I’m sorry the recovery is going so rough. I hope you can get some relief soon.
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Thanks @Stoney. I am sure things will calm down soon and I expected it to goes this way. I better be able to eat Thanksgiving diner though! hehe
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Its been the longest road with my dental implant. The healing never happened. After 4 weeks with the implant in, it failed, and came out. In those 4 weeks I never had a pain free day. My PSA was freaking out. Flare after flare. Now I go in tomorrow for my third surgery. I lost a significant amount of bone around the implant so another bone graft has to be done. I have to wait 6 months to see the progress of the bone to consider trying the implant again. I am leaning more towards a bridge.
Don’t think I went into this blind. I talked to my rhuemy and asked advice here. I also read journals and articles on both sides of the PSA and dental implant saga. I wanted to give it a shot and clearly my body is not ok with this.
I just want the pain to be over and be able to eat real food again. I hope the next 6 months brings healing and rest.
Thanks to everyone who gave me advice. My advice for the next person would be to do the research, ask the questions, and get a second opinion before making a choice.
Gosh that’s been so tough for you. I’d be leaning towards the bridge too. Very much so. I’m utterly sure my PsA was ignited by a bunion correction operation where they put in a tiny plate and a couple of screws to straighten my big toe. Toe straightened fine but my body decided to have almighty meltdown over this seriously teeny plate and a couple of screws and threw me sudden onset PsA. And here I am today. I never recovered from that bunion operation and within 8 weeks I was inflamed all over in tears unable to walk at all or use my hands and I wanted immediate hip transplants.
I think just sometimes we have to listen to our bodies. No one could have forseen I might develop PsA from straightening my big toe which was extremely bent over with a bunion. And I often wonder where I’d be now if I had not decided to get it done back in 2015. Pointless wondering really but…
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The simplest of things that throw our bodies into meltdowns! I think we all have these events in our lives we can trace back to the beginning of things. Makes me fearful for any future procedures I might need. Makes me more cautious as well. I always think what would have happened if… but no it doesn’t help and makes my head ache.
About to go in for the bone graft. I do hope everything is cleaned out well and closed up. I will only allow healing from this point on.
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That is a very rough outcome. I know that there’s a certain amount of iffiness with dental implants even for healthy people.
I would probably opt for the bridge at this point as well.
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Thanks. Yes. It’s been very rough. I just came out of surgery. The site was very infected. Got a round of iv antibiotics and some to take home. Also pain meds after a bit of pleading. These docs don’t understand how PsA attaches itself to a weak site and just kicks the place about. Hope to rest over the next few weeks.
A bridge sounds best.
Through experience, we seem to know what triggers a flare but I don’t think that my rheumy or GP really get it. I’m getting the message more and more, “You are on very good medication, it must be OA because the PsA is being treated.” Specialists like to win and if they run out of ideas or solutions, they tend to look for other things to blame our pain on. Good for you if your medical help acknowledges the PsA factor…mine don’t. I hope your infection is dealt with very quickly…infections are nothing to take lightly as most of our bodies are slowly building up an immunity to antibiotics. Were you advised to gently swish with salt water? I have helped many mouth/gum infections with a 3 times a day swish. AND, while waiting for your bridge, pass the time humming, “Bridge Over Trouble Water”…Hope you get back to chewing normally soon!
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Its hard for other people to imagine or understand what we go through, even doctors. That being said it seems your doctors need a good talking to. Can you switch to someone else?
Yes, I can swish with salt water and I also have an antiseptic mouthwash to use. Started capsule antibiotics already. Thank you, I do like that song!! You gave me a good laugh and I needed it. Thank you Amos!
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The more you tell us about your doctors the more I’m just seeing their egos getting int the way of treating you. Any rheumatologist should know there’s no ‘winning’ with an inflammatory arthritis, there’s only the matter of keeping ahead of it. So that means being agile, listening to you, tweaking meds and anti-inflammatories and pain relief. It one of the reasons we get reviewed so often. The best med in the world can still fail a PsA patient sadly.
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I agree. If your doctor’s are not listening to you and working for you then what is the point of seeing them? If my doctor approached my concerns in this manner I would find another doctor.
I had two wisdom teeth yank last year with no problems. I had already had two on side pulled. I wasn’t having problems with them, they just had to decay. I had told my dentist a few years before that I didn’t feel wisdom teeth were worth investing in for a lot of decay and he agreed. One needed a big filling and I told him to just pull the last two. Oral surgeon did that.
For those that think they have TMJ, make sure it is not the PsA. My PsA symptoms started in my jaws. It drove my dentist crazy. He did panoramic x-rays twice and couldn’t find TMJ or anything. It has been an educational process with my dentist. He now has a better understanding of how PsA can affect jaws and teeth. I occasionally get pain along my lower jaw bone and he said it was more than likely the PsA getting into the tiny ligaments that hold my teeth in.
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It really does sound like you’ve been having a rough time of it. I hope things have started to settle down, and you are getting good pain management. I am wincing from over here in Australia!
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With our Canadian medical system, one of the downfalls is the shortage of general practitioners and specialist. We don’t have a competitive system in which doctors are looking for patients. Finding a new GP or rheumy as a replacement isn’t easy so we have to wisely play their game and let them think they are the smart ones. Its the only way to get an ear or any attention. And, they all know each other and if a patient has a black mark against them, they all know it. My rheumy was all ticked off at me because I didn’t want to spend the money on an in home sleep test. I know that I have mild sleep apnea and control it by positioning how sleep and the sleep doctor commended me for figuring it out. So I paid the $160, got the test and the results were exactly what I told him they would be. He reluctantly gave me a requisition for xrays on my hands while muttering, “Why should I send you for an x-ray…you probably won’t go. So to play his game I got the sleep test. Anyway…this boring all of you…I go to the doctors for treatment but come here for advice!
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It is not as bad as that in Aus, but can be somewhat similar. The last time I had totally puzzling fatigue my Rheumy kept denying it was anything autoimmune and made me go for a sleep test (I had to do it in a sleep centre $320). He really wouldn’t even discuss it with me until I’d done it, and still dismissed it after (same result as you - very mild and only positional).
My current Rheumy is better, but this time with severe sleepiness and fatigue I actually got the GP to refer me for a cheaper in-home one so that it was already ruled out by the time I got to the specialist. It is really hard, so much depends on them “believing us”.
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I have also come to this conclusion about my TMJ, it is not TMJ, it is PsA in my right jaw. The inflammation digs in there at times and locks up the joint causing swelling. My dentist doesnt get it really but I am limited on who I can see with my dental plan. So I just go there for cleanings.
Thanks Jen! I am. This time I demanded pain meds and got them. I am in the same position with my dentists. She wanted a sleep study, at home, which I did, and of course the results came back poorly. I tried to explain that my knee was so painful and with having wires all over me, I could not sleep. She dismissed that and wanted me to buy a $2K C-pap machine. No way!!
@Amos That is awful!! I am sorry to hear that is the way. Where I live you can toss a rock and hit several doctors. Being in a medical mecca has its upsides. I do hope you are able to play the game enough to get the result you desire. Sometimes I wish we could just pay the co-pay for the silly tests but not actually do them!
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I am so glad you have enough pain meds. I’ve been very lucky the last couple of years but it seems they are really skimping on them in Australia now.
Yeah, there is a lot of money in C-pap machines. When I went for my first sleep study, I declined paying more for one of the sleep doctors (who works for a c-pap retailer) to “tailor” a solution to whatever my results were.
I had a really kind local pharmacist who took me through my results, and explained that although I have mild apnoea, being entirely positional if I can just sleep on my side then it is solved, (was sleeping on back at the time due to spine arthritis). But even if I can’t, my AHI (the index they use to measure severity) was only 7.4, and when they start C-pap they aim to get your AHI below 8, so a) no benefit, and b) no way an AHI was causing my need to sleep 16 hours a day.
Yay for the helpful medical professionals!
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No competing for patients in the UK either. And because of that many patients don’t question their doctors which I find incredibly horrendous. And yes there can be a shortage of GPs and consultants. You rarely get to see a GP these days, I do anything I need via an email system. But I simply tell them what to do next. Giving them the solution works quite well. I never saw the GP for example over my Crohn’s symptoms, just told them to set up the poo samples. When two of them came back positive that put me on a immediate cancer screening pathway so the rest of the investigations followed. Manwhile I saw on PMI a gastroenteroloigist who guided things through and he’s now my NHS doctor but I chose him via the PMI.
I’m lucky to have private medical insurance which can me access a specialist for anything but if it turns out chronic I’m back in the NHS system as PMI here doesn’t cover chronic conditions.
But the NHS anyway permits you to complain about your consultant and permits you to seek alternative opinions, you have to argue it but it’s doable. Many rheumys here don’t know anything about PsA so you have to seek out the ones that do. And thankfully none of them consider sleep tests as part of any investigations. That’s a new one on me!
Same here @jen. Just a bit too convenient for business…the main distributor of c-pap machines where I live just happens to be the ones that administer the in home sleep test. I think my rheumy has shares in the company.
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