at a ~$5000 bill. I have to wait to find out what the final verdict is before I can go to the dentist. :(

I just started noticing pain in my teeth last week. One day the pain was on the left side. The next day the pain was on the right side. The third day there was no pain. I had a recent exam with no evidence of cavities. I wouldn't doubt if RA had something to do with my sudden dental pain. It has caused a whole host of problems since I first felt symptoms back in November.

I love my implants.

I had to sell an extra car I had been saving for the teen driver to pay cash for it. it was worth it.

WAY better than a crown or a bridge. WAY more expensive.

there are no vacations and no home improvements and no travel when you are paying for dental care. my passport is in my mouth.

I don't regret it, at all.

there are others on this list who have been there done that also. we have one list member who did their implants out of country. speak up i forget who you are :) sorry - is it you Lynne?

Depot

Vacations are a distant memory. I've never had a vacation with just my husband and I and we've been married 35 years. I think we did a total of three hiking or one beach vacation when my kids were young. One of those was a prize I won for extra work I did at work.

These days I consider couch time with a good movie my vacation. I think it's almost as nice(?) since I can't walk any great distance anymore.

We need a thread about our 'new normal' guilty leisure pleasures. Maybe we could get ideas from each other? It would be better than listening to me sounding pathetic!

dental care is a guilty pleasure. a lot of people just haves to pull em.

depot