Why don't people have all their teeth removed?

[EeneyMinnieMoe]

This used to be quite common in Scotland. Girls would have all their teeth out and get a set of dentures for their 21st birthday.

It's not really done now, can't imagine why....

Rolfe.

You are messing with us. You have got to be making it up. Please tell me you aren't serious.

Scottish comic Craig Ferguson writes in his memoir that his father had a full set of dentures even as a very young man but that was due to the total destruction of his father's teeth when he was a boy (the elder Ferguson having been a victim of horrendous child labor and having grown up in war torn and air strike-ed out and bomb raid-ed out Scotland during World War Two.)

Maybe this was common way back when war, rationing, poverty and the deplorable state of Scottish and British dentistry had left everyone with permanently wrecked teeth or no teeth to speak of by the time they were 21?

If you have 32 cavity riddled, damaged, crooked and yellow teeth, just getting a set of full dentures would make sense at that young an age. Especially given how much less advanced dentistry was in the 1940s and 1950s and how relatively limited technology was back then; there would have been no other options but having all the teeth removed.

That's the only sensible explanation possible.

Half sensible explanation possible.

 

[sowellfan]

This thread just horrifies me - especially the part about Scottish girls getting their teeth yanked when they're 21. Let's face it - there's something much less than attractive about somebody pulling a big ol' set of teeth out of their head, and giving you a big gummy smile. Sure, it's necessary for old people, eventually, I guess - but they're old and decrepit anyway, so it's not that big of a deal. For the most part, though, I think tooth problems are solved by brushing your damn teeth, going to the dentist every once in a while, not smoking meth, having flouridated water, etc.

 

[RationalVetMed]

You are messing with us. You have got to be making it up. Please tell me you aren't serious.

'Tis true I'm afraid - my mum has told me the same story - that several of her contemporaries opted for total extraction of healthy teeth. It was often done as a wedding present believe it or not, the rationale being that false teeth were going to be less of a financial drain on the young couple.

Mind you, she was brought up in Dundee so probably if you hadn't had your teeth taken out they would have been punched out before long anyway

Yuri

 

[Bob Blaylock]

Interesting that this thread should begin on a day that I had a tooth extracted. Not fun.

Having so freshly had the experience of having one tooth removed, I can't imagine having them all removed at once.

Whether an artificial prothesis can be as good or better than a real tooth, I just can't see removing a tooth that hasn't yet become a serious enough problem to warrant it.

 

[commandlinegamer]

You are messing with us. You have got to be making it up. Please tell me you aren't serious.

Happened to a female relative of mine, though I think she was quite a bit younger. Didn't realise it was so widespread though. I'm quite proud of the fact I'm only missing four of my teeth; If I smile carefully, you won't even notice.

I think it may be due to the fact that dental treatment was only free on the NHS for a short period at the beginning. As the the cost of providing the services rose, they started charging for dental.

 

[luchog]

'Tis true I'm afraid - my mum has told me the same story - that several of her contemporaries opted for total extraction of healthy teeth. It was often done as a wedding present believe it or not, the rationale being that false teeth were going to be less of a financial drain on the young couple.

As a wedding present?

Perhaps that wasn't the only reason...

 

[Travis]

I had this done when I was 28. It all started when I had some teeth knocked out when I fell off a roof (long story involving heat stroke) which led to an infection that persisted for months which made dealing with the remaining teeth impossible and eventually it seemed medically prudent to just yank them all and start with a clean slate.

But it was expensive. My new teeth were not cheap economy models, they cost me almost $20,000. They have their good and bad aspects like chewing sticky stuff is impossible but I never get ice cream headaches now. Also they require more frequent cleaning but are somewhat easier to clean each time.

 

[quarky]

And one point for the other side:

I had a wisdom tooth pulled last year. It was only partially emerged and seemed to trap food. Later that day, I sneezed, and blew the clot out- from the nasal side. Seems the tooth root had penetrated the sinus. I could breathe through the socket with my mouth closed. Socket got infected, from food being forced in while chewing. I could push on my cheek and squeeze burning pus into my sinus and down my throat. Took a couple days to get the dentist to issue a prescription for antibiotics, which took ten days to knock out the infection. Too close to the brain for comfort.

Good thing was that my sleep apnea was much improved by removing the root that must have been blocking my sinus. Perhaps if I pursue that track, pulling the opposite third molar would cure my sleep apnea? But i also think I may have supernumerary teeth, 4th molars? If those bulges in the back of my mouth are fourth molars, then I know they are adding to the apnea, they are way inside of the usual row for teeth.

Thanks for sharing. I especially liked the part about the burning pus.

 

[Baby Nemesis]

Why don't people have all their teeth removed?

Cleaning the teeth twice a day should reduce a lot of problems with them. I, for one, didn't go to a dentist for fifteen years, and when I did go in the end, I was told there was nothing wrong.

Besides, perhaps in a decade, dentistry will be near painless:

Dentist's Drills Could Be Replaced By Painless Plasma Jets

Plasma jets capable of obliterating tooth decay-causing bacteria could be an effective and less painful alternative to the dentist's drill, according to a new study published in the February issue of the Journal of Medical Microbiology.

Firing low temperature plasma beams at dentin - the fibrous tooth structure underneath the enamel coating - was found to reduce the amount of dental bacteria by up to 10,000-fold. The findings could mean plasma technology is used to remove infected tissue in tooth cavities - a practice that conventionally involves drilling into the tooth. ...

Dr Rupf said using plasma technology to disinfect tooth cavities would be welcomed by patients as well as dentists. "Drilling is a very uncomfortable and sometimes painful experience. Cold plasma, in contrast, is a completely contact-free method that is highly effective. Presently, there is huge progress being made in the field of plasma medicine and a clinical treatment for dental cavities can be expected within 3 to 5 years."

 

[RationalVetMed]

As a wedding present?

Perhaps that wasn't the only reason...

Eeooeow!

This is friends of my mum's and my Granny's we're talking about here; now respectable 'ladies of a certain age' in posession of too many cats and smelling slightly of boiled cabbage.

That image is just too uncomfortable . I'm sure no member of the Nalyssus family would have stooped to such a thing .

Yuri

 

[sowellfan]

Happened to a female relative of mine, though I think she was quite a bit younger. Didn't realise it was so widespread though. I'm quite proud of the fact I'm only missing four of my teeth; If I smile carefully, you won't even notice.

I think it may be due to the fact that dental treatment was only free on the NHS for a short period at the beginning. As the the cost of providing the services rose, they started charging for dental.

Do they have flouridated water in Scotland? As far as NHS coverage goes, that might have an effect, but dental has pretty much never been free here in the U.S., and people still manage to go to the dentist. It just doesn't cost very much to go and get a cleaning/X-ray every 6 months or every year. Now, if you wait until your teeth *hurt* to actually go to the dentist, I'd imagine that could be more expensive.

 

[Professor Yaffle]

My gran tells me the same thing - that as soon as you had a bad problem with any of your teeth, you would just get the lot yanked out, as repeat visits to the dentist were too expensive.

 

[Baby Nemesis]

... Now, if you wait until your teeth *hurt* to actually go to the dentist, I'd imagine that could be more expensive.

Then again, going to some dentists all unsuspecting when nothing hurts could land you with a nasty surprise. See, for instance, How The Cowboy Dentists Are Allowed To Ruin Our Teeth. And then there are horror stories like this: Revealing How Dentists Profit By Abusing Children

In ‘Drilling for Dollars,’ a local TV reporter presented shocking visual and audio testimony about a situation in which children were being needlessly treated and harmed because of corporate greed.

 

[bruto]

I realize people are pretty stupid where health and dental care are concerned, but removing all your teeth seems like a pretty drastic alternative to teaching people not to kill their kids with junk food and to take care of their teeth.

I like chewing with the real ones.

 

[Professor Yaffle]

I think the reason that it was mainly women who had all their teeth removed was because it was fairly likely they would lose all their teeth after multiple pregnancies anyway.

 

[nathan]

I had 7 teeth crowned (on the NHS) in about 1982. One of them is giving trouble, now, in 2010. My appointment to have a new crown fitted (again on the NHS) is for Tuesday.

Interesting. I had a tooth crowned in (about) 1984 (NHS, porcelain), and had it replaced last summer, because it cracked. I went private this time, to get a glass crown, rather than porcelain-on-metal. Mrs Me was freaked out by the tooth cast I brought home!

Hope your refitting goes ok.

 

[Rolfe]

Are glass crowns better? I've been perfectly happy with my porcelain ones.

My (NHS) dentist isn't massively ambitious, and never even suggests doing anything privately, and I don't push it on the principle of "if it ain't broke, don't fix it".

I think this is something a lot of Americans don't understand in relation to dental care in Britain. Most people have healthy teeth with the cavities filled and the worst misalignment fixed. But cosmetic dentistry just isn't something many peope go in for. The dazzling white Hollywood smile just isn't an ambition - especially if it would involve more time in a dentist's chair.

The actors are getting on the bandwagon of course, but relatively recently - if you look at Gareth Thomas's back teeth, which you can see in the opening credits for the first season of Blake's Seven, you can see a fair number of amalgam fillings.

Rolfe.

 

[Amapola]

I think the reason people don't have all their teeth removed and then put in fake ones, is because the real ones work better. At least, that's what my dentist says. His advice is "If you've got 'em, floss 'em."

I suppose one could make a case for getting artificial limbs along this same line of argument - after all, most people experience difficulty with arthritis or some other such thing, why not just cut off the real thing and have an artificial limb, then you won't have any more arthritis. And of course, the answer is the real ones work better.

It varies in individual cases. Sometimes it would be exactly the right thing to do.

I had a neighbor who had quite a lot of trouble with her teeth, and she spent several years trying to find a dentist who would pull out all of her teeth and then make up a full set of dentures for her. She eventually found one and had this done. I don't know if it made her all that happy though; she was then upset with the way her teeth looked, and always held her hand in front of her mouth when she was around other people. It was kind of weird.

 

[epix]

The majority of denture wearers would opt for healthy teeth, if they had the chance to have them. These teeth problems will be history when genetic engineering makes some advances. Not only that anyone would be able to grow a third set of teeth, but "junk gene" prevention would enable to grow toothpaste-ad like teeth for yet undisclosed amount of money.

 

[Brian-M]

The majority of denture wearers would opt for healthy teeth, if they had the chance to have them. These teeth problems will be history when genetic engineering makes some advances. Not only that anyone would be able to grow a third set of teeth, but "junk gene" prevention would enable to grow toothpaste-ad like teeth for yet undisclosed amount of money.

Wouldn't it be quicker and easier to genetically modify a species of tooth-benign bacteria to displace the acid-producing bacteria that damage our teeth?