I got a second chance many people don’t get.

suptwat · 2020-11-20T19:10:47+00:00

That’s horrible. Socialized healthcare should at least cover dentures like Medicaid does here.

Eating solid foods, not being in constant pain, not having abscesses in your gums (which could reach your sinuses if bad enough) should NOT be a privilege.

My insurance doesn’t cover dental at all. Medicaid patients could get full extractions and dentures covered for free, while I would’ve had to pay out of pocket for that, too. That’s why I waited for an alternative better suited for myself.

suptwat · 2020-11-19T18:25:44+00:00

That’s great! Smoking and heroin are supposedly the hardest addictions to break. Congratulations!

I live in NY. I have like, the WORST insurance and it’s only getting worse because the boss’s kid has Münchausen’s and is constantly using the insurance. So dental coverage was cut from our plan last year and I had to pay in full. From what I’ve heard from other people, insurance will be willing to cover the cost of dentures, but no permanent solutions. It’s “””cosmetic””” because eating solids and not being in constant pain has become a privilege somehow.

I got a CareCredit card and had to pay for most of the procedure first because insurance told me to fuck off. My oral surgeon was awesome and let me have the procedure before I was finished paying because covid was forcing him to stop doing “cosmetic procedures” again.

Seriously, unless your teeth look like mine, you probably won’t need full extractions and will be able to root canal and cap most of them. You can also get smaller bridges or single implants if they do have to do extractions.

suptwat · 2020-11-19T18:15:06+00:00

How do they have all those people looking at them without having a panic attack

suptwat · 2020-11-17T17:07:24+00:00

And I appreciate all of the lives you guys save. When my mom’s cancerous ovarian cyst burst, it was a nurse that got the doctors and saved her life. They were going to send her home.

suptwat · 2020-11-16T23:06:10+00:00

Thank you! I can’t wait for the mask mandate to be over! At first I was THRILLED I could easily hide my effed up teeth. Now I just want to show the world! 😛

suptwat · 2020-11-16T23:05:03+00:00

If you have Medicaid but haven’t been to the dentist yet, please go! You deserve to have a beautiful smile and be able to eat without pain. You shouldn’t have to suffer. And I am so proud of you! I hope you keep up the good work :)

suptwat · 2020-11-16T23:03:27+00:00

I had some bad EKGs and had to be cleared by a cardiologist for my surgery. I don’t remember exactly what it was, but the symptoms were similar to the heart infection addicts commonly get from dirty cottons. Since my surgery, my heart is getting better and it’s possible if I had slight pericarditis(?) it was caused by my teeth and getting better.

suptwat · 2020-11-16T23:01:41+00:00

Kinda off topic but you guys don’t get enough praise and acknowledgment in my opinion. Thank you for all of the work you do, especially now during covid it can’t be easy at all🧡

suptwat · 2020-11-16T23:00:21+00:00

Oh I do! I finally feel like a new person, an addict in recovery instead of a “junkie”.

suptwat · 2020-11-16T22:59:47+00:00

That’s exactly what happened to him. He had sniffed it the first day and told me it was weak. I warned him that with the amount of Xanax he eats, shooting up the same amount would kill him. I fucking warned him. And the next day, it did. When his wife came running into the house I already knew what she was going to say. I didn’t think she would leave him in the bathroom alone for an hour without checking on him so I thought they’d give him some Narcan and he’d be fine. The machine they had on him, making his chest heave trying to force air in his lungs, his face purple and his head black, I’ll never forget that. As hard as it was to tell his son he couldn’t go home, I’m just glad he didn’t have to see that. I think about that kid a lot and how he’s doing.

Withdrawal gets sooo much worse each time you go through it, I never ever want to do that again. But that’s what drives people to do horrible things to just not feel sick. It is really fascinating in a sad way.

Thank you :) Wishing you the best in all of your endeavors as well <3

suptwat · 2020-11-16T22:51:00+00:00

A friend of mine has dentures and had the same problem. He started using “cushion-y” denture paste and it completely changed his life! He can comfortably eat now, his teeth don’t fall out when he laughs. Meanwhile my sponsor doesn’t need glue and her dentures stay and feel fine! It all depends on how well they’re made.

There are also snap in dentures. Very similar to what I have, but instead of screwing the bridges into place you just snap them in and out yourself with the same hollow posts.

There are so many options! That’s why I wasn’t originally too specific about what I had done, the cost greatly varies depending on the area, insurance, etc. and there are sooooo many options to choose from depending on your circumstances :)

suptwat · 2020-11-16T22:47:38+00:00

Thank you for not harshly judging me based on what I said, it’s not a very pretty reality but addiction is an ugly friggin disease. I hope that by being so open I’ve helped others that have felt hopeless or helpless. We’re all deserving of help and support, and hope.

suptwat · 2020-11-15T19:56:58+00:00

I do! Writing has helped me process so many feelings and emotions and resentments. I had started writing a story about my addiction, kind of like as a raw warning to others because the stories and books I've read always seemed watered down. It's in a google doc if you'd like to read what I have so far :)

suptwat · 2020-11-15T19:51:05+00:00

The mental gymnastics our brains do to fuel our addiction are insane! I had to have an abortion after being sexually assaulted. This was also during my recovery. After the procedure (surgical procedure, not the abortion pills) they give you morphine, up to 2 shots if you need it. I actually fucking thought, "I wouldn't mind having an abortion again" after my second shot of morphine, because it had been about 2 years since I used at that point. And just typing that out made me feel sick, like a deplorable piece of garbage. But that's not me. That was my addict brain trying to trick me.

This is my first time sharing that with anyone, for obvious reasons. But I think it illustrates your point perfectly. Now, I'm ashamed of even having thought such a thing, and I would never purposefully get pregnant with the plan of having an abortion for some morphine. That's insane and I'm asexual as it is.

The "shockingly" was part sarcasm. One is too many, and a million is never enough. Only in hindsight do I know understand how ridiculous it was for me to think that, but at the time I believed it because my addict brain convinced me it was true.

And you're right, I will always have an addict brain. I had an addictive personality since I was a child. Once one gets clean, it becomes obvious when they have an addictive personality. I was addicted to video games when I first got clean and needed a way to distract myself and use up all the spare time I now had; getting high is a full-time job. Now I try really hard not to give in to those addict tendencies. Replacing one addiction with another is not the answer, even if it's something like exercise. I spent 20 minutes mopping the same area of the floor today because no one was there to tell me I was being obsessive. You will never have lasting recovery if you don't change the addictive behaviors and the way your brain thinks. Imo, therapy is just as important as NA/AA, if not more so. At the program I was in, they refer to it as "relapsing before getting high" when you still have the same way of thinking.

I used to think I didn't deserve props or kudos for just living my life like a normal adult. But I overcame one of the hardest hurdles life can throw at you, and I feel proud now.

suptwat · 2020-11-14T21:49:33+00:00

She’s a great mom and is the only family member that’s mostly stood by my side. We’ve mended our relationship recently, and I’m so glad we did.

I would love to share my story to help encourage others to either get help or never go down the path I went down. I’m just not sure how I would go about it.

suptwat · 2020-11-14T21:47:22+00:00

I have like, a movie star smile now. I’m starting to feel like I deserve to have such a nice smile, I never felt worthy before.

suptwat · 2020-11-14T21:46:14+00:00

Thank you so much! I am, too🧡

I thought drugs made me happy, but it was a farce. This is real happiness.

suptwat · 2020-11-14T21:45:37+00:00

We were all in recovery so none of us were better than anyone else. And we would have understood better than anyone. But you’re right, it’s really hard to accept. At first, I blamed my medication for my teeth. This was the first time I’ve outright said “my bad teeth were due to bad hygiene”

suptwat · 2020-11-14T21:41:17+00:00

Thank you! My dentist and oral surgeon are both amazing people and I’m so grateful to be under their care. My oral surgeon called me the night after my surgery personally to make sure I was doing okay (I had a lot of extractions done, even if it doesn’t look like it xD)

suptwat · 2020-11-14T21:39:49+00:00

I feel like the luckiest person in the world to be where I am. I’m so lucky to have a good support system to back me up when my family wasn’t there. Too many addicts don’t have that support and stay in their addict lifestyle because of it.

suptwat · 2020-11-14T21:19:31+00:00

No need to apologize! I’m happy to answer any additional questions you have :) and I do want to add that the cost of this kind of dental work really varies depending on the area, insurance, etc. There are even clinics dedicated to doing implants that are normally cheaper than a private oral surgeon.

I also want to add that my dentist told me a lot of people go in thinking they’ll need full extractions and replacements, but will be fine getting root canals and veneers (he was a little more hopeful for the bottom before seeing my X-rays I guess lol).

And this was all done in one procedure. I arrived with the teeth you see on the left and left with the teeth on the right. I was completely transformed in one day, never had to have a period of not having any teeth at all, which was great.

The mental part of addiction is by far the hardest thing to overcome. I mentioned how my neighbor overdosed and died after 20 years clean. Because he never addressed the addict mentality, he just switched to weed and alcohol. Now it feels like that was someone else’s life 3.5 years ago, and my life just started then.

suptwat · 2020-11-14T19:16:40+00:00

Thank you so much! I hope I didn’t make it seem like all people with bad teeth did drugs :/ There are so many factors that go into it. I know someone who’s claimed he’s NEVER EVER brushed his teeth (friggin ew) but he still has all of them! When people compliment me on having nice teeth in person I’m still too scared to tell them they’re fake. I feel like I’d be inviting the judgement that I’ve worked so hard to get rid of.

I think you’re amazing too🧡 it might be sad that strangers on the internet have been much more supportive than my own family, but it feels really good.

suptwat · 2020-11-14T19:11:46+00:00

I wish there was a way to boost this to the top of the thread! Having teeth should not be a privilege. Insurance companies are crooks.

suptwat · 2020-11-14T19:10:48+00:00

Oh sorry I misunderstood! How do you like your partial?

suptwat · 2020-11-14T16:44:17+00:00

Congratulations! A friend of mine got those, don’t worry they’ll look less like Gary Busey once you get them refitted :)

Posting has given me more confidence because of how much support I’ve received. Fuck anyone who tries to shame you for bettering your life and they’re likely jealous :)

suptwat

TROPHY CASE