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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

Question: I’m from Poland. Two years ago, I moved to Canada. Last week I went to the dentist because a filling fell out. I also have other problems with some broken pieces, I don’t know if tooth or filling. He looked at my mouth then told me about other problems I wasn’t aware of. He told me I had a very strong bite. He said my bite was too strong for the fillings. He said my teeth would keep breaking. He told me my wisdom teeth were bad to keep. He said they make my bite eve

Question: I grew up in a remote village in Northern Alberta. Few amenities were available to us and because we were a large family, there was not a lot of money for my teeth. At a relatively early age I decided, after being persuaded by family members and a bad dental experience, to have my teeth out and get a denture to replace my top teeth – anyway, it would be so much cheaper, went the reasoning. Many good teeth were simply pulled out. Because of that experience, I’ve trie

Question: I am in a good time of my life. Family raised and now I have time for myself. One of the things I have put off over my adult life is my teeth. They are still all mine, but they have never looked nice. I have been speaking with friends about my front teeth and have come away with mixed messages. One of my friends said, “You have to get veneers, they are the best.” Hers look great so I said, yes, that’s what I want. “Why did you have them done,” I asked? “My teeth wer

Question: I’m the oldest of a family of four. All of us kids have health issues, so we watch out for one another. We’re close, but I’ve been out of the country, so when my sister said she was having all her teeth out, I said, “What!?” She said, “I’ve had bad teeth all my life and now I’ve got so much decay and abscessing, I have to get my teeth out.” I was aghast not knowing this about my sister. So, I said, “I’ll go with you. I want to be sure you’re doing the right thing.”

Question: Dr. Crapo: About ten years ago I had dentures made and I hated them because the lower wouldn’t stay put and I couldn’t taste like I did before. Because I couldn’t control my bottom plate I asked for implants but I couldn’t afford much, so I had two implants put in to hold my lower. That was much better but then I discovered that the lower would lift from the back so it was like a pump handle going up and down. I didn’t know what to do but had to live with it until I

Q: Dr. Crapo: I am writing because I’m in pain, I don’t know where to turn and I’m frightened about my future. I’m middle aged, in what I thought was good health, but the last three months my bite has completely changed. I can no longer get my front teeth together. When I bite, I hit on my back two teeth – nothing else. I knew my bite was not perfect, but all of a sudden, I couldn’t bite things off with my front teeth. Then I noticed a space that got wider between my front t

Q: Dr. Crapo: Twenty years ago I had a nice bridge and many crowns done to fix my teeth and my smile. Everything has been just fine until a couple of weeks ago; some of the upper front teeth that were crowned, chipped. It’s unsightly so I saw my dentist last week and he said I also had decay around the edges of the crowns so they’d have to be redone. However he said I’d worn down all my lower front teeth over the years and they should be crowned too. The only problem he said

Q: I have tried to keep my oral health under control all my life. I still have all my teeth but they are almost all filled with fillings that are of various vintages. I have been meaning to address the discolouration and what looks like decay in my front teeth, but life happens and others have needs that exceed my own. In the past year or more, I’ve experienced mild but consistent headaches that from day to day I manage with ibuprofen when the ache gets in my face. The headac

Question: Dear Dr. Crapo: A year ago I had to have a tooth pulled. I’m a big guy and I’ve been told I have a very strong bite. For the most part my teeth are good, with only a few fillings but that tooth had lots done to it including a root canal that wouldn’t settle down, so the tooth was pulled. I was told the root had cracked. Boy the dentist had a tough time getting it out. When he did, he said the bone was hooked so tightly that part of the bone came with the tooth. It m

Q: Two days ago I went to see my dentist for a checkup and cleaning. I’ve needed an implant but have been putting it off. The hygienist noted that we’d talked about it and brought up the subject again. I said I was still thinking about it, not wanting to get into my real reason. When my dentist came in he checked my teeth and said things looked fine; then asked about my missing tooth. In an instant, I decided to come clean so I said “I don’t know what to do, my brother had

Q: Dr. Crapo: I’ve had good teeth all my life. Despite that I’ve noticed my lower front teeth seem shorter. I’ve had fillings in three of them and about every two or three years the fillings seem to pop out. The last time I saw my dentist, he remarked that my lower front teeth showed a lot of grinding wear. I asked him if my back teeth were wearing down too, so he took a second look and said there was very little wear showing. I asked how that could be. He told me I had a dee