Ask The Dentist Blog

Question: Dr. Crapo: I’m forty-four years old and I feel like my mouth is falling apart. All my life people have commented on my attractive smile and while my front teeth seem okay, I’ve lost my two back lower left molars. They seemed to break down, needed crowns, then root canals and then they just broke and had to come out. The dentist said there was nothing he could do because I was so hard on my teeth. I’m trying to protect my teeth with a night guard but my lower right m

Question: Two years ago I became very aware that I was having recession around my teeth – especially the lower front teeth. It’s not that I hadn’t seen it before, but no one made it a priority. I became aware because I started to see looseness in my lower front teeth. It startled me so I immediately made an appointment with my dentist. He said I’d lost over half of the bone around my roots. I asked him how that could have happened and he said I could have inherited weak gums

Question: Many years ago as I decided my vocation, I fell in love with cooking. Almost forty years later, I still love to cook. I make very good and tasty dishes. Each dish is sampled in its preparation to ensure taste and quality control. I’ve retired from commercial work but still cook at home for my wife and friends. I say this because when you’re cooking and tasting six days a week for long hours then fall into bed late after clean up only to sleep and start the day again

Question: As a kid up till I was out of university I saw the dentist and hygienist faithfully. Mom insisted we all go regularly. Even in university, Mom made sure, when we got home from school, we saw the dentist. I had great teeth. Once I was off the plan and on my own it wasn’t a priority. I was just too busy for my teeth. One day as I was home visiting, Mom asked, “how long has it been since you’ve seen the dentist?” It had been five years. I had started smoking on the job

Question: Dr. Crapo: I was born about the time fluoride toothpaste hit Canada – late fifties, early sixties. When the T.V. ads hit the air, we couldn’t believe you’d go to the dentist and only have one cavity. Finally, it was the in thing by the time I was ten to make the switch to a fluoride toothpaste. By that time, I’d had teeth pulled because of decay and abscessing. Fortunately, they were only baby teeth, so when my permanents came in, I resolved to take better care. We

Question: This is embarrassing and disastrous. I’ve never been good with my teeth. Even as a kid I was terrified. As an adult I always put the dental health of my kids and husband to the top of the list and me only when I couldn’t stand the pain. So, I had fillings only when I had a tooth that needed a root canal or pulling. After the kids were long on their own, I still didn’t go to get my teeth checked or cleaned. For some reason I just couldn’t bring myself to do it. But n

Question: I have prided myself on reaching my fifties with all my teeth except one wisdom tooth. I’ll explain in a minute. Up through my forties, I didn’t give my teeth much thought. I saw the hygienist kind of regularly but not religiously. My family has good teeth and every time I went, though I wasn’t diligent, I got a “good check-up, no cavities.” I thought, “Great,” then I’d let a year and a half go by, then two years, before going back. A number of years after doing thi

Question: I lost my wife several years ago and things are not the same. I don’t make decisions well without her. I tend to leave personal needs and attention to detail until the last hour and then only when circumstance, or pain of one kind or another, forces me into action. I haven’t cared for my teeth as I should and now I get pain all too frequently. I’ve got broken teeth, loose teeth, missing teeth, and abscesses or the like that keeps my gums swollen most of the time. I

Question: I’ve smoked cigarettes since I was a teenager. It’s hard to quit because I enjoy smoking and perhaps it helps me cope with life too. The thought of quitting scares me and makes me want to find a place to hide. However, I have a problem with my teeth. I saw a dentist and she said I needed an upper denture because my remaining upper teeth – my upper six front teeth, are quite loose – well the eyeteeth are ok but my four front teeth are loose. I had a partial made but

Question: I have always been concerned with cracks in my teeth. Over many years of seeing my dentist, I’ve asked him about the cracks in my front teeth. He’s always reassured me that they were superficial and in the enamel only. He said, “In the back teeth where there are much greater forces applied in eating or grinding and clenching one’s teeth, that’s a different story.” Whenever there’s been a crack in my back teeth I’ve had crowns done so the crack wouldn’t spread. Two

Question: Well, here I am, an older retired senior with “gas in the tank,” a great wife, and a set of teeth so bucked out I could eat a pie out of a milk bottle. I kid you not, people see my teeth before they see me. “Must be Bob, here come his teeth.” Well, you get my drift. And it seems they’re getting worse. The colour of my teeth is getting darker and darker and my wife even says I should do something. At the outset I should say that I’ve got some gaps in every area of my

Question: Four weeks ago, I was eating and my upper front bridge just snapped and fell out. It was the third bridge I had. Thirty-five years ago, I had a tooth knocked out so I got a bridge. Then after about fifteen years it fell out and another tooth was bad so I got another bridge. That lasted for nearly ten years and another tooth went bad and that bridge fell out. I only had my eye teeth left and they needed root canals before this last bridge was put in. Each time I was

Question: About eight years ago I had problems with my front teeth and they had to come out. I had to wait till my gums healed to get a partial flipper so I could at least smile. After a year I’d had enough because I couldn’t eat with it in my mouth so I went back and they said, “We can give you a new set of teeth that will stay in better.” This time I got a real partial with clips and such so it would stay in my mouth as I ate. It was a whole lot better for about two years w

Question: My mom is not a complainer but recently she told me of her challenge with her upper denture not staying in. She’s hard on her teeth and is constantly fussing to keep her upper denture in. She uses some kind of denture adhesive so they don’t fall out of her mouth. Even so, she moves her mouth around and if you’re close enough, you can hear her clicking her teeth. She claims to have a disorder of sorts where she’s constantly moving her jaw, so her teeth click. Her pro

Question: I have strong teeth, well the remaining ones seem strong. They’re only in the front so when I smile it’s a horsey grin because all you can see is front teeth with gaps up top and on the bottom. They kind of look like horse teeth too. When I bite, the edges fit right together or on top of each other. That’s been the way from the beginning. I’m nearing golden age so I’ve worn the teeth down quite a bit. My dentist has filled the edges many times but that wears down an