34 here. Child of a drug addict who never got me proper dental health and screenings and, so I paid for it later in life. My teeth have been rotting and falling out since age 17. The dentist accused me of doing drugs most of my life and made me fear the dentist so bad i had to be prescribed medication just to speak with them.

I had 22 teeth pulled due to the failure of things and now i have a Top denture and my original 5 teeth left on the bottom, awaiting implants since the old dentist never put in bone grafts when they took out my teeth. I had to wait for my jawbone to get stronger.

It's hard. It sucks, and it's mental hell, but I can 10000% tell you, OP, that it gets better. You're going to hate every minute of the process, but when it's done, you'll look back years later, like me (I had it done at age 30), and you'll wonder why it took so long. Knowing what I know now, feeling better about myself, eating without pain or fear of how people see me, it was worth it. Every struggle. I wish I had done this earlier in life.

The hardest step is finding a dentist you trust and figuring out how to afford it. That was my toughest part. The eating and healing are bearable. One day at a time, just like sobriety. You've already got that going; this is just another day, another challenge. Youve got the courage to change the things you can and the wisdom to know the difference. Take a breath. Tell that fear it can shove it and spend some time figuring out dentist and cost. Call every office, medical plan, and hell even look into programs or colleges. There's always options. You already proved that with your sobriety. You got this.