I am ashamed of my smile, and I feel a little embarrassed to even be writing this but my teeth are rotting due to past pregnancies, and I need to share my story to help others who may be going through a similar thing. There are so many things that no one tells you about pregnancy, and I am sure they do that to make sure that they don’t scare you, but it just seemed like a lot. It also may be because they didn’t experience it personally, or they forgot about it when the time ended.
My mouth has become my biggest insecurity, so I will just let it all out. I am 36 and I may need dentures in the next year or two. Pregnancy ruined my teeth. I have had three pregnancies, and it wasn’t until my second where my story with my teeth really started. I have always gone to the dentist when I needed to, and have always brushed and flossed every day, twice a day. Sure, I have had the odd cavity here and there, but it was always treated and filled.
My first pregnancy had little to no impact on my teeth, and I still went about life thinking that pregnancy could not affect your teeth. Then I got pregnant with my second. I noticed about halfway through that a filling had fallen out of my back molar and everything just went downhill from there. I gave birth to my second, and I made a mental note that I needed to see the dentist and get the cavity fixed, but motherhood can be all-consuming and I am sure a lot of moms know that anything for our health and wellness gets “forgotten” sometimes, and when my second child was 7 months old, I found out I was pregnant again.
Here I was pregnant again, that is a story for another time, but the problems with my teeth got worse, and it felt like it happened overnight. Now, my teeth were breaking. They felt different in my mouth, and they still do. They feel weak, brittle, and almost soft and no amount of brushing or care is preventing it from rapidly getting worse. During my third pregnancy, one of the worst side effects ever happened and that was tooth pain. I had excruciating pain in my mouth, and it would happen for days at a time, and then suddenly stop for a few weeks before starting again.
I did go to multiple dentists who couldn’t do x-rays because I was pregnant, and had chalked it up to a hormonal issue and one that would end when my pregnancy did. It was the worst pain of my life, but it did stop when I gave birth. However, the issues with my teeth have not stopped. All four of my back molars are broken, two are gone above the gum line and the other two are half gone. Another tooth is giving me an issue and I know I am lucky that none of them are in the front, but I still feel self-conscious.
That is because I know the road I am headed on, and that is dentures. It is likely that the broken teeth are going to need to be pulled, and if it continues, it is going to be my whole life. While I know there is nothing wrong with dentures, my mom and sister have full dentures, this is not the plan I had for my teeth. Thanks to social media, I know I am not alone. Other moms are starting to open up about how pregnancy ruined their teeth and how they needed dentures. I know it is nothing to be ashamed of, but it is hard. It also makes me realize just how much we, as women, go through to bring our babies into the world. We sacrifice our bodies in more ways than we even realize we will have to, and if I had to go through it all again, I would. While I know a dentist’s trip is in the future for me, and a trip to a dental surgeon most likely, it is still hard to try and find that time for me. Having to navigate this is not easy, as I know that there is going to be a surgery and recovery in my future, but the needs of my family are still there and it is hard to find the energy I know I need to have.