The Tooth, The whole Tooth and nothing but the Tooth
As I’m sure you were able to deduce that this post is about teeth, not just any teeth, my teeth. I recently lost another tooth, and my tooth loss can be tied to some of the medication that I’m taking.
Many autoimmune disorders have teeth problems as known symptoms. And mine are no exception, and the medications that I take for the disorders, certainly don’t help either. My teeth seem to be brittle now. In fact, I cracked a tooth a week ago, so I made an appointment with my dentist. The day prior to my appointment, I lost a crown eating some bread and the day after my appointment, I was eating cheese puffs and another tooth fractured, come on, freaking cheese puffs.
This is getting crazy and I’m likely going to have to face the sad fact that my teeth as I know them to be will no longer be like that, I will have implants of partials or something.
The dentist said that they are not actually that bad, and he said that the crown was likely the result of a poor job (we quit that dentist a few years back for that very reason). He also said that I will need to get that tooth, well root pulled. The fractures can be repaired; however, they are on each side of two teeth that I had pulled previously. So, I’m thinking of a bridge with crowns on each side to anchor it.
I really hope this stops or at least slows down some. When I started Humira, my wife and I talked about the risks and we decided that being pain free outweighed all the risks, including the dental concerns.
It’s not just Humira, the Sjögren’s syndrome is very bad for teeth, as one of the side-effects of the disease is dry mouth and I’m talking desert dry, like a mouth full of flour dry, and believe it or not, your teeth need saliva to remain healthy. In fact Saliva is necessary to protect your mouth from infection, keep it clean and neutralize acids to help prevent plaque buildup and tooth decay. So, I’m using special dry mouth prescription toothpaste to help combat that, and I’m also using XyliMelts which help me some as well. They work by helping the body produce saliva.
