About 4 years ago mom had almost 20,000 worth of work done on rotten teeth. I wanted dentures, but dentist said real teeth are better, I think I agree.
Fast forward to today: a crown has a cavity under it, dentist is going to try and clean the cavity under the crown.
From what I understand, mom has no teeth left hardly to chew with: all that is left is what is doing the job. She is 93 years old: Options are a tooth implant which will involve bone grafts, and that sort of repeat visits (which in her mind are quite an obstacle: i'd agree.).
What have people here gone through: I am at a loss. If the dentist can clean it out and save the tooth, all well and fine. The other option is dentures which is almost as nightmarish.
Getting old sucks.
Most of the seniors that I know, especially those over 80, go as conservative as possible with dental work. Trying to keep the mouth functional is the key.
Why would your mom need full dentures just because one tooth had to be pulled? If most of her other restored teeth are functional, then can't she chew properly with those?
b) dentist has tried to do minimum work because mom really doesn't want the aggravation of grafts, etc.
c) 4 years ago she poured 20,000 in her mouth. personally, I think she should have gotten full dentures back then.
I'll have to wait and see just how bad it is. I do have a vitamix blender.
Ask details about full dentures. It's not as easy as it sounds. It has it's own set of issues too.
Even considering an implant in a 93-year old is insane in my opinion. Any dentist that would recommend that would be a dentist I'd never visit again. I'd believe they're just out for $$$$$. It makes zero sense to spend that kind of money at that age IMO.