How many teeth do you have?

[DreamOn]

I currently have 28 teeth, and they're severely crowded. I had two wisdom teeth removed as a young adult.

I have 2 large bony growths on the inside of my lower jaw called "mandibular tori' that make even less room for my tongue.

I also have mandibular tori that take up a lot of space. I did a bit of research several years ago and learned that they're often related to bruxism (tooth clenching or grinding). Interestingly, nocturnal bruxism is prevalent among sleep apnea patients, related to sleep arousal response at the end of an apneic event.

I wish that more dentists were aware of the signs of sleep apnea. Many of us would have been diagnosed much sooner.

[roster]

At the risk of getting naughty, a narrow jaw has one advantage. --How to put this politely; it is a good excuse for not, umm, you know, , ,

You naughty, naughty Frog!

Er, seems like a disadvantage to me???

[JayC]

I answered other.....although the official count is 24 teeth....12 top, 12 bottom.

Mom and Dad each had a specific tooth that never came in.....and I am missing each of those (in that they never showed up!)

I had signifigant overbite/buck-teeth and got braces in I think 4th grade, so around age 9. I think I was full metal mouth until just before entering high school Continued to wear less than full braces through some of high school (removable retainers, elastics, and cemented appliances between 2 bottom teeth.

As part of getting braces, I had lots of teeth pulled. Some were baby teeth, some were permanent teeth.......

At the end of high school, I had oral surgery for extraction (and they really had to dig!) of all 4 wisdom teeth. There was NO room for them to descend at all. Funny thing is, not all of my sibs had all 4 wisdoms, even the ones with room in their jaw.

I have had a sleep doc mention that my tongue is too big for my mouth. Perhaps it is more that my jaw is too short front to back to accomodate all the needed goods. Not so sure that I actually have a "big" tongue!

As far as I can tell, from the outside one would not know that I have all this going on (or not going on!) in my mouth. The display of teeth when I smile, the size of teeth, the facial profile of the jaw line are all fine.......


An interesting thought is that as part of not worsening my overbite, the orthodontist taught me to stop pressing the tip of my tongue against my front teeth. He explained how to rest the tongue tip naturally on the roof of my mouth.........maybe that is in part why I don't generally mouth breath with my CPAP therapy! I learned to keep my mouth closed without clenching my jaw or grinding my teeth....

J

[SnoozyQ]

17....and a few of those are primary bc no adult teeth came to push them out. My dental life has been hell and doesn't have much hope of improving.

[DocWeezy]

Count me in as another who had what is now known to be disastrous orthodontia. I had four molars pulled when the orthodontia started, used headgear for about three years to pull in my severe overbite--upper and lower teeth stuck out at all angles, I literally couldn't bite into an apple or anything like that. Then at about 15, four wisdom teeth were surgically removed once they were formed enough to get at them; two were already severely impacted. My teeth were a complete mess...but now I know the "cure" for that was making my already small jaw even smaller.

Sigh.

Weezy

[SleepingUgly]

4 impacted wisdom teeth cut out at age 18 or 19.

I have to say that it's a darn good thing that I am not one to cry over spilled milk, because I have a full-time job worrying about things that will likely never happen. I really don't think I could fit into my schedule the necessary time to bemoan all the ways in which medicine failed me and caused me unnecessary harm through ignorance.

[Uncle_Bob]

Being English i had to have some work done on my teeth when i moved to the USA

I've had all 4 wisdom teeth out and my frenulum cut out, thats the flap of skin attaching your top gum to the inside of your mouth. having stitches in your gums in not nice.

This was also my first percuset experience And my eyes were really like this -> wow

[pitrow]

28 teeth here. 1 wisdom tooth never developed and the other three never emerged or impacted, but were surgically removed when I was 32.

[Otter]

What we need now is some data for comparison. Is anyone here on forum for people who are at least middle aged and are confirmed not to have OSA?

[avi123]

Sorry roster, your jumping cock does not let me concentrate. How can I stop it from jumping?

BTW, the light flashing from your avatar can trigger seizures in certain epileptic posters.
Is it possible that you don't know this since you know so much on other health issues?

Read this:

http://www.epilepsyfoundation.org/about ... nsitivity/

As to my teeth, I am left with 10 natural teeth. Mostly capped. I use removable dentures. Up and down. It causes lots of problems when deciding on a mask. Optimal solution is to to extract all the teeth left and go for implants costing $40K.

[ladyhen]

I never got wisdom teeth (and have been x-rayed for them - they're nowhere to be found.) And I also never got my upper right 12 year molar. Also completely MIA. So I have 27 teeth and I CERTAINLY have no room for wisdom teeth on my jaws.

[Otter]

BTW, the light flashing from your avatar can trigger seizures in certain epileptic posters.
Is it possible that you don't know this since you know so much on other health issues?

Roster's avatar wasn't static? I'm not epileptic, but I really hate having movement on the page when I'm trying to read. I'm surprised I never noticed Roster flashing.

[Lizistired]

One theory on why so many are like this is that it's the consequence of our modern diet. It doesn't make sense that we'd evolve to have too many teeth and not be able to breathe at night, so I think there's probably something to it.
http://www.westonaprice.org/dentistry/1 ... apnea.html

Thanks for that link Otter. Very interesting information about declining tooth height and bite and grinding.

[Jane1966]

I had four incisors pulled when I was 10 to make room for my teeth before I got braces. I currently have all of my wisdom teeth. I wonder if they should have widened my pallet instead as they did with some of my friends. I was recently told that I need braces again at 45 for a slight cross-bite, but I do not want to get them. My teeth don't given me any trouble, and they look well enough. I am going to another dentist for a second opinion. I just wonder if my jaw had been able to accommodate all my teeth, if I wouldn't have sleep apnea. I also wonder if bad dentistry/orthodontics of the 80's is causing people to get sleep apnea now.

[napstress]

I have 24 teeth. When I was a kid, my eye teeth were coming in high up in my gums. So the ortho removed 4 teeth and pulled the eye teeth down before putting on the braces. After my braces were removed—at around age 15—he removed my wisdom teeth before they came in so they wouldn't make crooked what he had spent years straightening.

Thanks, Otter, for the link to Weston A. Price's work. The section on Respiratory Distress describes me exactly. While it's disconcerting to know that there's no hope for my regularly feeling calm and safe, it's good to know why I am so high strung. I have been following Sally Fallon's dietary guidelines for nearly 10 years. It just makes so much sense. Your supplying that link supports me on what I believe is a good path for me.